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richincolor's reviews
563 reviews
Boxers & Saints Boxed Set by Gene Luen Yang
5.0
Gene Luen Yang brings the Boxer Rebellion to life in Boxers and Saints. Presenting the differing perspectives allows the reader to have a better understanding of the causes and motivations of the characters. These novels depict many atrocities towards men, women and children. Some of those actions are hard to take, but they do make a certain kind of sense when you see everything that led up to them including the misperceptions they have of the other culture. For the main character, Little Bao, the foreign devils are completely evil. They have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. As a result of a run in with the foreigners, his village and family have suffered greatly and the horrifying tales he hears only add to his negative opinion, so it is no surprise that he takes up arms against them. What may be harder to understand is his anger and hatred of the Chinese that follow the Christian ways. Using the multiple perspectives Yang manages to show the gray areas of this conflict. The characters themselves see everything as black and white, but the readers are given enough information to realize that the water is exceedingly muddy and many emotions and events lead others along their paths.
Boxers and Saints dealt with much more serious matters than I had expected from the opening. We are treated to scenes of fairs, Chinese opera, and see a young boy’s eagerness to learn martial arts. The art around the Chinese opera characters is stunning. The colors are vivid and the artwork is carefully detailed. Boxers soon becomes a battlefield though and much blood is spilled. In the midst of all the death and destruction, Little Bao is learning about himself and trying to align his philosophy with what he thinks he is “supposed” to believe. In addition, Four Girl, the main character in Saints, is trying to find her place in the world. She doesn’t want to just accept the place she has though. She wants to make the place that is right for her. These two young people have the same kinds of wishes that any teen might have, but their circumstances are extraordinary.
I found Boxers and Saints emotionally challenging. Witnessing man’s inhumanity to man is always draining for me. The characters feel so real that it is hard not to become involved and the scenes are intense. For readers looking for action, there is plenty of that. They may be surprised by the amount of thinking required though. I believe readers will follow the story even if they don’t have background knowledge of the Boxer rebellion, but I would imagine they will want to find out more by the time they are through. I went on a hunt for more information. Yang provides a nice bibliography at the end so readers can easily do that.
Recommendation: Buy it now – or at least get it as soon as you can. This is a beautifully illustrated and well told tale that you won’t want to miss.
Originally reviewed at Rich in Color http://richincolor.com/2013/09/review-boxers-and-saints/
Boxers and Saints dealt with much more serious matters than I had expected from the opening. We are treated to scenes of fairs, Chinese opera, and see a young boy’s eagerness to learn martial arts. The art around the Chinese opera characters is stunning. The colors are vivid and the artwork is carefully detailed. Boxers soon becomes a battlefield though and much blood is spilled. In the midst of all the death and destruction, Little Bao is learning about himself and trying to align his philosophy with what he thinks he is “supposed” to believe. In addition, Four Girl, the main character in Saints, is trying to find her place in the world. She doesn’t want to just accept the place she has though. She wants to make the place that is right for her. These two young people have the same kinds of wishes that any teen might have, but their circumstances are extraordinary.
I found Boxers and Saints emotionally challenging. Witnessing man’s inhumanity to man is always draining for me. The characters feel so real that it is hard not to become involved and the scenes are intense. For readers looking for action, there is plenty of that. They may be surprised by the amount of thinking required though. I believe readers will follow the story even if they don’t have background knowledge of the Boxer rebellion, but I would imagine they will want to find out more by the time they are through. I went on a hunt for more information. Yang provides a nice bibliography at the end so readers can easily do that.
Recommendation: Buy it now – or at least get it as soon as you can. This is a beautifully illustrated and well told tale that you won’t want to miss.
