Picture Us In The Light

by Kelly Loy Gilbert

Danny Cheng has always known his parents have secrets. But when he discovers a taped-up box in his father's closet filled with old letters and a file on a powerful Silicon Valley family, he realises there's much more to his family's past than he ever imagined.

• ISBN10: 1484726022
• ISBN13: 9781484726020
• Publish Date: 12 April 2017
• Publish Status: Transferred
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Hyperion
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

Heartbreaking and beautiful all the same time. It was quite an emotional journey Daniel took, and I was glad there were some wonderful things that precipitated from these events.

I loved:
• the relationship Daniel shared with his father, who was complicated, but loved his wife and son dearly

• Daniel's relationship with Harry. They shared a very strong friendship, and Harry was a fantastic and steadfast friend to Danny.

• how Gilbert made all these parts come together.

Overall: Well written, emotionally charged, and interesting.

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[readingwithwrin]

Thank you to bookishfirst for a free book in exchange for my honest review.



"I still believe him. Because if you're tangled up in someone else, if your futures are tied that way, if that's real and if you know when it happens- then it means you know who you belong to, and you know whose fates are tied to yours, whether you like it or planned it or not, whether they still exist in the same world with you or they don't, and I think that's where everything begins and ends. I think that's everything."




Whew, this book. It is a roller coaster of emotions that I was not expecting. Gilbert deals with so many things from immigrant parents, the expectations put on kids by their parents, suicide, and sexual orientation. Because of all the things that are talked about in this book it won't be for everyone. It's also a rather slow read, because of how heavy some of the topics can be that are happening in Danny's life.



Danny is a high school senior that has just been accepted into his dream school! While this is everything he's always wanted, he's also having some mixed feelings about it because of things happening with his parents. While Danny was born in Texas, his parents immigrated before he was born and are here on green cards. This has never been a problem until recently as secrets start to come out as Danny start questioning certain things.



"The worst things you fear aren't the rare or distant ones. The worst things you fear are the ones so close they take up residence inside your head and whisper to you in the background all the time; the worst things you fear are there's so much darkness lurking inside the nicest people and the safest places that you know."



I LOVED this book! It was a slow read for me because I really wanted to take my time with this one and appreciate how well everything was dealt with in a realistic way. All of the surprises that happened with Danny's parents and the secrets that they had all been keeping were just as shocking to me as they were to Danny. I was not expecting certain things to have happened and it was absolutely heartbreaking. Danny is also an extraordinary artist and even though he has his doubts about his own success. He is still going to do great things, and he has his parent's full support and they are so proud of him. It was so nice to see parents who were not only involved but were also accepting of what they're child wanted to do with their life.



"I'm also so lucky, I know that, that what they want from me is what I want from myself, too - I'm just worried my talent doesn't run deep enough. And I can't fathom facing the world the rest of my life if it doesn't."



Danny has two really good friends, Harry and Regina who are also dating. This is something that kind of bothers Danny, but he also doesn't want to mention it to them and be the cause of the breakup. His friends are also dealing with real problems as well Regina is still dealing with the loss of a friend due to suicide, and they are all dealing with having so much pressure put on them about school.



"Other people don't exist just to be your happy ending, you know?"



If you haven't read this book yet, please go and find a copy of it and read it! It is so so good and about halfway through this book I knew it was going to be one of my favorites which has never happened before for me while reading a contemporary book.



"I know what it's like to look back on all those times you wish you'd said something different, chosen kindness so at least later on you'd still have that."

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[Heather]

I'll give this a 4 star just for the ending. Most of the book was painfully predictable. The central mystery was obvious from the first few pages.
I've been in a bit of a slump so I forced myself to finish this and I'm glad I did. The ending gave just enough of an unexpected twist to make the book worth reading.