i just finished PICTURE US IN THE LIGHT by @KellyLoyGilbert in a single setting and it shattered me in the best possible way. it's about so many things: the secrets we keep from those we love, the american dream, friendship and high school and how it feels like the world.

to be honest, i think i'm a different person after reading this book. the quiet, careful, perfect ways it talks about family and all the ways you can love someone without saying it. loss and how it lingers for years. the very specific experience of asian america in the bay area.

this book feels rare and precious and i am so grateful it exists (and to @emilympang for telling me i HAD to read it), and i can't wait for to recommend it to everyone i know.

also just! there's an artist grappling with his family's secrets and his own! a golden boy afraid that his best will never be good enough! friendships where you love each other even when you don't like each other! i can't overstate how GOOD this book is. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35960060-picture-us-in-the-light?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=XhGwCTfijV&rank=1