Originally reviewed at Rich in Color http://richincolor.com/2013/09/review-boxers-and-saints/
How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon
4.0
Review Copy: Digital ARC from Netgalley
A black boy in a hoodie shot by a white man – sound vaguely familiar? How it Went Down is a book that would work well in a book club or discussion group because it is, unfortunately, very relevant. Kekla Magoon tells a story that, while not based on specific people or one event, reflects situations that have occurred in the U.S. in the past few months and years. Fiction is a perfect vehicle for contemplation and discussion of tough subjects. Obviously, race is an issue that is front and center in this book. The dialogues in the book also raise questions about privilege, violence, and responsibility for friends, family and community among other things.
The story occurs over a span of nine days and is told through the voices of a wide variety of people. In some ways this makes the book very powerful since there are so many perspectives represented. It also inspires questions. How can there be so many versions of the same incident? How can two people standing right next to each other see something radically different? The various voices reveal actions, motivations, fears, and beliefs that led up to the shooting. These perspectives add a depth to the narrative, but the large number of voices (more than fifteen) make it challenging to distinguish them in the beginning. It’s also more difficult to connect to characters since the voices change often and are usually speaking briefly. Most of the voices are distinct though, so over time, this becomes less of an issue.
I especially looked forward to the voice of Tina, Tariq’s little sister. She spoke poetically. Her comments were simplistic, but they were also beautiful. She knew what she knew and trusted her brother implicitly.
This wasn’t an easy book to read. There are many moments of pain to be found and experienced. The worst part is that our news headlines contain similar situations. The story seemed all too possible.
Recommendation: Buy it now – especially if realistic fiction is your thing. This is a book that shouldn’t be missed. There is much food for thought and the characters are likely to stay with you for a long time.
Original review posted at Rich in Color http://richincolor.com/2014/10/how-it-went-down/
A black boy in a hoodie shot by a white man – sound vaguely familiar? How it Went Down is a book that would work well in a book club or discussion group because it is, unfortunately, very relevant. Kekla Magoon tells a story that, while not based on specific people or one event, reflects situations that have occurred in the U.S. in the past few months and years. Fiction is a perfect vehicle for contemplation and discussion of tough subjects. Obviously, race is an issue that is front and center in this book. The dialogues in the book also raise questions about privilege, violence, and responsibility for friends, family and community among other things.
The story occurs over a span of nine days and is told through the voices of a wide variety of people. In some ways this makes the book very powerful since there are so many perspectives represented. It also inspires questions. How can there be so many versions of the same incident? How can two people standing right next to each other see something radically different? The various voices reveal actions, motivations, fears, and beliefs that led up to the shooting. These perspectives add a depth to the narrative, but the large number of voices (more than fifteen) make it challenging to distinguish them in the beginning. It’s also more difficult to connect to characters since the voices change often and are usually speaking briefly. Most of the voices are distinct though, so over time, this becomes less of an issue.
I especially looked forward to the voice of Tina, Tariq’s little sister. She spoke poetically. Her comments were simplistic, but they were also beautiful. She knew what she knew and trusted her brother implicitly.
This wasn’t an easy book to read. There are many moments of pain to be found and experienced. The worst part is that our news headlines contain similar situations. The story seemed all too possible.
Recommendation: Buy it now – especially if realistic fiction is your thing. This is a book that shouldn’t be missed. There is much food for thought and the characters are likely to stay with you for a long time.
Original review posted at Rich in Color http://richincolor.com/2014/10/how-it-went-down/
Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne
Review copy: Purchased
Midnight Thief is an entertaining action/adventure fantasy that delves into unjust power structures and moral dilemmas. Kyra is a compelling heroine, one who grew up in the streets and eventually managed to make her way off of them with her thieving skills. I’m always pleased when a heroine starts off a story competent because it means the reader spends less time watching her level up and more time watching her get to have adventures. While Kyra does have a few training scenes/montages under the Assassin’s Guild—notably in fighting—most of the other characters respect her and her abilities. The skills she had before getting caught up in the guild (both physical and mental) are also the ones that she relies on most during the book. I was a little annoyed that Kyra spent the latter part of the book forced into working for one power or another, but I will admit that the tactics employed were a great way to raise the stakes for her, even if they were predicable for me.
