Yay,
conspiracies

this Moth Saw Brightness

who should read This novel?

You may like this novel if:

You are a reader that enjoys:

  • Complex family dynamics and relationships

  • Stories that blend genres and don’t fit into boxes, that contain what some might call “quirkiness” or cheek

  • Psychological semi-thrillers that value authentic characters as much as plot

  • Layered narratives

  • Short chapters that reward, but don’t require, careful reading

  • Questions more than answers

You’d be excited about:

  • John Green’s Turtles All the Way Down but plottier

  • A.S. King’s Still Life with Tornado but with conspiracies

  • M.T. Anderson’s Feed but more optimistic

  • Kaliane Bradley’s The Ministry of Time but without time travel

  • Dr. Strangelove but with more high school and less fluids

Not for
everyone
link to book page on amazon
A. A. Vacharat holding up an ipad showing the cover of THIS MOTH SAW BRIGHTNESS, which is a striking grey with a geometric object and a moth, flying out of it. The accents of the cover are a lime-y yellow.

When everyone’s trying to act “normal,” being yourself is an act of rebellion.

synopsis

‘Wayne Le—known as "Invisible-D ‘Wayne" at school—has been invited to participate in a seemingly ordinary health study. The study has a few nice perks, but most important to ‘Wayne is the opportunity to give his father an accomplishment to be proud of.

But the study quickly proves to be anything but ordinary. ‘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.

Themes, questions, discussion points

oo, meaning

What is this novel about?

  • Neurodivergence and autism: society’s misunderstanding and undervaluing of it

  • The history of government experimentation on civilians

  • How conspiracy theories can both reveal truths and obscure it

  • Who gets to decide which people are valuable enough to live, and whose stories are valuable enough to tell

  • Mental health and the boundaries of “self”

  • What it means to be American and what is meant by believing in democracy

  • The complexity of beliefs, morality, the subjectivity of justice and value, and the corresponding need for empathy

the scariest part of mind control? you might not mind being controlled.