"Not Your Average Jo" by Grace K. Shim

 

Not Your Average Jo (Mar. 12, 2024) by Grace K. Shim.

<This is a standalone novel.>

Compared to Bentonville, Arkansas, a place like Los Angeles should have the diversity and opportunity that Riley Jo’s hometown does not. The Korean American teen dreams of being a musician – and no, she doesn’t play K-pop – so when she nabs a coveted spot at Carlmont Academy in L.A. for her senior year of high school, she’s ecstatic. She’s made it into the contemporary band program. Her bandmate Griff Torres accepts her readily enough, but Bodhi Collins – son of one-hit 90s wonder and advisor of their group, Blake Collins – definitely does not. Blake’s incredulous reaction to “Riley Jo?” as in, You’re Riley Jo?, adds insult. Riley chooses to keep mum, even as the microaggressions add up and even when she’s pushed as backup to her own original song in the group she ends up naming: RGB. Fellow student Xander McNeil is capturing so much of this for a documentary he’s working on for his senior project. Aerie Jung and Nari Hitomi try to get Riley to report the blatant discrimination, but she never does. She chooses to make “bad choices in order to avoid worse ones,” but is she truly playing the long game? Or has she set herself up to be a pawn in a game that ignores her?

            I checked out this book after the opening paragraph caught my attention: “When you’re Asian American in an area where there aren’t many Asian Americans, there’s a cultural expectation people have of you that is clear from day one. You become the expert on all things Asian, whether you like it or not – whether you’re qualified or not.” From being assumed as every type of Asian (usually Chinese) to once getting called down to a workplace office because someone assumed I spoke Japanese to scenarios far less entertaining and high up on the creep-o-meter, those opening lines reverberated through me.

            Unfortunately, I didn’t connect to Riley’s character, and it’s not because I lack the dream of a music career that’s Taylor Swift famous. For much of the story, Riley wants to ignore the microaggressions until she finally snaps and decides to “Go There.” The 180 did not feel authentic, but that could largely be because I never connected with the character. There are powerful themes in this story resounding around cultural appropriation, race, discrimination and nepotism. It showcases Riley’s struggle within herself, wanting to speak up while also wanting to keep her head down in hopes that she’ll be part of a record deal. Music is central to the story, and Shim details a believably cutthroat music industry via an arts school setting. This is a bildungsroman. Self-discovery isn’t an easy road, made harder when there’s bias involved, and Riley reflects this. I don’t typically rate with stars, but I’d give it a 3/5.

            Also by Grace K. Shim: The Noh Family

Rutabaga's Reads 2023: Part 8

If you think I regularly read adult fiction since I am an adult, you would be mistaken. It has taken me this long to compile an adult fiction compilation post. Better late than never! For those out there who do read adult fiction on the regular, who are your favorite authors?

The All-American: A Novel (Apr. 4, 2023) by Joe Milan Jr.

<This is a standalone novel.>

Thanks to my childhood friend, Kristi W., for gifting me this novel! It’s written by a Creative Writing colleague of hers. All opinions are expressly my own.

            The paperwork wasn’t filed correctly because the check bounced, so after a fight sends 17-year-old Bucky Yi to the police station, the U.S. government deports him to South Korea. It’s a totally foreign land to him, and he doesn’t speak, read or write the language. He can’t even properly pronounce his own name! (It’s Yi Beyonghak.) All Bucky wants to do is fulfill his all-American goal to get out of rural Washington state and become a college football player. But he doesn’t get scouted, and now he’s stuck in Korea. His raw physical strength gets him a job at an expat bar in Seoul until he gets notices of loans overdue courtesy of the bio father he doesn’t know taking out massive loans in his name and soon enough he’s forced into his mandatory military conscription. There’s more remoteness than his backwoods home, but with extras like an erratic sergeant and North Korean spies (they might be chasing shadows). Bucky has to start from the ground up by learning a new language and figure out how to reformat himself with no guide on how to rewrite the code.

            This unique take on undocumented immigration makes for a strong debut. It’s propulsive and irreverent, bold and dark. It is a story of identity, and Bucky goes through quite the disorienting crisis to find who he is or at least who he can be. There is drama: drama feeding into his desire to return home to Washington, drama when it comes to his sexual desires, drama in his family and drama trying to manage his ego. It’s understandable that Bucky has very strong negative feelings surrounding his deportation when he should’ve, like me, been a naturalized citizen from a very young age. But it’s hard to feel bad for Bucky. He feels powerless to control what is happening, everyone and everything seem to be against him, which is very Kafkaesque, but his ego gets in the way of everything. He so often turns to violence. Mad about this? Fight. Mad about that? Fight. Mad in Korea? Fight. I never connected with Bucky, and he never truly grew as a character in the story. I wanted to be impressed by a young man working without the model minority stereotype to rise above the hand he was dealt. But nope, he remained a jerk throughout the story. Chantal should stay far from him. She has wings to fly, but Bucky’s volatile personality, his quick anger, will box him in.