Tristam was not as interesting a narrator, but I appreciated that his presence was a good contrast to Kyra. Through him, we got to see the effects of other people’s actions: the Demon Riders, Kyra, and the Assassin’s Guild. He was as his best while he was trying to figure out how the Palace’s intelligence was being leaked and his interactions with Kyra when he still saw her as an enemy. He was clever, persistent, and a skilled manipulator, which are always fun traits in a character.
But James was the master manipulator of Midnight Thief. If you like your antagonists as well-intentioned extremists with a liberal helping of the ends-justify-the-means methodology and more than a fair share of terrifying, James will be perfect for you. James wasn’t the only interesting non-point-of-view character; Livia Blackburn populated this world with several standouts, such as Pashla, Malikel, and Flick.
Blackburn did a good job of differentiating between Kyra’s and Tristam’s points of view. Some authors might have succumbed to the temptation to give them equal screentime (in order to further the romance), but Midnight Thief is Kyra’s story at heart. Blackburn only jumps to Tristam when there are parts of the story we can only get from him or when he is the better narrator for particular events (the chase in the Palace, for instance). Some of my favorite parts of the book were when Kyra or Tristam were able to question what they were doing, the loyalties they had, the society they lived in, and the repercussions of their actions. I also appreciated that both characters had to deal with death and violence, either that they caused or that they witnessed.
Perhaps my greatest complaint about the book is that I felt it contained few big surprises. With a couple exceptions (the one about the Demon Riders, for instance), either my familiarity with certain tropes or the hints dropped by Blackburn meant I often spent several pages just waiting for the book to catch up to my predictions. While it’s fun to guess right every now and then, I wish that I had been blown away more often or hadn’t figured out what direction things were headed so early.
Recommendation: Get it soon. Midnight Thief is a fun, fast read that will appeal to people who like prefer that their fantasy be less like a travelogue and more like a thriller. While I wish the book had felt less episodic and held more surprises than it did, it is a solid debut.
Originally posted at Rich in Color http://richincolor.com/2014/09/review-midnight-thief/
Midnight Thief is an entertaining action/adventure fantasy that delves into unjust power structures and moral dilemmas. Kyra is a compelling heroine, one who grew up in the streets and eventually managed to make her way off of them with her thieving skills. I’m always pleased when a heroine starts off a story competent because it means the reader spends less time watching her level up and more time watching her get to have adventures. While Kyra does have a few training scenes/montages under the Assassin’s Guild—notably in fighting—most of the other characters respect her and her abilities. The skills she had before getting caught up in the guild (both physical and mental) are also the ones that she relies on most during the book. I was a little annoyed that Kyra spent the latter part of the book forced into working for one power or another, but I will admit that the tactics employed were a great way to raise the stakes for her, even if they were predicable for me.
Tristam was not as interesting a narrator, but I appreciated that his presence was a good contrast to Kyra. Through him, we got to see the effects of other people’s actions: the Demon Riders, Kyra, and the Assassin’s Guild. He was as his best while he was trying to figure out how the Palace’s intelligence was being leaked and his interactions with Kyra when he still saw her as an enemy. He was clever, persistent, and a skilled manipulator, which are always fun traits in a character.
But James was the master manipulator of Midnight Thief. If you like your antagonists as well-intentioned extremists with a liberal helping of the ends-justify-the-means methodology and more than a fair share of terrifying, James will be perfect for you. James wasn’t the only interesting non-point-of-view character; Livia Blackburn populated this world with several standouts, such as Pashla, Malikel, and Flick.
Blackburn did a good job of differentiating between Kyra’s and Tristam’s points of view. Some authors might have succumbed to the temptation to give them equal screentime (in order to further the romance), but Midnight Thief is Kyra’s story at heart. Blackburn only jumps to Tristam when there are parts of the story we can only get from him or when he is the better narrator for particular events (the chase in the Palace, for instance). Some of my favorite parts of the book were when Kyra or Tristam were able to question what they were doing, the loyalties they had, the society they lived in, and the repercussions of their actions. I also appreciated that both characters had to deal with death and violence, either that they caused or that they witnessed.
