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Title details for This Moth Saw Brightness by A. A. Vacharat - Wait list

This Moth Saw Brightness

by A. A. Vacharat
ebook
Pre-release: Expected May 27, 2025
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A weird and revelatory debut that vividly captures the dislocation of growing up BIPOC and neurodivergent in a country awash in both conspiracy theories and genuine conspiracies.
"The invisible D in my name is my mother’s second most lasting contribution to my life."
‘Wayne Le—known as "Invisible-D 'Wayne" at school—has been invited to participate in a seemingly ordinary, innocuous adolescent health study by a prestigious university. The study has a few nice perks, but most important to ‘Wayne, is the opportunity to give his immigrant father an accomplishment to be proud of—something that's been in short supply since 'Wayne's mother left.
But the study quickly proves to be anything but ordinary and innocuous, and ‘Wayne, his best friend Kermit, and a fellow study participant named Jane (a girl who shall not be manic-pixied) find themselves sucked into an M. C. Escheresque maze of conspiracies that might be entirely in their heads or might truly be a sinister government plot.

  • Creators

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  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Kirkus

      Starred review from February 15, 2025
      Baltimore teen 'Wayne Le, who goes by "D" for the invisible letter that begins his name, knows he's a disappointment. After D's mother abruptly left the family eight years ago, he began sliding down the slippery slope of apathy. Now the high school senior's relationship with his father is stilted, his grades are terrible, and his crush on classmate Jane Gallagher is going nowhere because he can't bring himself to initiate a conversation. When D, who's cued Vietnamese on his father's side and whose mother is coded white, is invited by Johns Hopkins University to participate in an important research study, the thought of finally making his father proud convinces him to agree to take part. Soon after, he's approached by Jane, who's autistic and a fellow study participant, with an offer to meet periodically to discuss their thoughts about the study. Their conversations take a conspiratorial turn after Jane and D make some startling discoveries with the help of Kermit Shah, entrepreneurial tech whiz and D's best friend. At the same time, D faces a difficult decision presented by an email from his long-absent mother, asking to visit him. This funny, insightful debut about mental illness, identity, and a person's capacity to change packs a surprising emotional punch. Bold stylistic choices--wry footnotes, the inclusion of documents referenced in the story, a brief interjection by the author--add an interactive element to D's humorous and self-deprecating first-person narration. Superb.(Fiction. 13-18)

      COPYRIGHT(2025) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Booklist

      Starred review from April 1, 2025
      Grades 8-12 *Starred Review* The true conspiracy theories are the friends we made along the way--or are they? 'Wayne isn't particularly interested in conspiracy theories, so when he is selected for a medical research study at Johns Hopkins University, he doesn't think much of it. At first, 'Wayne thinks the most interesting thing about the study is the presence of Jane, his classmate (and crush) whom he's barely talked to. To 'Wayne's surprise, Jane proposes that the duo meet regularly to discuss the study. As the study progresses, small but significant details in the teens' daily lives start to seem slightly outside of their norm. At times, specific aspects of the narrative are overtly synthetic; they feel a little too scripted or rely on connections that are a little too convenient. Although these elements initially look like the organic missteps of a debut writer, it later seems that this is the conclusion the reader is intended to reach . . . or is it? While 'Wayne's strong voice comes out in frequent footnotes that break the fourth wall and Jane is the rare well-written autistic girl, the tense, well-paced plot is usually at the forefront. This debut is an engaging read while also having great potential to spark conversations about information literacy with the implications of its deeply unsettling ending.

      COPYRIGHT(2025) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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  • English

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