Murder Your Employer (Feb. 21, 2023) by Rupert Holmes.

<This is the first novel in a series.>

Welcome to The McMasters Conservatory for the Applied Arts. Dean Harbinger Harrow opens with a Foreward and entreats readers not to use this as a guide to the McMasters campus, but “for those engaged in home study.” “There is no more unpredictable force of nature than the sadistic employer.” With that said, the three students featured all look to delete an employer: Cliff Iverson, Gemma Lindley and a Hollywood starlet referred to as Dulcie Mown. Cliff’s perspective features the most with his journal entry chapters. He’s the rare student who has a sponsor, unknown to him. He refers to his sponsor as X. There’s an annual “Track Meet” (“track your quarry, meet your quarry, and delete your quarry,”) that carries grave weight in calculating a student’s average for the term and readiness for one’s thesis. Thesis, in this case, outlines the motivation and justification for deleting someone (deleting, if you haven’t figured it out already, is synonymous with murdering, but murdering is so vulgar, where deleting is classy). A successful deletion equates graduation without any pomp or circumstance, as all who graduate to deletists must never receive the credit they deserve. Those who aren’t successful will themselves wind up deleted. Life isn’t easy, nor is it fair, especially with the likes of Merrill Fiedler, Leonid Kosta and Adele Underton still breathing. Best of luck to those fortunate enough to be admitted. Here, have a sherry. Or maybe not. It’s probably poisoned.

            I thoroughly enjoyed this story! It’s delightfully diabolical and completely compelling in a twisted sort of way. The campus of this “Poison Ivy League” college is expansive, luxurious and killer. The wordplay is jaunty, the writing witty, and the plot is clearly that certain sadistic employers will hopefully cease existing, but with so many chapters featuring Cliff’s journal entries, it reads conversationally much of the time. Details into the master plans of Cliff, Gemma and Dulcie give delicious insight and enable readers to craft credible and detailed pictures in their imaginations. Holmes creates an entertaining and specifically educational story set on the campus of a clandestine college and back in “civilian life” (a.k.a. “the battlefield”). It is cheeky and cleverly wicked. It’s a literary dark comedy. Anyone looking to be admitted to this covert school where you can ”learn to live each day as if it might be your enemy’s last?”

Poster Girl (Oct. 18, 2022) by Veronica Roth.

<This is a standalone novel.>

From a time well before Sonya Kantor was born, the Sea-Port (Seattle-Portland) megalopolis lived under constant surveillance from the Insight, an ocular implant that tracked every word and action, rewarding or punishing according to a strict, static moral code set forth by the Delegation. Offering a handkerchief to an elder would earn you DesCoin, while whistling would debit two DesCoin. 10 years ago, the Delegation fell, and was replaced by the Triumvirate. The Delegation’s most valuable members were locked away in the Aperture, a prison on the outskirts of the city. Where everyone in the Aperture still has the Insight implants, everyone in the outside world does not (supposedly). Sonya, former poster girl for the Delegation, has lived in the Aperture for 10 years. Her parents (August and Julia) and older sister (Susanna) are all dead. Also dead: Aaron Price, once her betrothed. Not dead: Alexander Price, Aaron’s older brother. Alexander comes to her with a deal to earn her freedom. All she has to do is find a missing girl who was “rehomed” (stolen) when the parents had a second child, which was disallowed unless a couple had earned that second child and obtained the proper permit (Exception to Protocol 18A). Her search will bring her in contact with the very leader of the Analog Army, a rogue organization that has gone from threats to planting explosives and murdering others. The path Sonya takes will be dangerous and more illuminating than she could ever have guessed. She’s going to learn that her family’s past has deep, dark secrets. How will this affect her view of the Delegation she grew up under and as the face of it, no less?