Perhaps my greatest complaint about the book is that I felt it contained few big surprises. With a couple exceptions (the one about the Demon Riders, for instance), either my familiarity with certain tropes or the hints dropped by Blackburn meant I often spent several pages just waiting for the book to catch up to my predictions. While it’s fun to guess right every now and then, I wish that I had been blown away more often or hadn’t figured out what direction things were headed so early.
Recommendation: Get it soon. Midnight Thief is a fun, fast read that will appeal to people who like prefer that their fantasy be less like a travelogue and more like a thriller. While I wish the book had felt less episodic and held more surprises than it did, it is a solid debut.
Originally posted at Rich in Color http://richincolor.com/2014/09/review-midnight-thief/
Tyrell by Coe Booth
4.0
Review copy: Library
Tyrell is a very well written book that kept stomping on my heart. Tyrell doesn’t always make the choices that I wish for him, but I understood why he was doing what he was doing. Booth lets the reader know him so well through his thoughts and actions. He is a kid trying to be a man he can respect and he isn’t getting a lot of help from the adults around him.
I found it difficult to read because it just ripped up my heart watching things go from bad to worse. The choices he has to make and the situations he faces are just so far beyond what I would want teenagers to go through. Of course, as soon as I was finished, I wanted the next book so I could see him grow.
Originally posted at Rich in Color http://richincolor.com/2014/09/author-spotlight-coe-booth/
Tyrell is a very well written book that kept stomping on my heart. Tyrell doesn’t always make the choices that I wish for him, but I understood why he was doing what he was doing. Booth lets the reader know him so well through his thoughts and actions. He is a kid trying to be a man he can respect and he isn’t getting a lot of help from the adults around him.
I found it difficult to read because it just ripped up my heart watching things go from bad to worse. The choices he has to make and the situations he faces are just so far beyond what I would want teenagers to go through. Of course, as soon as I was finished, I wanted the next book so I could see him grow.
Originally posted at Rich in Color http://richincolor.com/2014/09/author-spotlight-coe-booth/
Bronxwood by Coe Booth
4.0
Review Copy: Library
Once again, Coe Booth made me care about this young man. Tyrell’s heart is in the right place as he struggles to parent himself and his brother since their parents have often been unwilling or unable to do the job. This is one of the major issues in the book. When a young person has to take on so much responsibility, it’s very hard to step back into the role of a child. Tyrell straddles that line between childhood and adulthood and he’s unsteady on his feet, stumbling around quite a bit. Balancing becomes even more of a challenge when his father actually starts to step back into a parental role. I would love to see another book in this series.
Originally posted at Rich in Color http://richincolor.com/2014/09/author-spotlight-coe-booth/
Once again, Coe Booth made me care about this young man. Tyrell’s heart is in the right place as he struggles to parent himself and his brother since their parents have often been unwilling or unable to do the job. This is one of the major issues in the book. When a young person has to take on so much responsibility, it’s very hard to step back into the role of a child. Tyrell straddles that line between childhood and adulthood and he’s unsteady on his feet, stumbling around quite a bit. Balancing becomes even more of a challenge when his father actually starts to step back into a parental role. I would love to see another book in this series.
Originally posted at Rich in Color http://richincolor.com/2014/09/author-spotlight-coe-booth/
Kendra by Coe Booth
4.0
Review Copy: Library
Kendra is a companion book to Tyrell. I didn’t realize that until I got into the story. Kendra lives in the same neighborhood. Like Tyrell, Kendra deals with very adult situations. What I like about the books is that the characters are so real. They have hard decisions to make and they don’t always take the path that I, as a mother, would choose for them. The choices they make though, make sense seen through their eyes and emotions. Booth lets us in there up close and personal. Her books are not easy to read lightly.
