The groundbreaking Own Voices YA classic from Korean-American author Marie Myung-Ok Lee, reissued with a new foreword from Wicked Fox author Kat Cho.
Seventeen-year-old Ellen Sung just wants to be like everyone else at her all-white school. But hers is the only Korean American family in town, and her classmates in Arkin, Minnesota, will never let her forget that she’s different. At the start of senior year, Ellen finds herself falling for Tomper Sandel, a football player who is popular and blond and undeniably cute . . . and to her surprise, he falls for her, too. Now Ellen has a chance at a life she never imagined, one that defies the expectations of both her core friend group and her strict parents. But even as she stands up to racism at school and disapproval at home, all while pursuing a romance with Tomper, Ellen discovers that her greatest challenge is one she never expected: finding the courage to speak up and raise her voice.
Ellen is living in the Shadow of her genius older sister, who is fulfilling their parents dreams at Harvard. Stuck inside studying all the time, instead of enjoying her senior year she feels like she's missing out on all the classic teenage stuff she should be doing. On top of that she has to face racism from her peers and even some of her teachers for being Asian-American in a small minded town. But there's three rays of sunshine in Ellen's life; her friend Jessie, gymnastics and a cute boy at school who she thinks might like her. Can she find her own voice against the bullies and her parents to finally be who she wants to be?
I'm really torn about this book. On one hand I really wanted to like it and enjoyed that it's an authentic view of 90's America for someone that doesn't fit in. But on the other hand, I found it kind of dull. It only begins to pick up near the end and then it suddenly finishes, nothing feels resolved and I hate open-ended endings MORE THAN ANYTHING! All things considered, I'd say I can see why this book was so groundbreaking at the time and I'm pleased it's being republished again, but I just felt underwhelmed and unsatisfied by the story and some of the characters.
Thank you Netgalley and Soho Press for sending me a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
