Lisa Graff Explores Fresh Starts and Second Chances in Her New Novel, Lost in the Sun

In the months after the accident, Trent is left with too many thoughts and feelings he can’t keep track of or control, so he keeps them inside a Book of Thoughts, a book that gets more and more scary as he fills each page. And, as much as he wants to prove to himself that he’s not the screw-up everyone thinks he is, he manages to continuously prove the opposite, talking back to teachers and parents, and physically lashing out at his peers.
It’s the least likely of suspects who give Trent a chance at a new story, the fresh start he can’t quite demonstrate he deserves: Fallon Little, the girl with a mysterious scar, whose tall tales, weird quirks, and booming personality charm Trent into an unlikely friendship; Mr. Gorman, the PE teacher, who greets Trent at the start of each class by asking him if Trent will be someone he likes today (Trent repeatedly decides, no, he won’t be); and his “old crone” of a homeroom teacher, Ms. Emerson, who gives Trent the space he needs to discover what kind of person he wants to be.
That’s one of the looming questions in this novel: who does Trent want to be? He wavers between being the kind of person he assumes others think he is (angry, violent, and abrasive) and the person he’s not quite sure he is at heart (sweet, caring, funny, and smart). Watching him struggle with this is, at times, heartbreaking, as, one by one, he alienates the people in his life and they stop showing up.

What Graff explores so beautifully, however, are the people who do show up. Breath-of-fresh-air Fallon, his teachers, his brothers (his prankster brother, Doug, who has unwavering faith in Trent); even his mother’s new boyfriend believes that for every one step forward, three steps back that Trent takes, he’ll ultimately find his way forward.
The novel is perfect for any young person struggling with the anger, hurt, and frustration that come with being misunderstood. But it also feels like a novel to remind parents and teachers of the importance of giving kids the right kind of attention, space, and time they need to make sense of who they’re perceived to be, and who they really are.
When a player fails to catch the ball because of sun glare during a Dodger’s game, Trent’s mother explains, “You can’t catch what you can’t see.” Graff’s layered, thoughtful, and complex novel reminds us to look beyond what we can see, to the limitless potential each of us have.
Lost in the Sun is in stores today.