CRYSTAL'S HOUSE OF QUEERS

A teenage girl finds her queer identity in the midst of a family crisis in Skipstone’s novel.

The small town of Clear, Alaska, isn’t the most inviting place to be an openly queer teen. It’s a conservative town where most people think Covid-19 is a hoax, even as local cases increase. Ever since in-person classes have resumed, high school senior Crystal Rose has been having sex dreams about her secret crush Haley Carson, who was once her best friend. Crystal intervenes one day when Haley’s boyfriend, Dylan Whitley, gropes Haley in the school hallway. The moment reinvigorates the girls’ friendship—Haley is impressed with Crystal’s self-possession and artistic abilities—and their relationship starts to blossom into something more. Meanwhile, a new girl arrives at school: Payton Reed, an out lesbian who doesn’t care what anyone thinks about her. When Crystal’s grandparents, who raised her, leave town to visit the hospital—they think they might have Covid-19—Crystal invites Haley to hide out from Dylanat her house. Then Crystal’s parents, whom she’s long believed to be dead, show up in Clear for the first time in 14 years. Along with Haley, Payton, and a few other new friends, Crystal attempts to adjust to the changes in her life while defending herself from those who would destroy her happiness. Skipstone’s prose is urgent and expressive, as when Crystal ruminates over her mother Maya’s alcoholism: “Crystal won’t speak because she’s afraid of what she’ll say. Why couldn’t Maya have entered rehab by herself? Gotten sober and gone back to her parents and kids?” The novel deals with issues of queer identity, domestic violence, sexual abuse, addiction, and neurodiversity, and at times, the plot feels overstuffed with various tensions. In part, this is a result of Skipstone’s decision to set the novel over the course of two days, during which an improbably large number of significant events occur. Although the author’s attempts to speak to a great many issues is admirable, she doesn’t allow enough space in this narrative to give them each the proper amount of emotional weight.