![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
superborbThis starts as a fictionalized retelling of the killing of Latasha Harlins and the aftermath of the LA riots, but is primarily set in 2019. The two main characters are Grace Park, a sheltered 2nd gen Korean American pharmacist, and Shawn Matthews, brother of the fictional version of Harlins; most of the story follows Park and her family.
I was very reminded of Jodi Picoult. This isn't a criticism per se, but it is a particular vibe -- Picoult always reads to me as "I'm speaking to white, upper middle class women and drawing attention to moral and topical issues." In the same way, this book read to me as "let me summarize a lot of thorny ethical issues around how we talk about BLM and the murder of black children in a fictional package."
As a result, the Park family and the Korean and white Americans they interact with are drawn very realistically; they felt like they were drawn from the real world. Shawn Matthews and the Holloway family were sympathetic, but much more sketched out. I'm not saying they were poorly developed or unrealistic, but their voices felt almost second hand, like characters you'd read about in a long form article, or friends of friends -- somehow kind of distant?
Nothing content wise was a surprise, but there were quite a few scenes that I really enjoyed. A lot of those were awkward conversations, surprisingly for me. The most memorable were the conversation with Uncle Joseph, where you get to see how gossip spreads in the Korean American community, and the first meeting of Grace and Shawn. I also really liked Miriam, Grace's sister, and specifically how Grace is such a younger sister, both jealous of her big sister and yet when it comes down to it, wanting her big sister to swoop in to fix everything.
Overall, I don't regret reading it, though I might not have read it quite so rapidly if it hadn't been for a book club. Despite the topic, it was a very fast, almost light read stylistically.
I was very reminded of Jodi Picoult. This isn't a criticism per se, but it is a particular vibe -- Picoult always reads to me as "I'm speaking to white, upper middle class women and drawing attention to moral and topical issues." In the same way, this book read to me as "let me summarize a lot of thorny ethical issues around how we talk about BLM and the murder of black children in a fictional package."
As a result, the Park family and the Korean and white Americans they interact with are drawn very realistically; they felt like they were drawn from the real world. Shawn Matthews and the Holloway family were sympathetic, but much more sketched out. I'm not saying they were poorly developed or unrealistic, but their voices felt almost second hand, like characters you'd read about in a long form article, or friends of friends -- somehow kind of distant?
Nothing content wise was a surprise, but there were quite a few scenes that I really enjoyed. A lot of those were awkward conversations, surprisingly for me. The most memorable were the conversation with Uncle Joseph, where you get to see how gossip spreads in the Korean American community, and the first meeting of Grace and Shawn. I also really liked Miriam, Grace's sister, and specifically how Grace is such a younger sister, both jealous of her big sister and yet when it comes down to it, wanting her big sister to swoop in to fix everything.
Overall, I don't regret reading it, though I might not have read it quite so rapidly if it hadn't been for a book club. Despite the topic, it was a very fast, almost light read stylistically.
