A tragedy sparks an unexpected journey for one girl as she delves deeper into the issues in her community and where she stands in the world. Maybelline Chen “May” isn’t the perfect Chinese Taiwanese daughter her mother expects her to be, her brother Danny however is a great son, he’s charming, social, friendly, a great son, and just got accepted into Princeton. Yet May has started noticing something seems off, little things that show that her brother might not be as happy as she thought. When he leaves to go to a party one night and suddenly May and her family awake to police officers at their door telling them that Danny has committed suicide on the train tracks... May’s entire world is upended. Life without her brother wasn’t something she ever thought would happen... but things only get worse when at a school meeting racist accusations are hurled at May’s parents for putting too much “pressure” on Danny. May’s grief has turned to rage, all her life her parents have been telling her to keep her head down but May feels like this is the time to speak up. She begins to challenge these ugly stereotypes through her writing, and yet the more she challenges them the more her life seems to get difficult. Soon she will have to face hard facts about the world around her, the way racism in her community works, the struggles and difficulties of being a person of color in a world that keeps pushing them down. All the while she’ll have to deal with “not being asian enough” for those in her own community, how her own ignorance to the struggles of others might appear, how racism could have real consequences, especially when her mother’s job is at stake, and how finding her own voice, standing up for her community and herself, truly will let her take back the narrative. She won’t stay silent and she will fight for her story. This was a beautiful story about grief and identity, as an Asian American I could relate to so many aspects of this story. It was a an emotional read that had me tearing up and I would highly recommend this!
*Thank you Harper Teen for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*