A Scatter of Light
"Aria Tang West was looking forward to a summer on Martha's Vineyard with her best friends-one last round of sand and sun before college. But after a graduation party goes wrong, Aria's parents exile her to California to stay with her grandmother, artist Joan West. Aria expects boredom, but what she finds is Steph Nichols, her grandmother's gardener. Soon, Aria is second-guessing who she is and what she wants to be, and a summer that once seemed lost becomes unforgettable-for Aria, her family, and the working-class queer community Steph introduces her to. It's the kind of summer that changes a life forever."
A Scatter of Light by Malinda Lo is my favorite souvenier from New York City. I wanted to get something completely foreign to my TBR when I visited The Strand, and I couldn't pass up this signed copy. I waded through the signed copies and was surprised that so many authors delegated to put stickers of their signature into a book rather than signing the actual copy. I find something very sentimental and romantic about reading a novel that has been in the author's hands and lovingly signed.
I think that may speak to the kind of person that Lo is, and her writing is also a testament to that. This may be a queer coming-of-age story, but it is far from cheesy. The characters and moving parts of the novel remind me of coming to terms with my sexuality, and how earth-shattering it is to realize that one is anything but the heterosexual norm.
It sucks, but it's also beautiful to realize and love with that part of oneself, just like Aria did.
I'm also a sucker for the stereotypical, artsy-and-also-woodsy-Californian stereotype. Maybe it's because it is a world that is so far from my midwest roots, but I find it so charming. Like stepping into a daydream of sorts.
This isn't a novel about love. The big love of this story isn't the focus, it's about finding and learning to love the self. Like starting with a mere few strokes of paint on a blank canvas and, slowly, adding messy and thick layers to the piece.
I hope that modern literature continues to see pieces like this thrive, especially in the younger adult and teen genre-the exposure is long overdue.