Anna-Marie McLemore was born in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and taught by their family to hear la Llorna in the Santa Ana winds. They are the author of The Weight of Feathers, a finalist for the 2106 William C. Morris Debut Award; 2017 Stonewall Honor Book When the Moon Was Ours, which was longlisted for the National Book Award in Young People's Literature and was the winner of the Otherwise Award (formerly the James Tiptree Jr. Award); Wild Beauty; Blanca & Roja; Dark and Deepest Red; and The Mirror Season, which was also longlisted for the National Book Award in Young People's literature. You can find them online at author.annamariemclemore.com. You can find more of my reviews of McLemore's works here.
Everyone who lives near the lake knows the stories about the world underneath it, an ethereal landscape rumored to be half water, half air. But Bastián Silvano and Lore Garcia are the only ones who've been there. Bastián grew up both above the lake and in the otherwordly space beneath it. Lore's seen the world under the lake only once, but that one encounter changed their life and their fate. Then the lines between air and water begin to blur. The world under the lake begins to spill into the world above. If Bastián and Lore don't want it bringing their secrets to the surface, they have to stop it—and to do that, they need to work together. There's just one problem: Bastián and Lore haven't spoken in seven years, and working together means trusting each other with the very things they're tying to hide.
I've been reading McLemore's work since they published The Weight of Feathers because there was always something distinctly magical about their work (and yes, even outside of the obvious "magical realism" genre tag). That magical thing is McLemore's ability to write things that don't feel distinctly magical in a way that feels magical, because they tell the truth. And there's something magical about a writer just distilling down the best and worst parts of the world in such a truthful way.
I believe that everyone needs to read this book—young adult fiction has come a long way in producing novels and series that are must-reads because of the topics explored or because of the way this level of writing can reach so many people. Lakelore does both of those things—exploring gender identity and neurodivergence in a way that's not comprehensive, but is like a piece of the puzzle. As Lore says in the book, they can only detail what their experience with dyslexia is like; and once we understand what it's like for them, we as readers realize that there are probably millions of other unique stories that, should we engage with them, will make us more empathetic and compassionate people.
Some of my best friends are neurodivergent, but I guess I never really understood the breadth and depth of that term until reading Lakelore. It's one thing to have someone describe their experience to you, but quite another entirely to experience someone's life with them. Lakelore does that—puts you right in Lore's and Bastián's minds. This is why I would say that Lakelore is McLemore's most personal novel. Not because they detail how their own brain works (which is true, if I understood the Author's Note correctly), but because McLemore lets us get closer to Lore and Bastián than any of their other characters. While Lore's and Bastián's experiences aren't the only neurodivergent experiences, I think this novel provides a space for people with similar experiences to feel seen, and give them the courage to be who they are. At the very least, that's exactly how I felt at the end of the novel.
The blurb is so clever, in that a reader might not expect what the novel has in store. And yet, when you go back to read the blurb while reading the book, you realize that it's your own bias that has misled you, and not the words written there. I really love when that happens, because it makes me reevaluate the meaning I apply to the words used. I don't want to spoil how the book is different from the blurb, so I won't go into much detail other than to say that the structure of the novel is brilliant as well. I love how the magic of the lake is never explained, because it doesn't have to be. I love how Lore and Bastián work their way back to one another, and how their stories end. I love the colors of this story, and how the cover reflects that. And I love most of all how important the words are, and how necessary this novel is going to be for young adults to come.
Anna-Marie McLemore is an instant-buy author for me, so you know the next book they publish, you'll be able to find a review from me! Until then, you can find them online at author.annamariemclemore.com. You can find more of my reviews of McLemore's works here.
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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