The Joy Luck Club follows the story of four Chinese immigrant mothers and their daughters. Tan does an excellent job in portraying an immigrant mother and her first generation daughter relationship. She also does a great job in representing generational and cultural differences as these mothers move to America, and their daughters learn to assimilate. Each chapter talks about a different person, their story, and what they have learned from it.
This book follows two patients with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that affects the respiratory system and limits contact with other patients due to fear of cross infection. Stella gets readmitted to the hospital due to lung issues, where she meets rebellious Will. Stella is not pleased with his disregard to hospital rules. Will is awaiting his eighteenth birthday so he can break free of his mother’s control over him medically. He refused to take the medicine and do the trials his mother wanted him to. Stella then convinces Will to take his meds and that sparks their romance.
The United States gets replaced by the Republic of Gilead and the reproduction rates are super low. To combat this Handmaids are assigned to bear the children of elite couples. The story follows a handmaid assigned the name Offred. Her rights are heavily restricted and stripped of her old life. As the story goes on we meet the handmaids that are a part of a group to try and escape. Although escaping isn’t that easy in Gilead. There are guards and strict rules and punishments and it is too risky to be so reckless.
Yotsuba is about a small girl named, well, Yotsuba! In this book follow her as she comprehends criticism about her art, swears revenge after watching a gangster movie, and goes to buy cake! From the creator of Azumanga Daioh, Kiyohiko has done amazing work on this book.
The book opens up with a boy in a school uniform on a desert, named Ralph. We soon realize that he is not the only boy stranded in this desert. Their plane crashed and they are the survivors. Ralph and another boy that goes by the name Piggy, fight over leadership. Piggy believes that the group will be stranded for a while so they need to get supplies but Ralph believes that the group needs to find all survivors that are in the desert. The group votes for Ralph and he establishes a form of government that lets the boys do what they want and to enjoy the time without adults.
Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé is SO GOOD. It gives off some Gossip Girl vibes, but itis so much more elevated and extremely intense. I really enjoyed this book because it is dark and mysterious while also being funny and adventurous. It is definitely a unique read and I have never read anything even remotely close to it. It is packed with so many little plots, twists, turns, and epiphanies that I read the whole thing in two days or less. A 100% must-read novel!!
Lord of the Flies by William Golding is about of a group of young boys who end up on a deserted island due to a plane crash, and the book explains how they all act after leaving the structure and normalcy of society back home. Golding critiques human psychology and the ideas of how humans operate when survival is on the line. Although the novel can be a drag at some points, the actions of the boys and the thought processes that occur allow for great discussion and thoughts about human behavior.
It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover is an intense romance novel that narrates the new and exciting life of Lily who has moved to Boston to start her career. She meets a guy named Ryle, and truly her whole world turns upside down. She also has to face the reemergence of a childhood friend and lover, which makes the story a whole lot spicier. This book had me hooked by the very first page, and I couldn’t put it down.
The Magic Fish is a heartwarming graphic novel that showcases beautiful parallels between the fairytales Tien reads with his parents and Tien’s own story of trying to tell his family that he’s gay. There’s a lot of difficulties in communicating with parents that don’t speak English well, and wanting to them something so important as being gay. As this young boy navigates through his own struggling Vietnamese, this book shows us that happiness can be reached even through the language barrier.
Beatrice, Samantha, and Jefferson Washington are all the children of King George and their family is the current rulers of America. America was kept as a monarchy rather than turned into a democracy, and Beatrice is to be the new queen when she succeeds her father. Their stories become wrapped up when Samantha and Beatrice want the same man, Samantha’s best friend, Nina, falls in love with her twin Jefferson, and Jefferson’s ex-girlfriend, Daphne, is still obsessed with Jefferson.