            I knew I wasn’t going to purchase this novel of Roth’s, but I happened upon it at my local library and decided to check it out. It’s no secret that Roth has a knack for fascinating world-building, and her plot is intriguing, especially watching as Sonya’s morals shift through the story. Self-awareness comes gradually. Sonya’s lived in a world ruled by technology, which readers may think mirrors our own, but it’s definitely not. You’re not just constantly monitored, you’re potentially, constantly rewarded and punished. Like being graded 24/7/365. It’s alarming only in the sense of how close to reality it could be. The novel is fairly slim, but there’s complexity within. I didn’t love the book, but as someone whose bookshelf once contained plenty of dystopian YA, this dystopian adult novel was interesting. Don’t read this if you’re looking for a happily-ever-after. Do read this if you want a story where privacy’s been, essentially, surrendered (especially for those who still have Insights) and technology has been abused. Do read this if you want to see the revelation of complicity and the terrible outcome that comes of it. The story is cold, but there is fragile humanness beneath the chaos and the guilt.

Rutabaga's Reads 2022: Part 8

We’re over halfway through 2022, yet this is my first YA compilation of the year. I’ve got a new-to-me author in this batch, and I have ILL (InterLibrary Loan) to thank for that book.

Cinder & Glass (Mar. 8, 2022) by Melissa de la Cruz.

*This is a standalone novel.*

In this twist on the beloved fairytale, Cendrillon de Louvois (age 15 at start and jumps to age 16) intends to follow in her beloved late mother’s footsteps and become a lady-in-waiting to royalty. Her father, the Marquis de Louvois, is a favorite advisor and dear friend of the king. She wants to see Versailles, but also worries about her lacking etiquette in a sea of courtiers and royals. She’s far more comfortable with her friends Elodie and Marius, employees of the Marquis, than she is amongst those her father and godmother, Lady Françoise, cavort with. She does find an unexpected ally in Auguste, Prince Louis’ illegitimate half-brother. Then her father dies unexpectedly soon after marrying Lady Catherine Monvoisin. The story jumps forward a year after Lady Catherine demotes Cendrillon from stepdaughter to a servant (but not one who’s paid) and in a year has become adept at cooking, washing, mending, etc. Catherine’s increasingly awful to Cendrillon, as is Severine. Alexandre does seem to have compassion toward Cendrillon and interest in Elodie. Cendrillon adopts the name Cinder after presenting herself at Prince Louis’ ball. He chooses 25 young women to vie for his heart, including Cinder and her stepsisters. As Cinder advances in the competition, she realizes she may have to choose between freedom (to get away from her horrid stepmother) or love (for Auguste, though he bears no title).

            While I wouldn't normally want to read another take on “Cinderella,” I do trust de la Cruz’s writing. The YA novel isn't fast out of the gate, but that’s easily overlooked with the cast of bold female characters. Even Lady Catherine, despicable as she is, is certainly ambitious (and greedy). The story is rich in historical detail and this historical twist with a The Bachelor-style competition makes for an entertaining and corset-fashionable take on a familiar fairytale. Likely true of the time, the characters do appear to read within a white default, but the author does include tender, budding romances, both straight and queer. It’s a strong story for lovers of YA and fairytales.

            P.S. I know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but look at it, it’s gorgeous!

Last Night at the Telegraph Club (Jan. 19, 2021) by Malinda Lo.

*This is a standalone novel, but a companion novel (not a sequel) is due out this fall.*

It is San Francisco in the mid-1950s. McCarthyism continues during this decade, and homosexuality is not only not culturally acceptable, it’s also believed to be linked with Communism. Lily Hu is 17 years old in the mid-1950s. She is Chinese-American, born in America to Chinese parents. Lily is “a good Chinese girl.” A good Chinese girl would never attend the Telegraph Club, a lesbian bar, to see Tommy Andrews, Male Impersonator. And even if she went once, she would never go there again and again with her classmate, Kathleen (Kath) Miller. She and Kath have been in the same advanced math classes for years, now the only female students in their math class senior year. Despite this, she’s never really noticed Kath. Lily is shocked to admit to herself that she has feelings for Kath and that they’re reciprocated is both freeing and shocking. But America in 1954 is not a safe time or place for two teenage girls to fall in love. Lily’s father’s hard-won citizenship is already hanging in the balance since his citizenship papers were taken away because he wouldn’t declare that a patient was Communist. But Lily won’t lie about her feelings for Kath, despite the challenges and emotional pain the truth brings. However, if the FBI finds out Lily is a lesbian, it’ll be seen as reflecting poorly on her father when he’s already facing the possibility of deportation. How will love shine in the bleakest of times?