Originally posted at Rich in Color http://richincolor.com/2014/09/author-spotlight-coe-booth/
Kendra is a companion book to Tyrell. I didn’t realize that until I got into the story. Kendra lives in the same neighborhood. Like Tyrell, Kendra deals with very adult situations. What I like about the books is that the characters are so real. They have hard decisions to make and they don’t always take the path that I, as a mother, would choose for them. The choices they make though, make sense seen through their eyes and emotions. Booth lets us in there up close and personal. Her books are not easy to read lightly.
Originally posted at Rich in Color http://richincolor.com/2014/09/author-spotlight-coe-booth/
Pig Park by Claudia Guadalupe Martinez
3.0
Review Copy: Digital ARC from pubisher
Masi worries about her neighborhood, the family bakery, and her parents too. She has many issues pulling at her emotions, but she is also a young person wanting to enjoy her summer hanging out with friends and maybe even experience a little romance along the way.
Masi looks at the neighborhood revitalization plan as one way to take care of several things. With everyone working together, she gets to spend time with friends and maybe a special someone along with solving her family’s financial problems. She gets behind the plan and works hard at every task she is given. I found it a bit unrealistic that the adults in the neighborhood signed onto the somewhat sketchy plan so quickly, but as a reader, I decided to just believe it anyway.
The book really focuses on community and their willingness to sacrifice and work for the greater good. It also gives a picture of a few people who are willing to say, do and sell anything to get what they want. There is a huge contrast between the two types of characters. There wasn’t a lot of gray area there.
The family bakery was my favorite place in the story. I wanted to spend more time in the kitchen. The descriptions of so many breads and cookies made my mouth water. I was truly hoping to see a recipe for the Ginger Pigs, or marranitos, by the end of the book. They look like gingerbread, though it is molasses that is giving it a distinct flavor and color rather than ginger. Since there was no recipe and they sounded so yummy, I started looking online and found many recipes for this traditional Mexican cookie, so I may still get to try them.
The main character is fifteen and her romantic interests are only a year or two older. Masi is a sweet and innocent girl and her flirtations are also. She and her friends are mostly together only around the community events. We don’t see them interacting much beyond the neighborhood issues so I had less of a sense of who the other teens were. I would classify Pig Park as a young adult book because of the ages, but it is on the younger side. It would be a great title to offer when people are asking for what they often call “clean reads” for teens.
Recommendation: Get it soon if you work with tweens or middle schoolers and want to add some diverse realistic fiction. Otherwise, borrow it someday. Even with financial issues and a potential family split, it is a fairly light and fun look into a unique urban neighborhood.
Originally posted at Rich in Color http://richincolor.com/2014/09/review-pig-park/
Masi worries about her neighborhood, the family bakery, and her parents too. She has many issues pulling at her emotions, but she is also a young person wanting to enjoy her summer hanging out with friends and maybe even experience a little romance along the way.
Masi looks at the neighborhood revitalization plan as one way to take care of several things. With everyone working together, she gets to spend time with friends and maybe a special someone along with solving her family’s financial problems. She gets behind the plan and works hard at every task she is given. I found it a bit unrealistic that the adults in the neighborhood signed onto the somewhat sketchy plan so quickly, but as a reader, I decided to just believe it anyway.
The book really focuses on community and their willingness to sacrifice and work for the greater good. It also gives a picture of a few people who are willing to say, do and sell anything to get what they want. There is a huge contrast between the two types of characters. There wasn’t a lot of gray area there.
The family bakery was my favorite place in the story. I wanted to spend more time in the kitchen. The descriptions of so many breads and cookies made my mouth water. I was truly hoping to see a recipe for the Ginger Pigs, or marranitos, by the end of the book. They look like gingerbread, though it is molasses that is giving it a distinct flavor and color rather than ginger. Since there was no recipe and they sounded so yummy, I started looking online and found many recipes for this traditional Mexican cookie, so I may still get to try them.
