#queer coming-of-age

[whimsicaldragonette]

ARC Review: A Scatter of Light by Malinda Lo

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Publication Date: October 4, 2022

Synopsis:

Award-winning author Malinda Lo returns to the Bay Area with another masterful coming-of-queer-age story, this time set against the backdrop of the first major Supreme Court decisions legalizing gay marriage. And almost sixty years after the end of Last Night at the Telegraph Club, Lo's new novel also offers a glimpse into Lily and Kath's lives since 1955. Aria Tang West was looking forward to a summer on Martha's Vineyard with her best friends--one last round of sand and sun before college. But after a graduation party goes wrong, Aria's parents exile her to California to stay with her grandmother, artist Joan West.Aria expects boredom, but what she finds is Steph Nichols, her grandmother's gardener. Soon, Aria is second-guessing who she is and what she wants to be, and a summer that once seemed lost becomes unforgettable--for Aria, her family, and the working-class queer community Steph introduces her to. It's the kind of summer that changes a life forever.

My Rating: ★★★★★

*My Review below the cut

My Review:

This book was emotionally devastating. That's the best word I can think of to describe it. I turned the last page and read the author's note through my tears, and then I ugly cried for a while. It's poignant and nostalgic and gorgeously written so that you feel everything Aria feels and live breathlessly in the moment with her. Every time I opened the book I was sucked in and forgot about everything else.

Malinda Lo is exceptionally good at capturing a moment in time, especially a moment where the character is right on the cusp of something. I don't remember Last Night at the Telegraph Club being quite so devastating, but I think part of that is my own emotional resonance with this story.

For most of the book, it's like she captured one perfect golden late-summer Northern California afternoon. The kind the stretches on and on, where the light showers everything in gold and you could believe that the moment could last forever. It meshes so well with that last endless summer between high school and college, when you're just beginning to discover yourself.

Aria is on the cusp of adulthood, the cusp of realization that she's maybe not as straight as she once thought. Her crush on Steph simmers just beneath the surface, warring with the impossibility of it all and the electric novelty of her newfound queerness opens up a previously unseen world to her.

At the same time she's having her ideas of her grandmother, her parents, her friends, and her past reshaped as she grows out of her childhood assumptions about them.

The ending circles back to the beginning in a wholly satisfying way that makes everything seem more profound and gives every moment, every gesture weight and meaning.

I love the exploration of time and memories and grief and art, and how they interconnect and weave together. The characters leap off the page, so full of life and well-rounded are they, and I felt them tugging at my heart more insistently than many.

This is a book that everyone should read and that I will probably never read again, because I don't think it would have the same breathless impact the second time through and I'm not sure my heart could take it.

The cover is stunning and complements the story SO well. The cover artist captured the essence of the story perfectly.

*Thanks to Bookishfirst and Penguin Teen for providing an ARC for review.

#bookishfirst #malinda lo #a scatter of light #queer books #lgbt+ books #shilo reads #arc review #poignant #nostalgic #emotionally devastating #queer coming-of-age #penguin teen

[brown-spider]

Noir is the type to poetically monologue about a man from his youth that "had he been a dame, we would have been lovers" with such dramatic intensity you'd think he was talking about the love of his life

But then if someone asked Noir anything suggesting that he's attracted to men, he'd dismiss it like "Now don't get me wrong, that crowd is fine by me, but I'm not a homosexual. I like dames too much, haha."

And it drives the modern spider kids fucking CRAZY. They want to shake him and scream "BISEXUAL!!!" so bad but oh god he's wearing headphones, he can't hear them, oh my god 😨

#i DO think he has a strong preference for women but a lot of that preference comes from internalized homophobia and/or sheer ignorance #he's genuinely like “i know im sweet on dames so fact of the matter is i cant be homosexual” and he's so wrong #middle aged bisexual men who still haven't figured out that they're queer my beloved <3 #spider noir #spiderman noir #peter benjamin parker #into the spiderverse #itsv #itsv noir #across the Spiderverse #atsv noir #Spiderverse #Spiderverse 2 #spider speaks

[strawberrybyers]

they’re so unserious i love them

#the fact there was a stoner queer coming of age comedy subplot in s4 will always be funny #like you’re here for monsters? well you’ll get that but here’s a side of gay with it too #byler #mike wheeler #will byers #jonathan byers #stranger things

[brella-boi]

Growing up aromantic.

