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A review by bookish_terror
In Perfect Light by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
5.0
5/5
This was my third novel by Saenz, and though I've never read any of his poetry, some blocks of text felt like I was reading a poem. And that's definitely not a bad thing. There's no flowery descriptions but words are repeated and even the amount of syllables in a sentence feel planned out. This writing style effortlessly flows together.
The content of this book, though, was very difficult to read.
There are a few characters the book follows around but it mainly center around Andres Segovia. Things started to go bad for Andres with his parents' death when he was only ten years old. And it didn't get better from there. We learn Andres' story as he tells it to his therapist Grace and his lawyer Dave. Andres definitely reminds me of Ari from AADDTSOTU and of Sal from TILOML, but so much harder. What I love about Saenz is that he writes protagonists with this quiet but strong, simmering anger. And when bottled up, that anger will eventually explode.
There's plenty of heartbreak to go around with the other characters as well.
Grace and Dave will simply not give up on Andres, and they each have their own motivations for that. Grace is widowed, receives a new medical diagnosis, and has a strained relationship with her son that I felt contributed to how much she wanted to help Andres. For most of the book, it seems like Dave wants to help Andres just for the sake of helping him but we later learn that there is a secret Dave has been keeping that makes him feel almost compelled to help Andres.
The book also follows Mister, Grace's son, who is trying to adopt a blind boy with his wife Liz. The death of his father, Sam, definitely left Mister and Grace a little bit lost, and I think that contributed to how they dealt with any problems that came after Sam's death. Grace also does not like Liz and the reason for that is discussed in the book. This is another thing about Saenz I love. The relationships between characters, good or bad, feel authentic because it's not just one thing that affects how they react to each other. It's multiple things - that's real.
An honorable mention - Sylvia. I loved Sylvia. She's trans and I didn't know there would be trans characters in this but I was pleasantly surprised. She's a friend of Andres and the only person who genuinely cared for him in Juarez. The word transv*st*t* is used to describe her instead of transgender but I definitely got the impression that had more to do with the environment these characters lived in and not how Saenz actually feels about trans people. And there is a moment where Grace misgender's Sylvia and Andres corrects her and she listens, so that's good.
I loved this book but I don't know if I have the stomach for a reread. If this book sounds interesting to you, tread cautiously.
TW: rape, child sexual abuse, prostitution, drug abuse, terminal illness, past infidelity
This was my third novel by Saenz, and though I've never read any of his poetry, some blocks of text felt like I was reading a poem. And that's definitely not a bad thing. There's no flowery descriptions but words are repeated and even the amount of syllables in a sentence feel planned out. This writing style effortlessly flows together.
The content of this book, though, was very difficult to read.
There are a few characters the book follows around but it mainly center around Andres Segovia. Things started to go bad for Andres with his parents' death when he was only ten years old. And it didn't get better from there. We learn Andres' story as he tells it to his therapist Grace and his lawyer Dave. Andres definitely reminds me of Ari from AADDTSOTU and of Sal from TILOML, but so much harder. What I love about Saenz is that he writes protagonists with this quiet but strong, simmering anger. And when bottled up, that anger will eventually explode.
There's plenty of heartbreak to go around with the other characters as well.
Grace and Dave will simply not give up on Andres, and they each have their own motivations for that. Grace is widowed, receives a new medical diagnosis, and has a strained relationship with her son that I felt contributed to how much she wanted to help Andres. For most of the book, it seems like Dave wants to help Andres just for the sake of helping him but we later learn that there is a secret Dave has been keeping that makes him feel almost compelled to help Andres.
The book also follows Mister, Grace's son, who is trying to adopt a blind boy with his wife Liz. The death of his father, Sam, definitely left Mister and Grace a little bit lost, and I think that contributed to how they dealt with any problems that came after Sam's death. Grace also does not like Liz and the reason for that is discussed in the book. This is another thing about Saenz I love. The relationships between characters, good or bad, feel authentic because it's not just one thing that affects how they react to each other. It's multiple things - that's real.
An honorable mention - Sylvia. I loved Sylvia. She's trans and I didn't know there would be trans characters in this but I was pleasantly surprised. She's a friend of Andres and the only person who genuinely cared for him in Juarez. The word transv*st*t* is used to describe her instead of transgender but I definitely got the impression that had more to do with the environment these characters lived in and not how Saenz actually feels about trans people. And there is a moment where Grace misgender's Sylvia and Andres corrects her and she listens, so that's good.
I loved this book but I don't know if I have the stomach for a reread. If this book sounds interesting to you, tread cautiously.
TW: rape, child sexual abuse, prostitution, drug abuse, terminal illness, past infidelity