Mini Reseñas feat. American Panda! (eng)
December 09, 2018
The Astonishing Colour of After - Emily X.R. Pan
Blurb: When Leigh's mother dies by suicide she leaves only a scribbled note - I want you to remember.
Leigh doesn't understand its meaning and wishes she could turn to her best friend, Axel - if only she hadn't kissed him and changed everything between them.
Guided by a mysterious red bird, Leigh travels to Taiwan to meet her grandparents for the first time. There, Leigh retreats into art and memories, where colours collide, the rules of reality are broken and the ghosts of the past refuse to rest...
But Leigh is determined to unlock her family's secrets.
To remember.
Um... I'm kinda disappointed?
You see, one of the worst parts is that it wasn't even a 'bad' book - the writing was lovely, some parts of the story were really funny.
But the book dragged a lot.
The magical realism intrigued me at first but eventually bored me as I progressed through the novel.
The discussions about mental health and grief were pretty well executed in my opinion.
Rainbirds - Clarissa Goenawan
Blurb: Ren Ishida has nearly completed his graduate degree when he receives news that his sister has been murdered - stabbed one rainy night, with no leads to the culprit. He heads from Tokyo to the town of Akakawa to conclude her affairs, failing to understand why Keiko ever left their family for this desolate place.
But when Ren is offered Keiko's now-vacant position teaching at a prestigious local cram school and her bizarre former arrangement of free lodging at a wealthy politician's mansion, he decides to step into her shoes in order to better understand her life. As he comes to know Akakawa's eccentric figures and delves into his shared childhood with Keiko, Ren realises that his sister kept many secrets, even from him.
This book.... :)
...was =D
...basically another case of pretty cover syndrome. Okay, let's be real: the book wasn't that bad, after all, I was able to finish it despite not caring about the main character. I also liked the writing.
I believe this book was surprised to have a mystery element to it but that part was fairly weak. I might check out another book from this author if the main character isn't some creepy person because the writing and dialogue were pretty good.
This Side of Home - Renée Watson
Blurb: Identical twins Maya and Nikki have always agreed on the most important things. Friends. Boys. Schools. They even plan to attend the same historically African American college.
But as their Portland neighbourhood goes from rough-and-tumble to up-and-coming, Maya feels her connection to Nikki and their community slipping away. Nikki spends more time ay trendy coffee shops than backyard barbecues, and their new high school principal is more committed to erasing the neighbourhood's 'ghetto' reputation than honouring its history. As Maya struggles to hold onto her black heritage, she begins to wonder with whom -or where- she belongs. Does growing up have to mean growing apart?
I have to admit, I was pretty excited to finally read this because it was on my TBR for quite a while and because it's a book focusing on black characters.
This book is basically a coming-of-age story about twins who are preparing for college. It's set in Maya's perspective and shows how uncomfortable she is with the changes happening. The book touches on gentrification, a process of renovating a district to conform to middle class taste.
There's also talk about being 'black enough'. I could also relate to the part when Maya mentioned being proud of when a black person does something good and ashamed when black people commit crime.
If you want to find more about the black community in America, then this would be an interesting read to pick up.
Seven Ways We Lie - Riley Redgate
Blurb: Paloma High School is ordinary by anyone's standard's. It's got the same cliques, the same prejudices, the same suspect cafeteria food. And like at every high school, each student has something to hide - from Kat, the thespian who conceals her trust issues onstage, to Valentine, the neurotic genius who's planted the seed of a school scandal.
When the scandal bubbles over, and rumours of a teacher-student affair surface, everyone starts hunting for someone to blame. For the seven unlikely allies at the heart of it all, their ordinary-seeming lives result in extraordinary change.
Just like there are seven sins, there are seven characters that have one of those sins and there are seven perspectives. Honestly, even writing two separate perspectives can wreck your head so I was really impressed by the author's ability to create different voices.
The book starts off with Olivia's perspective, who has a reputation for sleeping around so she is immediately accused of having the scandal with one of the teachers.
My favourite character was basically Valentine. However, I thought he was a girl when I first started his perspective? So that was kinda awkward?
Honestly, this book is pretty much about an American high school but was way more interesting than a lot of high school books so that was nice.
American Panda - Gloria Chao
Blurb: At seventeen, Mei Lu should be in high school, but skipping fourth grade was part of her parent's master plan. Now a freshman at MIT, she is on track to fulfill the rest of this predetermined future: become a doctor, marry a preapproved Taiwanese Ivy leaguer, produce a litter of babies.
With everything her parents have sacrificed to make her cushy life a reality, Mei can't bring herself to tell them the truth - that she 1) hates germs, 2) falls asleep in biology lectures, and 3) has a crush on her classmate Darren Takahashi, who is decidedly <i>not</i> Taiwanese.
But when she reconnects with her brother, Xing, who is estranged from the family for dating the wrong woman, Mei starts to wonder if all the secrets are truly worth it. Can she find a way to be herself, whoever that is, before her web of lies unravels?
Wow. Wow. Wow.
Mei was pretty interesting. She wears a fringe to hide her mole on her forehead, which has been criticised before. She has also mentioned several times that she's not skinny but 'chunky'. She was one of those sheltered kids (like me).
Mei's mum could be pretty draining at times but she was pretty funny at other times. And the character development was pretty interesting.
I choked on my tea. "Do either of you know who Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant or LeBron James is?"
"We don't know them because they're not as good as Jeremy Lin," my mother said with a shrug.
A darn good character driven book that featured complicated family dynamics!
So those where my mini reviews! I don't think these are going to be the last ones of this year. Maybe the second last? I hope your reading year went better than mine. Hm... and my end-of-the-year post is coming soon!
2 comments
I LOVED American Panda! I thought it was really good as a contemporary and realistic too so I'm glad you liked it :)
ReplyDeleteSame! It was so nice *heart eyes*
DeleteKeep it all clean, man. Well, if you really wanna curse, use minor swear words. And I mean the minorest of minor ones.
"Or what?" you ask in indignation.
"Or else."