Book No. 36 of 2020
I wish, so badly, that this book had existed when I was a high schooler. It’s possibly the one YA novel that most nails—NAILS—the experience of being an Asian-American girl the summer after high school and before college, caught between passion and obligation.
Lots of YA tropes abound, but they’re done well. I had lots of flashbacks to the overnight bonding that happens at camp programs, and the drama and hormone-addled freedom of an international dirtbag summer (IYKYK!!). I also loved that this book brought Taiwan to life—not just its sites and history, but also its night markets, cheap shopping, and food. I also appreciated the inclusion of Taiwanese aboriginal culture and the nods to the political tensions that shape Taiwanese culture. The writer also captures that blend of English-Mandarin-Hokkien that characterizes real-life multicultural dialogue.
Maybe the thing I identified the most with in this book was the complexity of being an American teenager with the burden of your immigrant parents’ sacrifice; the protagonist and her friends in this book grapple with the same type of awareness and conflict I had in high school, and discuss the casual racism woven through their childhoods. It’s a facet of American life I found unaddressed in the YA novels I read as a teen. I also appreciated the author doing away with the “girls can’t be friends, they’re always competing” thing.
Similar Reads
Some observations the protagonist makes are also articulated in Cathy Park Hong’s Minor Feelings.
The intersection of Asian-American identity and neuroatypical needs reminded me of Helen Hoang’s The Bride Test.
The sexual/romantic tension made me think of Yangsze Choo’s Night Tiger.