Told almost like a memoir, the narrative unfolds through jewel-like moments carefully strung together.Īs the book opens, Young's parents are preparing to move from Korea to "Mi Gook," America, where the residents all "live in big houses." Soaring through the sky on her first airplane ride, the child believes she is on her way to heaven, where she hopes to meet up with her deceased grandfather and eventually be reunited with her beloved grandmother, who has stayed behind. The journey Na chronicles, in Young's graceful and resonant voice, is an acculturation process that is at times wrenching, at times triumphant and consistently absorbing. Joyce’s decision is sure to spark heated discussions about the beauty myths readers confront in their own lives.In her mesmerizing first novel, Na traces the life of Korean-born Young Ju from the age of four through her teenage years, wrapping up her story just a few weeks before she leaves for college. Printz Award–winning author An Na has created a surprisingly funny and thought-provoking look at notions of beauty, who sets the standards and how they affect us all. After all, the plastic surgeon has shown Joyce that her new eyes will make her look just like Helen-but is that necessarily a good thing? Her friend Gina can’t believe she isn’t thrilled. Joyce has heard of the fold surgery-a common procedure meant to make Asian women’s eyes seem “prettier” and more “American”-but she’s not sure she wants to go through with it.
Then her rich plastic-surgery-addict aunt offers Joyce a gift to “fix” a part of herself she’d never realized needed fixing-her eyes. And it doesn’t help that she’s constantly being compared to her beautiful older sister, Helen.
Joyce never used to care that much about how she looked, but that was before she met JFK-John Ford Kang, the most gorgeous guy in school.
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