#once you hit a certain age you start realising your safe bubble of friends maybr isnt so safe anymore #and maybe. just maybe. your worldview comes crashing down #aromantic #demiromantic #queer #lgbt #comic #queer experience #myart #vent #friendships

[scrollonso]

logan and alex in "lap of legends"

#alternatively #logan and alex is in a queer-small-town-coming-of-age movie #f1 #formula 1 #logan sargeant #alex albon #aa23 #ls2 #0223 #lolex #williams #lap of legends

[queerism1969]

#coming of age #lgbtq #lgbtqia #lgbt pride #nonbinary #lesbian #sapphic #nonbinary lesbian #gay girls #lgbtq community #queer #romance #thriller #mystery #lovestory #english literature #mlm #t4t mlm #mlm nsft #mlm thoughts #mlnb #achillean #gay thoughts #gay mlm #mlm yearning #mlm love #pride #trans pride #gay pride #lesbian pride

[marvel-verse]

#it was actually ... really good? #and fun? #im so pleased!!! #so much queer!! #so much good communication between characters! #so much coming of age! #dead boy detectives #dbd

[bipunkharrington]

There's something that infuriates me so much about people mocking characters that fall into the "not like other girls" trap, because the reasons girls take on that stance is because they exist in a society that tries to put womanhood and femininity in a restrictive box that tells them who and how they should be.

They're generally mocked and derided for not wishing to conform to stereotypical femininity, but when they lash out in entirely predictable but ultimately unhelpful ways (by being dismissive and rude about other women and femininity in general) instead of understanding that it's a product of growing up in a society that's restricting them and punishing them for not conforming (either by choice or inability) so many people who claim to be feminists choose to mock them or make them out to be the cause of the problem rather than a symptom. Whether its being mocked in real life, or watching people deride the fictional characters they relate to, this behaviour just alienates those girls even further into thinking that the issue is other women, and confirms their belief that women who are typically feminine will only ever be derisive toward them and that they're somehow fundamentally different from other women.

If you know someone who thinks along those "I'm not like other girls" lines instead of mocking them try directing them towards resources that can help them understand where that harmful rhetoric comes from, and when you're critiquing characters that fit that mold try to consider why they behave that way, and what girls who see themselves in those characters take from your commentary.

#idk this became a word salad #something something consider how many not like other girls girls are queer and/or neurodivergent #im not telling people to not be critical of that outlook but also helping people understand why its wrong is so much more powerful #than just mocking girls that are responding with (most often) age-appropriate immaturity to a society that's telling them they dont fit #eloise bridgerton #arya stark #there's so many other characters but my mind is just gripping onto these two #btw this ramble comes from a trans neurodivergent person who is a former “im not like other girls” non-girl #i came to the realisation that that outlook came from a misogynistic place in my own time #but watching any female character i related to growing up getting mocked for the same reasons i was bullied #read: not being feminine enough and/or not being neurotypical enough #slowed that process down a lot #it was difficult to understand that society was the issue and not other women #when so many women were mocking me

[dinosaur-mayonnaise]

light novel ideas i’d like to pitch:

bsd from higuchi’s pov told as a fun coming of age story where absolutely everyone just brushes off the fact that they’re in the literal mafia.

dark era from ango’s pov where dazai is too insane, oda is too calm, and ango is treated like he’s mad for having appropriate reactions to things.

#for the higuchi one bonus points if we make it a queer coming of age film #bc ofc i need my higugin content #and my black lizard being besties content #(and yes aku and higuchi are honourary black lizard members i don’t make the rules) #bsd

[laurenfoxmakesthings]

I just learned of a specific moment in the latest Doctor Who episode (I've been too busy to keep up). And if anyone uses it to essentially go 'See! He can't be ace!' or treat it as a 'win' for queer rep like we aces aren't queer...

Folks, we can tell people are hot. We just don't find them hot to us subjectively on a personal level.

I'm not saying there can't be interpretations, I'm saying please don't use it as an excuse to erase ours.

