**Thank you, Simon Teen, for this ARC! These are my honest opinions, and I was in no way compensated for this review.**
American Panda by Gloria Chao
Release Date: February 6, 2018
My Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An incisive, laugh-out-loud contemporary debut about a Taiwanese-American teen whose parents want her to be a doctor and marry a Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer despite her squeamishness with germs and crush on a Japanese classmate.
At seventeen, Mei should be in high school, but skipping fourth grade was part of her parents' master plan. Now a freshman at MIT, she is on track to fulfill the rest of this predetermined future: become a doctor, marry a preapproved Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer, produce a litter of babies.
With everything her parents have sacrificed to make her cushy life a reality, Mei can't bring herself to tell them the truth--that she (1) hates germs, (2) falls asleep in biology lectures, and (3) has a crush on her classmate Darren Takahashi, who is decidedly not Taiwanese.
Ever since I heard about American Panda, I've been dying to read it. Not just because it's a YA set in college, but also because it's an #ownvoices book about an Asian girl who struggles with her parents' expectations. I was fully prepared to wait until February to read this book, definitely not expecting to receive an ARC of this book last November. I actually might have screamed a little when I opened the package. When I finished the book, I was busy with school and wanted to process what I'd read a little more, so (finally) here's my review!
Now, normally I hate Asian characters who are super intelligent and high achievers because they're stereotypes of what others perceive Asian people to be. And although I honestly do fit into this stereotype, it hurts to have it perpetuated because then my achievements are expected; nothing to be excited about because of course the Asian made a high grade. Of course she's smart. And so on, and so on. So yes, I typically dislike books with these characters. But I adored American Panda. The reason?
It's ownvoices.
You might be thinking, how much difference does this really make? I'll tell you, it makes SUCH a difference. Mei's story is a personal one for Gloria Chao, and you can tell by the way she writes her experiences. I'm already bracing myself from fighting any reviews that hate this book because of the culture that they won't understand. They're going to think that because it's not like anything they went through, it's not a real experience. This is wrong on so many levels, particularly on the fact that so many Asian Americans go through what Mei struggles with over the course of the novel. Chao takes the stereotype and shows you the human beneath it; Mei is an overachieving, skipped-a-grade-smart, med-school-bound Asian American, but she is also a nervous, awkward girl in a new environment at school. She's falling in love for the first time and making amends with her estranged brother. She's struggling with her parents' expectations and her own desires. So much happens to Mei in this novel, showing the audience that she (and all Asian Americans alike) is not just her grades or her accomplishments; she is not just the stereotype.
While I am not Taiwanese or Chinese, I so heavily related to Mei and her life. She bears the weight of her immigrant parents' expectations, to the point where she has skipped a grade, is in college a year early, and is preparing to become a doctor despite being a germophobe. Thankfully my parents understand I personally could never go through med school and everything it entails, but they do expect me to be successful (aka make $$$). There's a lot more to this for me, but I'd rather not get into my personal life here. However, I will say that even though I deal with a lesser extent of Mei's parents' expectations, it still resonated with me because I've gone through such similar things. Her story has helped me reflect on my own life and think, am I happy with where I am and where I'm going? And it's not just me; thousands of other teens will relate to Mei's story and see it as a beacon of hope: that you can be happy and do what you want and still love your parents despite their demeanor to you; that it's okay to want what you want despite being told to want something else your entire life.
Chao also captures a teen's relationship with her immigrant parents so well. It's kind of difficult to explain if you haven't lived it, but trust me. Mei's relationship with her parents is so real; they're overbearing, they tell her what to do all the time, and they show little affection toward her. Mei acquiesces and obeys, giving up anything she wants in the face of their decisions. It's honestly such an accurate depiction of this weird power balance; it not only captures the unhealthy aspects but also the healthy ones. Mei's parents really do love her, it's just. . . again, difficult to explain unless you've lived it. But take my word, Mei and her parents have such an accurate depiction of an immigrant's child's relationship with her parents.
American Panda is definitely one of the best books of 2018 (and we're not even two months in!). It's one of the few young adult novels with a Taiwanese-American main character and/or set in college. We desperately need more YA books that depict different experiences, and this book definitely delivers. American Panda is #ownvoices at its best and one of the books I've most related to. Gloria Chao writes from a place in her heart, and you can feel it in her writing; her own experiences, combined with others she's heard, make for a story that is both hilarious and embarrassing, heartwarming and heartbreaking, cute and fluffy yet heavy and dark at times. You'll laugh and cry throughout all of the novel it and finding yourself all the better for it!
Gloria currently lives in Chicago with her ever-supportive husband, for whom she became a nine-hole golfer (sometimes seven). She is always up for cooperative board games, Dance Dance Revolution, or soup dumplings. She was also once a black belt in kung-fu and a competitive dancer, but that side of her was drilled and suctioned out.
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