            The YA novel I received through ILL (thank you, RWPL), it’s the first I’ve read by Malinda Lo, and I was blown away by it. This is a queer, historical fiction novel, complex in its history, beautifully sensitive, emotionally fraught and tender as a feather-light touch. I’ve not read much when it comes to LGBTQIA+ romance, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the gold standard. Lo writes in such a way that the reader can’t help but feel empathy toward Lily. I wanted to lift her up when things were falling apart and be the aunt figure who let her stay until she was firmly standing on her own two feet again. Emotions can be exhausting, but that only gives the novel more depth. It has the energy of youthful desire and shimmers with the light of first love. This story is Lily’s bildungsroman. It’s a coming-of-age story, a coming-out story. It’s a love story.

Steelstriker (Sept. 28, 2021) by Marie Lu.

*This is the concluding novel in a duology.*

*Any spoilers are also included on the book jacket.*

Six months after the fall of Mara to the Karensa Federation, the world is savage and broken, and Talin is no longer a Striker. Instead, she has become a nightmare of the Premier’s (Constantine Tyrus) making. She is one of the Federation’s best and most feared designs, a human war machine, a Skyhunter. She patrols the skies with her lethal strength and knife-sharp steel wings, and she protects the sickly Premier, who keeps her in check by holding her mom hostage; Talin is, herself, a hostage. How pleased or angry he is with Talin affects where her mom will go as each two-week mark comes by. Talin’s thoughts remain her own – for now – but she fears the connection she has to the Premier, especially when her intact connection to Red gets Aramin and Adena captured. Red and Jeran hitch a ride to Cardinia, the capital of the Federation, to save their friends and free Talin. But to free Talin, they must find and save her mother first. Talin feels so helpless, but murmurs of rebellion ignite a spark of hope and encourage action.

            The concluding novel in the Skyhunter duology is sophisticated. That may sound like an unlikely characteristic for a dystopian YA novel laden with thrills, suspense and action, but it really is sophisticated. Lu’s world-building in this duology has been stunning, the political landscape  realistically rocky in darkly sci-fi novel form, the protagonists are tough and impressive yet flawed, and the antagonists are villains fleshed out so well that they’re easy to despise. What really clinches the sophistication of the story is the way Lu pens the psychological battle between Talin and Constantine. This novel contains betrayal and subversion, but also love and sympathy. Sometimes even pity. This sequel is tumultuous and intense to its bitter-bright end.

            Book One: Skyhunter

Rutabaga's Reads 2014: Part 7

Here is Part 7 of Rutabaga’s Reads 2014. Both of these titles are adult fiction. I read them years ago and meant to make this a longer post, but instead it’s just been sitting in my blog folder gathering hypothetical dust, so I decided to post it as is.

The Last Summer (of You & Me) (June 5, 2007) by Ann Brashares.

“When you came along, I said I’d share you, but I told him

to remember that you’re my sister. I loved you first.”

There are two sisters: Riley and Alice, both now in their twenties. Riley is the elder sister, small and tenacious, a free-spirited tomboy who works as a lifeguard in the town of Waterby on Fire Island. Alice is the gentle one; she’s a reader and a thinker who works as a babysitter and a waitress. It is summer, so tourists are busy soaking in the beach-community setting. Paul returns to Fire Island, too. He is Riley’s best friend and has been gone for three years. There is a secret being kept from Paul, and it will strain a budding romantic relationship. When the truth comes to a head, they’ll need to support each other, for gone are the ignorant, youthful days of summer. They’re adults now.

            Brashares is most notably known for her YA series The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. This book was her first foray into adult fiction. It is moving, bittersweet and thoughtful – a realization-of-adulthood story – but it is less amazing and more ordinary. That’s not a bad thing in my mind. It’d be a decent beach read, but don’t expect fireworks.

Prey (Nov. 25, 2002) by Michael Crichton.

The protagonist, Jack Forman, is an unemployed computer programmer and stay-at-home dad until he gets a job at Xymos Technology, where his wife, Julia, works as a high-ranking employee. Xymos develops “molecular manufacturing” technology, but it’s what most people call nanotechnology. Jack is suspicious of Julia’s late nights and suspects her of having an affair. Jack goes to the facility in the Nevada desert and witnesses the nanoparticle cloud (the swarm) in action. The swarm has escaped from the laboratory, and it is, unfortunately, self-sustaining and intelligent. It’s as though it’s alive. Jack’s not a team player, but he’ll have to be if he wants to get out of Xymos alive.

            While I preferred Crichton’s “Timeline,” I still found “Prey” to be a well-written dose of adult thriller fiction. Although it’s fiction, you might be intrigued to know that the core research programs are real. Amazingly and scarily enough. This is an advanced-technology-gone-bad novel. The plot, which we hope is forever impossible, is intricate and a little creepy. How do you feel about being the prey?