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iceangel32's review against another edition
2.0
This was a nice, fast read about a Korean family that moved from LA to Minnesota. The main character is a high school junior Chan who has a twin sister Young. Chan is the trouble child that does not live up to his father's expectations. His sister is a straight A student who plays the flue.
The book contains the struggles of starting in a new high school, decisions to join the football team, or the band (in young's case), finding new friends and a new life. I think that
The book contains the struggles of starting in a new high school, decisions to join the football team, or the band (in young's case), finding new friends and a new life. I think that
Spoiler
the death of Young was unnecessary in the telling of this story...However it did bring tears to my eyes, it was not a huge part of the story and the story ends like 20 pages after that happens.loganriffey's review against another edition
4.0
This book was great up until the end. The reason I give this a 4/5 stars is that after *spoilers* Young dies, (well, a few chapters after that) the story seems to be rushed. I mean, the last two chapters, they go to the championship and then boom- Chan is at Young's grave. Besides that, this book was excellent.
mxsunny's review against another edition
5.0
i read this book in middle schoolish and i'll never forget the elation i felt as i realized that there was at least one YA novel that was gonna speak to me. korean family uprooted from urban setting (in the novel it's LA and in my life it was phoenix) and dropped down into a superwhite rural town (MN in the book and WA in my life). the larger plot details don't even really matter because that was all i needed. i mean, i know it ends kinda tragically but so what! i had the closest thing to a mirror that i'd found in the library!
lindick's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars.
Chan is so mad when his Abogee (“father” in Korean) announces that his family will be moving from LA, where he has tons of friends and is a star on the soccer team, to a super white town in Minnesota. There’s only one game in town there: football. And it just so happens that the team is short a kicker. How different could it be?
It turns out that Chan is actually great at football, and it’s a great way to work off some of his anger at his family and their expectations, the blatant racism present in this small town, and other frustrations. He even makes friends (well, at least one close friend) with some of the guys on the team. That doesn’t mean it’s easy – on at least one occasion, their “lighthearted” hazing takes on a violent dimension. But it looks like they could be headed to State again this year, so it’s worth it, right? He’ll just keep his head down and ignore them.
Chan is in many ways a typical and relatable teenage guy, interested in girls, not super into school, loving of his sister but also not wanting her around all the time. But he’s also secretly really sweet — wanting to compliment his mom on her hard work and help out his dad, but not knowing quite the right words for either. When tragedy shakes their family, will it push him into even more silence, or will he be able to bridge the gap and reach out to the rest of his family?
This book was published in 1998, and it is definitely rough to read at times. Although the themes are evergreen, some of the terms used and discussions of racism feel like they’re of the past. That said, it is written by an own voices author, who is Korean-American and was born and raised in Minnesota, so I’m inclined to think that it’s true to her experience. It doesn’t shy away from showing the racism and small mindedness of the small town and the toxic masculinity of football culture in a gritty and realistic way, so be prepared for the jocks throwing around insults and (surprisingly often) slurs, and some physical violence. This is mostly targeted at the main character and challenged/punished within the book, except for a few things that Chan thinks/says about a Native American character that I found slightly questionable.
Overall, this is an exciting and satisfying underdog football story, with a (frustratingly) realistic depiction of small-town racism and a moving family story.
TW: racism and homophobia, slurs, bullying, major character death.
Chan is so mad when his Abogee (“father” in Korean) announces that his family will be moving from LA, where he has tons of friends and is a star on the soccer team, to a super white town in Minnesota. There’s only one game in town there: football. And it just so happens that the team is short a kicker. How different could it be?
It turns out that Chan is actually great at football, and it’s a great way to work off some of his anger at his family and their expectations, the blatant racism present in this small town, and other frustrations. He even makes friends (well, at least one close friend) with some of the guys on the team. That doesn’t mean it’s easy – on at least one occasion, their “lighthearted” hazing takes on a violent dimension. But it looks like they could be headed to State again this year, so it’s worth it, right? He’ll just keep his head down and ignore them.
Chan is in many ways a typical and relatable teenage guy, interested in girls, not super into school, loving of his sister but also not wanting her around all the time. But he’s also secretly really sweet — wanting to compliment his mom on her hard work and help out his dad, but not knowing quite the right words for either. When tragedy shakes their family, will it push him into even more silence, or will he be able to bridge the gap and reach out to the rest of his family?
This book was published in 1998, and it is definitely rough to read at times. Although the themes are evergreen, some of the terms used and discussions of racism feel like they’re of the past. That said, it is written by an own voices author, who is Korean-American and was born and raised in Minnesota, so I’m inclined to think that it’s true to her experience. It doesn’t shy away from showing the racism and small mindedness of the small town and the toxic masculinity of football culture in a gritty and realistic way, so be prepared for the jocks throwing around insults and (surprisingly often) slurs, and some physical violence. This is mostly targeted at the main character and challenged/punished within the book, except for a few things that Chan thinks/says about a Native American character that I found slightly questionable.
Overall, this is an exciting and satisfying underdog football story, with a (frustratingly) realistic depiction of small-town racism and a moving family story.
TW: racism and homophobia, slurs, bullying, major character death.
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