Picture Us in the Light

The threads of credibility snap by the car crash, with too many thumbs on the scale of writing a flawed protagonist. The parents are also loaded with a lifetime of grave miscalculations including ultimately ghosting on their son, wilfully choking in the mire of not communicating. The story is engaging when it's about the experiences of second generation Asian Americans, about suicide, guilt, self-doubt, and the magnifications and distortions of being a teenager. But Kelly Loy Gilbert juggles too much, mixes in crime and mystery, and tiptoes around queer sexuality. In the lone paragraph not fumbling with half-expressed desire, she has Mr. X describe Danny's identity as ‘funny'. Also, having your flossing habits faulted is listed as an example of a beleaguered life that might contribute to exacting impossible standards from your children?