I love books focused on the experiences of the East Asian diaspora kids. We all hear the immigrant story from our grandparents and the trials to fit in from our parents. But that loss of culture in this second gen world is monumental, and yet trying to forge our new ways is just as traumatizing. It's a lot, but I'm happy that there is a book to explore this journey of going home with different eyes. The magic and the food and the music made the world, and my own yearning for home, come alive. That said, this reads like a debut that needed to meet a page requirement. It can be extremely repetitive- a common tool in the East Asian storytelling toolbox. Yet, even with that caveat in place, it grated, especially when I needed to FEEL the most. But I'm going to try the author's next book because this story was good, but the lack of editing or the surplus of publisher mandate got in the way.