American Panda by Gloria Chao

American Panda

by Gloria Chao

“Charmed my socks off.” —David Arnold, New York Times bestselling author of Kids of Appetite and Mosquitoland
“A soulful and hilarious debut.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Effervescent.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“An earnest, funny, and emotional story.” —Book Riot
    An incisive, laugh-out-loud contemporary debut about a Taiwanese-American teen whose parents want her to be a doctor and marry a Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer despite her squeamishness with germs and crush on a Japanese classmate.
    At seventeen, Mei should be in high school, but skipping fourth grade was part of her parents’ 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 not Taiwanese.
    But when Mei 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?
   

Reviewed by Sam@WLABB on

4 of 5 stars

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I am a fan of coming-of-age stories, and I especially love when they come with a cultural point of view. I can say that American Panda more than fit the bill, and Chao delivered a tale that was often funny, sometimes heartbreaking, but in the end, hopeful.

•Pro: I found it very easy to like Mei. She was quite delightful and witty, and I appreciated her sense of humor. Her musings sometimes had me laughing out loud, and other times, had me getting a little misty. She felt authentic, and although I am not Chinese, I could relate to some of her woes.

•Pro: The conflict comes in the form of Mei being unable to live up to her parents expectations. She needed to dream her own dreams and do those things that she was passionate about. You think this would make her salty about her parents, but it is made clear that she loved them and she knew they love her. I really appreciated that Chao approached the story this way.

•Pro: Mei grew so much during this story, as expected, but she wasn't the only one. Chao did such a nice job giving us a three dimensional picture of Mei's mother. It was really nice to see Mei discover a different side of her mother, and I grew to like her mother very much over the course of the book.

•Pro: It was fun "touring" MIT and learning some of the ins and outs of that school.

•Pro: I was totally smitten with Mei's love interest. Darren was all sorts of sweet and charming. I was overjoyed these two found each other.

•Pro: I felt like Mei's struggle was conveyed well. Her confusion, guilt, and all the stress it caused her emanated from the page. I was so glad she was able to dance it out or talk to her brother, Darren, or Nic.

•Pro: I really enjoyed learning about the culture, as my daughter is half Chinese (her relatives being from Taiwan). There were things I knew and things that were new to me.

Overall: An charming story about trying to balance tradition without losing one's own identity.

ARC received in exchange for an honest review.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 17 January, 2018: Finished reading
  • 17 January, 2018: Reviewed