I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of Gloria Chao's American Panda and was super excited to read it after hearing some positive feedback about it.
It is set to be released February 6, 2018!
Summary: Mei is a freshman at MIT at seventeen after skipping a grade and on her way to becoming the doctor that her parents expect. Except, she hates germs and biology. Mei doesn't want to admit this to her parents after all they have sacrificed for her though and is struggling to live up to what they want from her. They would also most definitely not want her to date the cute not Taiwanese boy. She already witnessed what dating the wrong person does after her brother, Xing, was disowned. However, when she starts to reconnect with Xing, Mei begins to question if sacrificing her happiness is worth it.
I found this book to be sweet, beautiful, encouraging, and also very honest.
First, I had one issue with the book: There's been some backlash about lauding the awkward cute girl over confident and stereotypically pretty girls and this book seemed to fall into that trope a little bit. It redeemed itself in some ways as Mei learns that her pretty, chlymida-ridden roommate is actually somebody she can be friends with. There were just a couple instances where Mei is compared to the non-awkward people and the reader is encouraged to believe Mei is better. I don't think it was fully resolved enough. Yes, I loved the awkward Mei and her quirks, but I notice this a lot in books as it's easy to fall into the trope.
The awkwardness and lack of self-confidence is clearly from her upbringing style and it all makes sense for her character and its development, I just felt iffy about the comparisons.
On the other hand, I pretty much loved every other part of this book. The pressure Mei felt gave me some stress of my own. Her desire to please everybody and also her wish to remain in contact with her brother resonated. We often don't want to create waves or conflict in our family, but it's also unavoidable when there are unhealthy aspects.
I see how this book will do wonders for a diverse audience as it shows the experiences that children of immigrants have. It reminded me of an episode of Aziz Ansari's show, Master of None. Aziz's character is the child of an immigrant and so is one of his friends. In the second episode of the first season, they learn what their parents went through to get to America and it helps their understanding and relationship with their parents. It is different because American Panda focuses on how Mei's parents refuse to understand and support her happiness while the show is more about how the children of immigrants overlook how blessed they are. However, I think both have important messages about this topic.
American Panda also resonates with all young adults because we've all experienced our parents' expectations not matching up with what we want or our capabilities. If I don't do as well on a test, I'm nervous to tell my mom because she'll make a comment. Never as direct or aggressive as Mei's mother, but it still affects me. We never want to face that disappointment.
This book shows that growth is possible though. I also enjoyed that Chao admits that not all experiences are the same. Nevertheless, they are all important. Happiness should always be fought for.
Overall, I thought this was a great book. It was written well, relatable, fun, and also impactful. I would recommend it to anyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment