YA Contemporary
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 realizes there’s much more to his family’s past than he ever imagined.
Danny has been an artist for as long as he can remember and it seems his path is set, with a scholarship to RISD and his family’s blessing to pursue the career he’s always dreamed of. Still, contemplating a future without his best friend, Harry Wong, by his side makes Danny feel a panic he can barely put into words. Harry and Danny’s lives are deeply intertwined and as they approach the one-year anniversary of a tragedy that shook their friend group to its core, Danny can’t stop asking himself if Harry is truly in love with his girlfriend, Regina Chan.When Danny digs deeper into his parents’ past, he uncovers a secret that disturbs the foundations of his family history and the carefully constructed facade his parents have maintained begins to crumble. With everything he loves in danger of being stripped away, Danny must face the ghosts of the past in order to build a future that belongs to him.
Before I was a book blogger, I was a poetry writer (sort of).
Angsty 17-year-old me was going through a lot of life changing events. Times were tough. And I took a sabbatical. One of the reasons why I took a sabbatical was for the emotional trauma of losing a loved one and the dangerous atmosphere we lived in back then in our town. Won’t get into much detail about that year, but I can tell you that it was a lonely year. I took it before my Senior year in High School and it was hard to not have friends to talk to, except the company of books (I had just discovered The Iron Fey & The Hunger Games!).
Anyway, I took to writing poems and I joined an online commnity called Allpoetry. Ever heard of it? That’s when I found my first online friends, and it made all the difference in the world. Even better, they were friends that encouraged my newfound voice.
I won’t say I was ever talented at writing poetry despite being super proud of myself back then. I mostly wrote to myself and it was therapeutic. And I wrote and wrote and wrote, almost daily.
But then came a moment when I just couldn’t. I could not force words out. My friend Danny Cheng would say I “ran dry”, and yes, it felt like it. I actually did.
I know it’s not the same as drawing/painting, but we all know that writing is another art form that paints worlds and feelings using words. I’m not sure if it was this book’s intention, but reading Picture Us In The Light forced me to dig back up this creative part of me that I had hidden away, buried under lock and key, because I felt that it had abandoned me somehow and felt scared to approach it again ever since. I still feel scared… I don’t know why but I do. However, I feel that it’s time to give it another shot. So here I am, attempting again to sort of write a piece inspired by this wonderful and painfully beautiful read.
Picture us in the light
as our mood swings by
gather dust, gather time
take a minute, take a life
All these doors you have closed
was it me, was it her?
say it now, don’t stay quiet
in this tense star-filled silence
I wonder, do you see me?
don’t you get tired of everything?
Like it’s my job to protect all of it
when you don’t even bother
to build a future here together
For the second time
go on, flee into the night
just picture us in the light
as I stay and run dry
Kelly Loy Gilbert believes deeply in the power of stories to illuminate a shared humanity and give voice to complex, broken people. She is the author of Conviction, a William C. Morris Award finalist, and lives in the SF Bay Area. She would be thrilled to hear from you on Twitter @KellyLoyGilbert or at http://www.KellyLoyGilbert.com
