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A review by lindick
Necessary Roughness by Marie G. Lee
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.