The main character is fifteen and her romantic interests are only a year or two older. Masi is a sweet and innocent girl and her flirtations are also. She and her friends are mostly together only around the community events. We don’t see them interacting much beyond the neighborhood issues so I had less of a sense of who the other teens were. I would classify Pig Park as a young adult book because of the ages, but it is on the younger side. It would be a great title to offer when people are asking for what they often call “clean reads” for teens.
Recommendation: Get it soon if you work with tweens or middle schoolers and want to add some diverse realistic fiction. Otherwise, borrow it someday. Even with financial issues and a potential family split, it is a fairly light and fun look into a unique urban neighborhood.
Originally posted at Rich in Color http://richincolor.com/2014/09/review-pig-park/
The Art of Secrets by James Klise
4.0
Review Copy: Library copy
The Art of Secrets is one of those books that I have heard people asking for lately — a book that features a person of color, but isn’t solely focused on the issue of race. Saba Khan’s parents are from Pakistan, but she herself was born in the U.S. When their apartment is burned, some people wonder if it is a racially motivated hate crime, but the book is not only about being a Pakistani American and the issues with that. It also deals with community interactions, an arson mystery, art, relationships and other things too. Saba’s culture isn’t ignored, but the mystery is more of the focus.
The format of the book lends itself well to a mystery. The reader gathers information from many characters and sources like an investigator. We see the crime scene and suspects from many perspectives and via different types of documents. I enjoyed the variety of voices and liked reading from so many different types of text. It made the book more interesting to me and kept me wondering which voices were trustworthy. If I have a complaint though, it is that with switching between so many characters, it was difficult to feel a strong connection to them individually. The benefits of the format seemed to outweigh this though.
The title fits perfectly. There are many secrets swirling through the story – secret boyfriends, secret art, the arson, and plenty more. This is part of what makes the book so intriguing. One of the secrets we learn about is the hidden art of Henry Darger. On his website, James Kline provides a link to the INTUIT: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art where this is an exhibit of Darger’s works. It looks like I have another spot to visit the next time I am in Chicago.
Recommendation: Get it soon especially if you are a fan of mysteries.
The Art of Secrets is one of those books that I have heard people asking for lately — a book that features a person of color, but isn’t solely focused on the issue of race. Saba Khan’s parents are from Pakistan, but she herself was born in the U.S. When their apartment is burned, some people wonder if it is a racially motivated hate crime, but the book is not only about being a Pakistani American and the issues with that. It also deals with community interactions, an arson mystery, art, relationships and other things too. Saba’s culture isn’t ignored, but the mystery is more of the focus.
The format of the book lends itself well to a mystery. The reader gathers information from many characters and sources like an investigator. We see the crime scene and suspects from many perspectives and via different types of documents. I enjoyed the variety of voices and liked reading from so many different types of text. It made the book more interesting to me and kept me wondering which voices were trustworthy. If I have a complaint though, it is that with switching between so many characters, it was difficult to feel a strong connection to them individually. The benefits of the format seemed to outweigh this though.
The title fits perfectly. There are many secrets swirling through the story – secret boyfriends, secret art, the arson, and plenty more. This is part of what makes the book so intriguing. One of the secrets we learn about is the hidden art of Henry Darger. On his website, James Kline provides a link to the INTUIT: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art where this is an exhibit of Darger’s works. It looks like I have another spot to visit the next time I am in Chicago.
Recommendation: Get it soon especially if you are a fan of mysteries.
Girl in Reverse by Barbara Stuber
3.0
Disclaimer: Received copy of book from publisher in exchange for a review.
Set in the time period of the second Red Scare and McCarthyism, Girl in Reverse is a lovely novel about a Chinese girl searching for her identity. I felt for Lily as she had to deal with horrible racism and bullying in school, and even in her own family – through her parents refusal to even admit that she was being bullied. Lily is the only Chinese person in her high school and the treatment she receives shuts her down, as would anyone else in that situation. It was brutal and honest and I respected Barbara Stuber for not sugar-coating the hurtful words expressed because of fear and propaganda that was being spread at the time. Lily’s search is beautifully done as the mystery is revealed slowly, with Lily questioning if she really wants to know the answers. I like how Stuber expressed the inner conflict an adopted child may go through and the effect that it can have on a family. There is a push and pull desire to want to know one’s origins, one’s biological identity, but also knowing that our identity is also shaped through our experiences. This inner conflict within Lily was beautifully written and very true to life.
