How We See The Gray, by Rachel León: A Big 'Ole Dose of Empathy

It's not an exaggeration to say reading this novel will make you a better person.

At last week’s release party for Rachel León’s debut novel, How We See The Gray, León’s editor, Megan Stielstra, told the crowd that reading this book had literally made her a better person. What a compliment! And you know what? That’s true for me too.

They say reading novels inspires empathy -- that walking a mile, even a fictional one, in someone else’s shoes helps you see the world differently and gives you a better understanding of someone else’s struggles. It makes sense, but I don’t know how you prove that’s true. At the very least, what is unquestionably true is that reading a novel helps you learn about things you didn’t know about before. And that’s the first step toward empathy -- toward being a better person.

How We See The Gray interrogates the fraught foster care system through the eyes of social workers, children, parents, and foster parents. Set in Rockford, Illinois over the course of a year (June 2018-June 2019), we follow these characters through pain, success, lies, heartbreak, elation, addiction, hilarity, peace, and just about everything in between.

The gray in the title could be a reference both to the moral murkiness of an overmatched and underfunded foster care system, but also, and more importantly, it’s a nod to how we should see every person as nuanced, neither good nor bad. Of course, it’s not always easy to square in our minds people who have done bad things but aren’t bad people. The currency of our current moment is the hot take -- the loudest and angriest voices drown out more reasoned, measured thought. Nuance is an endangered species. But people deserve more than snap judgment. No one should be defined by their worst moment.

As I approached the end of this engaging novel, this line just smacked my gobs: “We believe this world would be kinder if people’s default response was curiosity, rather than judgment.” RIGHT?! I MEAN, RIGHT?!

But this is a novel, and we read novels, yes to learn, but mostly to be entertained. And let me be clear about one thing: This novel is very entertaining. It’s not even the least bit preachy. Even if at times it’s hard to read because it’s emotionally painful, it’s still a whole lot of fun.

León is a skillful and deft writer, constructing the stories in multiple points-of-view into a cohesive whole. It never feels fractured or discontinuous, as narratives in this structure sometimes do.

Finally, the disclaimer: I do know Rachel. She is a friend. Whenever you pick up a friend’s piece of writing, there’s always that niggling voice in the back of your brain that goes, “What if I don’t like this? What’ll I do?” But I can tell you with a clear conscience: I liked this quite a bit. I mean, I REALLY liked this. It feels different -- like something fresh and original and (probably because it’s from a small press) unlike anything else out there right now. Very highly recommended!

(One last really stupid note: I’ve been struggling this whole post not to make a “How We See The Fifty Shades of Gray” joke. But EL James went with the British spelling “grey” [I know, the character’s name is Grey], so it wouldn’t have worked anyway. 😎 )