#doctor who #new who #wild blue wonder #14th doctor #asexual #queer representation #look I was coming of age when tumblr was aphobic and moffat really didn't want the doctor interpreted as ace #fans are probably better at treating this kind of thing with respect now but sometimes not and I have this kneejerk reaction #like let's face it you still treat any sign of ace rep as 'not truly queer rep' #*cough* good omens *cough* #*cough* 13 and yaz *cough* #...for fuck's sake 'no kisses means this relationship is queer baiting' my arse #I'm going back to writing my canonically ace character in my book #david tennant

[abd-illustrates]

Crafting Curses for an Old Story | Concept Corner: HEARTLESS #5 (FINALE)

The time has come!  Today I am closing the book on the “Heartless” chapter of Concept Corner by delving into the dark powers and potential pasts of the story’s villains, the Wonders! I hope you’ll look forward to what’s in store for the future of Concept Corner as much as I am; but for now, get comfy! and get ready! for the villainous conclusion of this “Heartless”-centric speedpaint saga! 🖤💛

(And - (even though I said as much in the video already) - thanks so, SO much again for showing this silly lil’ video series so much love! I really hope this conclusion to the “Heartless” era of Concept Corner could spark as much joy for y’all who’ve been kind enough to follow it all this time, as y’all’ve sparked for me in making them 😊💖

It’s wild to think how long its been since this series started, but I can’t wait to see where it goes next! Hope you’ll drop by again next time 💖)

#abd illustrates #artists on tumblr #concept corner #heartless #villains #theyre here theyre queer theyre invoking existential fear #the finale! #can you belieeeve #it always feels surreal to upload videos i spend ages putting together but this time especially #also #trying to keep up my new habit of not spoiling the finished artworks for folks so full art post should be coming tomorrow! #pls enjoy! #(and pls do share thoughts if u have em - y'all's energy is what really makes these so special 💖)

[stargirl230]

First (official) day of college!

super nervous haha, wish me luck

(no reposts!)

#my art #artists on tumblr #digital art #original art #guys. holy shit i'm in college #moved in a couple of days ago #i already found a group of Queer Friends!!! #never really had that before!!! #it feels very coming-of-age movie #but also i haven't had time to properly cry yet... #and i miss my cat :( #oh also what they do not tell you about college is the walking #so. much. walking #my legs are going to fall off #hm what else #i read some class syllabi today and freaked out #it's weird bc my mood swings go from happy to anxious to randomly TIME TO TEAR UP #ough i'd give a kingdom for the power of teleportation to bring me home for a bit #and also to just teleport to my classes haha pls my feet #in the wise words of a friend: #stay silly stay silly stay silly

[makedonsgriva]

I’ve been reading a lot of posts where people talked about watching Yuri On Ice for the first time back when it was airing in 2016 and it really feels so heartwarming and heartbreaking because can you imagine loving a series so much and being there for it from the start only for it to get cancelled.

I watched YOI for the first time back in mid or late 2019 (don’t remember very clearly), after a friend on tumblr urged me to watch it and it just altered my brain chemistry. I watched the whole thing in a day. And then I proceeded to re watch it very soon. I was obsessed. As a baby gay who was still struggling a lot with their sexuality, never comfortable with the labels, the pronouns, all the nuances and always thinking how do I fit myself into this Queer cardboard box with neat little labels, that show rocked my shit.

Viktor and Yuri didn’t need any labels. There was no grand coming out scene, no need to fight against the world for their love and no struggle with their inner self about wtf am I doing or am I right or wrong. They literally just skated and did their work but they fell in love side by side and it was so so beautiful for me.

A part of me was also dismayed because the kiss scene was censored. The touches, the love they showed was subtle. I felt that this meant many could brush them off as friends. That maybe, just maybe, the love wasn’t as strong and maybe I was just deluding myself. It was only after I rewatched it yesterday after years, I realized how wrong I was to think that. And that in turn helped me realize the progress I’d made in my journey to accept my own queerness. Love is not about grand romantic gestures. It’s about being there for each other and lifting each other up and not caring about how the world perceives you. Especially so in queer relationships. It doesn’t matter how some people might perceive Viktor and Yuri as old pals, we know that they are in love.