On the other hand, while Lily’s character was well-written, I did take issue with the portrayal of two other characters. Mr. Howard, the janitor at Lily’s schools, comes off to me as the Magical Negro trope. Lily ends up befriend Mr. Howard because she received detention for an act of protest and Mr. Howard assures her that she did the right thing. I felt like Mr. Howard’s sole purpose was to guide Lily on being able to stand up for herself and deal with the racism head on. While he does not sacrifice himself for Lily, he is written fairly one-dimensionally because he was just there to help Lily. And yes, I’m glad that Stuber gave Lily a person of color to help her make sense of her world, but I think there could have been more to Mr. Howard to make him seem real instead of a caricature. The other character I had a problem with was Auntie Chow, who Lily ends up befriending, in a way, to learn more about being Chinese. Auntie Chow and her husband are immigrants, but speak with the stereotypical broken English given to Asian characters. The Chows have a son in medical school, so I can presume they have been in America a while, therefore their English would be much better. I just felt that in a novel about searching for identity, specifically a girl’s Chinese heritage, writing Chinese characters using a stereotype was bad form. Both of these character portrayals ruined my enjoyment of the novel.
Recommendation: While the overall story is excellent and Lily is a character you can love, but with the characterization of Mr. Howard and the Chows, I cannot give it a glowing recommendation. Borrow it someday.
Set in the time period of the second Red Scare and McCarthyism, Girl in Reverse is a lovely novel about a Chinese girl searching for her identity. I felt for Lily as she had to deal with horrible racism and bullying in school, and even in her own family – through her parents refusal to even admit that she was being bullied. Lily is the only Chinese person in her high school and the treatment she receives shuts her down, as would anyone else in that situation. It was brutal and honest and I respected Barbara Stuber for not sugar-coating the hurtful words expressed because of fear and propaganda that was being spread at the time. Lily’s search is beautifully done as the mystery is revealed slowly, with Lily questioning if she really wants to know the answers. I like how Stuber expressed the inner conflict an adopted child may go through and the effect that it can have on a family. There is a push and pull desire to want to know one’s origins, one’s biological identity, but also knowing that our identity is also shaped through our experiences. This inner conflict within Lily was beautifully written and very true to life.
On the other hand, while Lily’s character was well-written, I did take issue with the portrayal of two other characters. Mr. Howard, the janitor at Lily’s schools, comes off to me as the Magical Negro trope. Lily ends up befriend Mr. Howard because she received detention for an act of protest and Mr. Howard assures her that she did the right thing. I felt like Mr. Howard’s sole purpose was to guide Lily on being able to stand up for herself and deal with the racism head on. While he does not sacrifice himself for Lily, he is written fairly one-dimensionally because he was just there to help Lily. And yes, I’m glad that Stuber gave Lily a person of color to help her make sense of her world, but I think there could have been more to Mr. Howard to make him seem real instead of a caricature. The other character I had a problem with was Auntie Chow, who Lily ends up befriending, in a way, to learn more about being Chinese. Auntie Chow and her husband are immigrants, but speak with the stereotypical broken English given to Asian characters. The Chows have a son in medical school, so I can presume they have been in America a while, therefore their English would be much better. I just felt that in a novel about searching for identity, specifically a girl’s Chinese heritage, writing Chinese characters using a stereotype was bad form. Both of these character portrayals ruined my enjoyment of the novel.
Recommendation: While the overall story is excellent and Lily is a character you can love, but with the characterization of Mr. Howard and the Chows, I cannot give it a glowing recommendation. Borrow it someday.