A Step from Heaven (Now in Speak!)

by An Na

In this first novel, a young girl describes her family's bittersweet experience in the United States after their emigration from Korea. While going up and up into the sky on the flight from Korea to California, four-year-old Young Ju concludes that they are on their way to heaven - America is heaven! After they arrive, however, Young Ju and her parents and little brother struggle in their new world, weighed down by the difficulty of learning English, their insular family life, and the traditions of the country they left behind. An Na's striking language authentically reflects the process of acculturation as Young Ju grows from a child to an adult.

• ISBN10: 1886910588
• ISBN13: 9781886910584
• Publish Date: 27 March 2001
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 23 June 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Front Street Inc
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 156
• Language: English

Reviews

[readingwithwrin]

"Remember Young Ju you come from a family of dreamers."

Trigger Warning: an abusive parent


Young Ju is just 4 years old when her parents decided that it's best for them to move to Mi Gook. Young thinks it's heaven after having talked to her grandma, but sadly it's not. Instead its now up to her to teach her parents what she learns at school every day, and as she grows older to help them navigate the legal parts of being an immigrant. She also is expected to take care of her little brother Joon while her parents work. This isn't an easy task because their father lets him get away with too much until he gets older and then he starts getting punished too.

Overall I did find this book a tough read, but it's one I'm glad I pushed through. The longer Young is in America it gets easier to read, she gets better at understanding and speaking English. She starts to realize the things that are happening in her family aren't okay, and that her mother and the rest of them deserve better, but she's also afraid to say anything. She's expected to be the good Korean daughter, yet at the same time to be an American, yet not too American. It's a very confusing balance, and one that I'm not even sure is possible.

"Uhmma said her hands were her life. But for us, she only wished to see our hands holding books. You must use this, she said and pointed to her mind."

Young mom is a very strong woman, not only because she kept trying to do what was best for the family, but because she didn't complain about it ever, she never guilted the children. She did what she had to in order to give them a better life and to make sure that they had a chance at being successful. Of course, I wish she had left her husband, but I knew that wasn't going to happen unless something very bad happened, and I'm not even sure if Young hadn't taken matters into her own hands if she ever would have.
I found the Korean words very confusing at times especially since there wasn't any index for them so you could see what they meant. By the end, it does make sense for their not to be an index because it shows how frustrating it must be when you first immigrate here and don't really know the language and are having to piece everything together.

This is a story about so much more than just coming to America, it's dealing with an abusive parent, it's trying to be the first in your family to get an education, all while dealing with high expectations.