Wait For Me by An Na
Mina is Korean-American whose mother has extremely high expectations of her, expectations that are compounded by her mother’s neglect of her younger sister, Suna, who is nearly deaf. To pacify her mother, Mina learns about cheating and forging school papers-and the accounting books for her family’s business-from her friend, Jonathan. Jonathan thinks he’s in love with her, which leads to events that make Mina avoid him, and soon turn to Ysrael, a Mexican immigrant who works for her parents.
Despite some uncomfortable elements, I liked the other book of Na’s that I read, A Step From Heaven, quite a bit, but this one never quite took off. The narrative alternated between the perspectives of Mina and Suna, but neither quite took off or felt complete, and the book felt like it’d been trimmed down, with none of the conflicts or relationships ever really seeming to be fleshed out enough to result in their consequences. It’s technically good and well-written, but left me wanting something else.
Despite some uncomfortable elements, I liked the other book of Na’s that I read, A Step From Heaven, quite a bit, but this one never quite took off. The narrative alternated between the perspectives of Mina and Suna, but neither quite took off or felt complete, and the book felt like it’d been trimmed down, with none of the conflicts or relationships ever really seeming to be fleshed out enough to result in their consequences. It’s technically good and well-written, but left me wanting something else.