They don’t have to be incredibly loud. That love is abundantly clear when Yuri asks Viktor to coach him till he retires and Viktor oh so sweetly replies that he hopes Yuri never retires. It’s clear when Yuri changes a jump in the China Cup to show his love for Viktor. It’s clear when Viktor decides to be with Yuri every step of the way from his journey from the rock bottom to the Runner Up of the Grand Prix Final.

We call everything on this ice love and oh YOI you’ll forever be iconic for giving us queers so much love.

#yuri on ice #viktor nikiforov #yuri katsuki #viktor x yuuri #viktuuri #absolutely shattered that yoi movie is canceled #but the legacy of yoi will live on for ages and ages to come #to this day yoi remains one of the best queer anime I’ve watched #fuck you mappa #you took something so good and special from us #you'll burn in hell #but the fandom is still here #viktor and Yuri are still here #we’re all here #we’ll be here always

[horror-aesthete]

Jennifer's Body, 2009, dir. Karyn Kusama

#horror aesthetic #horror movies #jennifers body #queer fear #coming of age horror #slasher horror #the diablo codyverse #2000s horror

[emblazons]

Thinking about how people who only (or primarily) understand Mike’s arc through a “hes queer and coming to accept it / struggling with heteronormativity/will get his happy ending when he gets with Will” lens are missing at least half of what defines his arc in the wider context / themes of the show.

Forewarning: long post (& also maybe an unpopular opinion)

Even as a queer person myself, I know that his arc isn’t solely about embracing his queerness (though it’s inherently interlinked). In Mike, you have a character who is being radically challenged by both external circumstances and his own decisions through a journey away from all kinds of forced conformity (social, familial, romantic & heteronormative) and into someone self actualized enough to live how they want…while also being strong enough to accept that they made mistakes along the way. Someone who is learning to be brave enough to say “this is who I am, what I enjoy, and what/who I love…and while it took me a lot of time to figure it out, now I can exist in the world embracing that even though it will take consistently resisting the tendency to accommodate people who think it’s unacceptable.”

Like. Even from a time before puberty (see: S3) Mike wants a life that stands apart from what’s expected of him in every area, not just in choosing a romantic relationship with another guy. He wants to continue to be a nerd and “child at heart” even though something else is repeatedly demanded of him by everyone from his parents to El in his romantic relationship. He wants to be a writer and someone who takes those nerdy interests into his adult life (cue aggressive gesturing toward the duffers themselves) and grates against all that’s been constructed for him even when he’s not (yet) brave enough to challenge it directly. Mike liking boys/loving Will is just “the final nail in the coffin” of his social and societal nonconformity—not the first (or the last) aspect of what makes him different from Hawkins or the life he was made to believe would suit him best.

Even the fact that Mike has a desire to be “normal” comes from an insecurity and fear that choosing what he truly wants will lead to him being outcasted and losing the people he cares for entirely—which is partially motivated by his queerness yes, but that also has a basis in his general interests and personality…which becomes especially obvious when you realize we are repeatedly shown that he is punished/has his wishes ignored in all areas he doesn’t conform, even long before we get into a plot where it’s clearer he likes boys.

We see it in how his parents have already started to demand he put boundaries on the time he spends playing his “childhood games” the very first scene of season one, how they demand social acceptable emotions from him when Will is missing, and how Karen & Ted want him to give up toys in S2 when he’s showing signs of depression (because they think the issue is him growing up, not that he’s struggling with loss or guilt for what happened to El).

We see it in how his own father comments about taking his CA trip away from him after calling Hellfire being a group for “dropouts” in S4 (implying that he is failing on an academic and social level that matters to wheelers—and that Nancy is good at).

We even see it in the way everyone from his bullies to his own girlfriend threaten and take things away from him when he doesn’t conform to social expectations...from Troy telling him to jump off the cliff to save Dustin in S1 (as punishment for the one time Mike stands up for himself in the gymnasium) to El jumping straight into breaking up with him and spying on him when he doesn’t do exactly what she wants him to in Season 3.

