Patricia Park

I loved this book! It's about so many things--friendship, high school, grief, child-parent relationships, finding your identity, and immigrants. The characters and relationships are complex. The book made me think, cry, shudder with embarrassed recognition, and laugh. Among other things, it's a wonderful send-up of white allyship and progressive schools.

Thanks to NetGalley & Random House Children's, Crown Books for Young Readers for a digital advance reader's copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this page-turning coming-of-age YA (young adult) novel about a Korean high schooler’s journey as she discovers her identity both on and off the plate.

Jackie Oh turns to cooking as therapy – to relieve the stress her parents have heaped on her to go to an ivy league college, especially since she’s not naturally a high achiever show more in school. And her older brother is in prison which is sad for everyone. Author Patricia Park says” From repurposing leftovers at her grandparents’ Manhattan deli to competing on the TV cooking show Burn Off!, food feels like a problem Jackie can actually solve in a world that makes zero sense.”

I loved the relationship Jackie has with her grandparents. Their conversations are both humorous and heartwarming. She watches the cooking show Burn Off! with her grandparents and describes how they bonded: “It was a show I didn’t have to translate into English, and they didn’t have to translate into Korean. Food is like the universal language.”

Throughout the novel Jackie is learning about herself and often fighting stereotypes: gender, ethnicity, family, etc. “Every day,” says Jackie, “I walk around feeling like I’m carrying an invisible backpack full of stress bricks. On top of my actual backpack loaded with textbooks, notebooks, and my laptop. I just feel all this pressure weighing down on me, all the time.”

The story is told in Jackie’s first person, so we learn about her and what makes her happy: “Recipe-making is my mental happy place.” She also admits, “I’m obsessed with leftovers – each time you cook something, you have to think of how you’ll transform its afterlife.” And “In the kitchen, I’m in my zone. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why I love cooking so much. Being in the kitchen helps me shut out all the scary nonsense from the outside world. Cooking is my therapy.”

Patricia Park says, “This novel was inspired by two things: My love of cooking with leftovers, and the fears and frustrations those in my community have faced over anti-AAPI hate. I’ve spoken with many students across the country like Jackie, who don’t understand why they and their family are being targeted. Who, like Jackie, cannot make sense of this moment and are done being “model minorities.” To my fellow Asians in America, who are tired of being pushed around (literally, metaphorically) – I also dedicate this book to you.”

I enjoyed this book, which is both realistic and humorous. The ending surprised me (no spoilers) and I think it would be a great book to read in a group and discuss together. Plus, there are recipes! show less

Alejandra Kim goes to an affluent high school in NYC. She's a scholarship students. She is Korean in descent but both her parents immigrated to Argentina before coming to the US. She's situated between three cultures and feels like an imposter everywhere. Her senior year she applies to her dream school. And she works to come into her own. Reeling from the death (suicide?) of her father, dealing with microagressions and a strained relationship with her mother, Alejandra tries to navigate her show more way making misteps on the way. She's a character for whom I cheered. show less

I'm always pretty lame when it comes to books that parallel/modernize other and older books/plays, so any Jane Eyre references in this excellent book blew right by me. But it's a great story standing on its own, of making a place where there isn't one set for you. Jane is half American, half Korean, and lives with her uncle and aunt in Flushing, Queens, where they runs a produce store and pressure Jane to achieve every goal that such elders have for their progeny - Ivy league, lawyer or show more doctor, marriage to someone with "prospects". Jane heads in different directions - to an au pair job in Brooklyn, to Korea, and back to the US.

Her journey is so confusing, so contradictory, so difficult - that although her background may be unusual to the reader, her reactions and decisions are not. I loved being introduced to two Korean expressions - tap-tap-hae and nunchi - that I am considering adding them to my vocabulary as a tribute to Patricia Park and her brilliant debut novel. show less