Reviews with content warning for Medical content - A Scatter of Light

This was a rollercoaster. I started liking Steph (or Stef? I listened to the audiobook so not sure how it's spelled) and finding the MC, Ari, annoying. By the end, Ari was the most compelling, relatable character and Steph just made me mad.

The relationship between Joan and Ari was wonderous, and I wish the book had looked more at the complex generational interplay between Ari, her mom, and her paternal grandmother. There was such depth hinted at not only in their personal relationships but their lives as artists.

And more science. We got hints of Ari's brilliant mind but the way the epilogue played out, it felt very rushed.

Might add more once I've sat and reflected a bit.

Content Warnings

novella42's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I know part of my frustration with this book is that I didn't notice it's not a romance novel, like Last Night at the Telegraph Club. I went into it expecting something else, and so I spent a lot of time angry and confused, and didn't see what it was trying to do until the very end.

There were some beautiful lines. I think I most appreciated her relationship with her grandmother, a wonderful character who definitely stole the show for me.

I may try to revise this review after I get some distance from it.

Content Warnings

jayburding's review

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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radhikag's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

My heart feels so tender and pure. I love this book and I’m so happy it was my first read of the year. Love is so tender and sweet and soft n lasting!! I loved reading about Aria’s story, so much of it reminded me of i guess my first proper ~queer~ situationship and also made me ache for the how sweet it might have been to know n explore and presence this part of myself when i was younger, like Aria here or Lily in last night at the telegraph club.

I’m so happy these books exist, I can’t wait to re read them time and time again. I think everyone should read these but esp queer Bay Area people lol because it’s beautiful to see all the details I recognize and know about my home and city and just ugh!! Too good!
—
Some quotes I love:

"You can't worry about other people's feelings about what you're creating," Joan said. "That will suffocate you. You have to do what your heart desires."

Joan and Steph were so focused on their conversation, it was as if I wasn't even there.

"What if what your heart desires hurts someone else?" Steph asked.

"Sometimes you can't avoid that," Joan said, "because people have feelings, and other people's feelings aren't always congruent with ours. But here's the important thing when it comes to art. This is what I've learned: The art is greater than you and your feelings. You have to serve it. It is not you. Some people will never understand that, but you need to surround yourself with people who do understand it. And you need to understand it yourself. Whatever you're creating may come from within you and your life, but then —almost like a child, it comes out of your body and it grows up and walks away. It walks away and affects other people you don't know and have never met. That's the beauty of it, and the reason I keep trying new things.

You never know who it will affect."

(170)

“[Her] physical body may be gone now, but who she was is not gone. She was more than her body, just as we are all more than our bodies. She was connected with all of you. You influenced her, and she influenced you, and that influence continued.”
The urn was beautiful. It had a round belly and an elegantly curved neck and a perfectly fitted kid, and it had been glazed in some way that left brilliant sea green steaks and dark blue flecks on the surface. As if the sea had been burned into the clay.
My stomach was a hollow inside me.
“Everything [she] taught you goes on. The thoughts that arise in your mind when you think of her are still influenced by her.”
The hollow was growing. I would become a sinkhole.
Susan Douglas lot a candle on the altar. A thin trickle of smoke rose from the march. “Earth returning to earth, fire returning to fire, wind returning to wind, water returning to water.” (309)

Content Warnings

uss_mary_shelley's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

haileyhardcover's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Aria spends the summer before starting college discovering who she really is and who she wants to be.

I was so excited for this book. I read Last Night at the Telegraph Club earlier this year and was absolutely blown away by Lo’s writing, the history, and the characters she created. As a companion novel to Telegraph, I expected the same magical experience with A Scatter of Light. Sadly, I didn’t feel it.

The two main characters, Aria & Steph, felt so overly dramatic - especially considering they are older than the characters in Telegraph. I physically cringed multiple times at some of the things they said/ did. I didn’t find either of them very likable, and I couldn’t root for them.

Part of what made Telegraph so magical was the history. A Scatter of Light is also set in the past, but a much more recent past - 2013, right when Prop 8 was overturned, making gay marriage legal in California. This is mentioned a few times in the book, but I wish more attention had been given to everything going on at the time, rather than focusing so heavily (almost entirely) on the “relationship” between Aria and Steph.

There is also one scene in which Steph implies that she is struggling with her gender, but it is completely brushed over and never explored. It felt like a last-minute throw in for some additional diversity as there was no other trans/non-binary/gender queer rep in the book.

The best part of the book was the (very brief) glimpse we get into the lives of Lily and Kath (the main characters from Telegraph) in 2013. No spoilers, but I was glad to see where they had ended up, nearly 60 years later.

Maybe my expectations were too high, but overall I was just really disappointed with this book. Telegraph has a permanent home on my shelves, but A Scatter of Light is probably going to be one of those getting unhauled at the end of the year.

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