All of these moments are critical to understanding Mike as a person because they show us that, even without addressing his queerness, Mike’s desire to conform to socialized expectations involves but is not solely about him moving out of heteronormativity—it’s about him moving against everything that WASP, patriarchal, heteronormative and capitalistic and performative “wholesome American” values…and how he is learning to move past the fear of what will happen if he steps outside the lines in general, even though he already knows he hates those standards.

Mike’s “coming of age” arc is about finding the strength to choose the “path less traveled” in all areas of his life—even when it means (potentially) losing the support of the people he cares about. It’s about starting from a place of privilege and becoming okay with being outcasted from it in a way your insecurities never let you be before (which is inherently different than Will, who has always been shown to have some kind of support not just for his queerness but his artistic endeavors as well). Mike’s lack of support is why he starts from a place of deep insecurity, yes—but it’s also why him learning power of choosing to be himself, even if it means “losing” people when he’s honest about who (& what) he is will be universally powerful.

You don’t need to be queer to understand the power of what it means to know you will be okay even if people leave you. You don’t need to be queer to understand the power of stepping outside social expectations or your family’s way of raising you. You don’t even need to be queer to understand the weight of breaking up with someone you were only with to satisfy what you thought you should do, rather than be with who you want to.

The power of being strong enough to overcome your insecurities in order to “step out of line” and live and love as you want to is universal, and a stunningly brave choice no matter what or why you chose to do so. The fact that Will will be there waiting to love him in that honesty with himself is beautiful, yes—but it’s not the only lesson to be learned for Mike’s character.

Mike starting out with everything the world (or, at least America) tells would make you happy, realizing he is not happy with those things and rejecting them knowing it might have consequences is what makes his arc powerful, because he is learning (exactly like his sister Nancy) to be brave enough to accept those consequences (which for him are getting dumped, and feeling like he’s being left behind by some of his friends) to follow his own heart.

Even though The Duffers aren’t writing this into a tragic ending (aka: he’s not going to die or be left alone, because the duffers writing is inherently designed ro champion the outcast), these are the things that have (and will) make him relatable even to an audience that doesn’t know queerness. Erasing the fact that his lesson is the bravery it takes to follow your heart solely to talk about him liking guys (even Will) is to undermine his humanity, and the lessons to be learned from him by even the most general an audience.

TL:DR - the heteronormative aspect of Mike’s character is not the sole or even inherent issue within Mike, though heteronormativity is inherently built into his struggle.

There are deep dives on how his arc is also about a war against toxic patriarchy, toxic masculinity, emphasis on capitalistic and academic accomplishments over artistic ones, and even conformist relationships (whether they’re queer or not) that should be explored for his character—and I for one like him too much not to move out of just “this boy is queer because xyz” and into “let’s talk about Mike in terms of the wider scope of his cultural context and upbringing.” 🤷🏽‍♀️😂

#imma go watch the Oscars now but #i know people mean NO HARM in focusing on the heteronormative part of his arc because on tumblr esp that is inherently relatable but #it’s not the only thing that makes his character interesting! #and it’s not the only thing he’s struggling with in his ‘coming of age!’ #understanding white masculinity in America on a wider scale is SUPER helpful to understanding Mike #and in that sense Reddit is actually pretty good at catching his drift—THEY JUST DONT REALIZE THE DUFFERS ARE U N D E R M I N I N G it #erasing Mike’s queerness is to do him a disservice. I absolutely believe this. #but to deny every other part of him that isn’t just expected to be straight is to oversimplify him aggressively #you need BOTH to understand him #which is why you need both El and Will to make sense of his struggle lmao #(I still 100% believe he’s gay not bi) #(but him dating a girl was necessary to make sense of understanding that aspect of socialized expectations). #ANYWAY. Sorry for the rant lmao #mike wheeler core #mike wheeler #my st commentary #byler #< target audience #stranger things

[shawnaise]

fellas is it gay to become overly invested in a rivalry with someone you secretly deeply admire almost directly after being divorced by your spouse? it’s just a distraction, yeah? one that fulfills me in ways I can’t say aloud?

#psych #psych usa #psych 2006 #shassie #I mean come on #who queer coded these guys #I know what they are #fuckinnn middle aged man yaoi or whatever #shawn spencer #carlton lassiter