Warning: This article contains spoilers.
A tunnel has no front or back. At least, that’s what Natty told Tia when they first discussed gravity tunnels and the Huddlestone Arch in New York’s Central Park. In Lygia Day Peñaflor’s Beautiful to See You (Again), readers are invited to consider how endings can become beginnings and goodbyes can lead to hellos.
Natty is the valedictorian of their graduating high school class. He’s not quiet, but he’s someone who has kept to himself. However, after giving a beautiful, meaningful, and enthusiastically received speech during their high school graduation ceremony, he admits he wants to live more in the moment and make the friends and do the things he feels he missed out on. As his classmates and peers greet him like an old friend during these final moments of school, he’s happy and fulfilled.
Natty attends the graduation party, where he formally meets Tia, a young classmate who glows with joy. The two immediately hit it off, quickly building a friendship and perhaps something more. By the time it’s the Fourth of July, the two share their first kiss and officially become a couple. Things are beautiful between them, exemplifying true young love. They spend time together, but also with their friends, and even with their families, making the most of their time together before they’re off to college. However, six days before they’re set to leave for their college campuses, tragedy strikes, leaving everyone struggling to stay afloat physically and mentally.
Fast forward several years, and Tia is living in New York. She’s no longer attending Columbia University, but she’s made a life for herself, walking dogs and spending each night bonding with her roommates. At least, that’s what it looks like from the outside. In reality, Tia makes sure to answer her parents’ nightly FaceTime call, share some minor details about her day, and lie about going to catch up on a show with her roommates. In reality, she spends her nights restless and empty, searching for purpose. One day, she’s walking dogs for work in Central Park when she runs into a student filmmaker by the name of Razor Ford. Not knowing or caring who he is, she dismisses his offer to star in his upcoming film, GO! Staying persistent, Razor continues to pursue Tia in hopes she’ll be his main actress.
In a turn of events, Tia ends up reaching out to Razor and accepting the role. Not wanting to read the entire script as she takes each filming process day-by-day the same way she’s approached life, she finds herself feeling alive again while filming. By the end, she’s mentally and emotionally torn between the past and present, feeling guilty towards Natty but also developing interest in Razor. In a self-sabotaging habit, she pushes Razor away once filming has wrapped. After Razor leaves town and she’s left alone, she finally gives the short film they created a watch, discovering that Razor was her answer to moving forward from the past this entire time.
Lygia Day Peñaflor created a beautiful novel with fantasy elements that’s emotionally deep and resonant. The novel itself is split into two parts, but they are intertwined. In a way, it’s a representation of life. Chapters bounce between the past and present; you can move forward from the past, but even then, the past memories still exist within you and have shaped who you are in the present. Despite going back and forth in time, the story flows smoothly and remains easy to follow. The chapters on the past give more insight into Tia’s thoughts and explain her actions and decisions she makes in present time. Through these flashbacks, readers are also able to see her growth in real-time. Readers can see Tia in all three eras—before Natty, during Natty, and after Natty. After meeting Razor and discovering the truth behind GO!, readers also get to see the next chapter of Tia’s journey, after Razor.
Although the story features time jumping, the fantasy aspect is not outrageous. At times, it can seem like the time jumps are nothing more than a hallucination created by Tia’s grief. Although others are experiencing the same phenomenon as Tia, the other characters don’t appear as often. Additionally, Tia herself has shown the tendency to react strongly to her own grief, which could lead to a hallucination like the time jump. However, the completely unexpected plot twist at the end confirms the truth. Whether it was intentional or not, Tia earns empathy thanks to this ambiguity, as even she has trouble keeping track of what’s real. The time jump aspect is important for Tia, but not as a tool to change the future or prevent tragedy. Instead, it becomes a big factor in her future, helping her see things clearer and move forward. It teachers her that there are more perspectives to things than just one side and that life continues on.
Whether it’s Tia, Natty, Razor, or even a side character like Natty’s mother, Shelly, every character experiences growth from the beginning of the story to the end. The author does a wonderful job not only establishing each character, but developing them and giving them room to grow as well. A great example of this subtle but important growth is Shelly. Although she isn’t prominent or present for a majority of the book, her surprise appearance at the end that reveals where she is and how she’s moved forward by living and honoring Natty.
Beautiful to See You (Again) is heartbreaking at times and heartwarming at others, offering a beautifully balanced story that depicts the highs and lows of life. It’s a story that shows that moving forward doesn’t have to mean leaving the past behind.
