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jesse_jellyfish's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Bullying
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Rape, and Sexual assault
Minor: War and Miscarriage
hayleybeale's review against another edition
4.0
Australian novelist Wood returns to the world of her previous novels Wildlife (2014) and Six Impossible Things (2015) in this appealing companion novel that features some of the same characters in supporting roles. See my full review here.
bianca89279's review against another edition
4.0
4-4.5 stars
Cloudwish is a delightful, gentle young adult novel, that brings forward a female character who's non-Caucasian, so that alone was refreshing.
Vân Uoc Phan is the Australian-born daughter of Vietnamese refugees. They're poor and live in a government-owned, high rise apartment in Melbourne, Australia.
Vân Uoc Phan, whose name means Cloudwish, has a scholarship at a prestigious, private high-school, where she makes herself inconspicuous as to not attract the unwanted attention of the rich, mean kids. She's a top student, excellent oboe player and a wanna-be artist, despite her parents' wishes that she'd become a successful/rich lawyer or doctor.
From a distance, and in spite of her better judgment, she fancies Billy, top alpha, good looking male specimen, who's on the school's prestigious rowing team. She knows he's arrogant and a bit of a bully, but she's also seen a better side of him. She daydreams/wishes that Billy would fancy her and suddenly, out of nowhere, he starts falling for her, which she finds disconcerting.
I thought Fiona Wood did a wonderful job describing Vân Uoc's struggles to fit in, while staying true to herself. But who was she? She felt caught in the middle between her Australian-ess and her Vietnamese heritage.
I loved that Fiona Wood brought forward a very relevant and current issue/situation - that of refugees and of what is abysmally called by our disgraceful government, boat people. Reading about Vân Uoc's situation and especially about her parents' horrific story was heartbreaking.
This was a very well written, enjoyable, yet compelling novel, that's got teenage angst relating to fitting in, achieving, making decisions and first love. On top of that, there are a few extra layers about class, about opportunities, about immigrants'/refugees' issues and about post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
And I couldn't help but love all the many Jane Eyre references and the fact that Vân Uoc considered her a role model of sorts.
I received this novel via Netgalley. Many thanks to the publishers, Macmillan Australia, for the opportunity to read and review.
Cover: 5 stars.
Cloudwish is a delightful, gentle young adult novel, that brings forward a female character who's non-Caucasian, so that alone was refreshing.
Vân Uoc Phan is the Australian-born daughter of Vietnamese refugees. They're poor and live in a government-owned, high rise apartment in Melbourne, Australia.
Vân Uoc Phan, whose name means Cloudwish, has a scholarship at a prestigious, private high-school, where she makes herself inconspicuous as to not attract the unwanted attention of the rich, mean kids. She's a top student, excellent oboe player and a wanna-be artist, despite her parents' wishes that she'd become a successful/rich lawyer or doctor.
From a distance, and in spite of her better judgment, she fancies Billy, top alpha, good looking male specimen, who's on the school's prestigious rowing team. She knows he's arrogant and a bit of a bully, but she's also seen a better side of him. She daydreams/wishes that Billy would fancy her and suddenly, out of nowhere, he starts falling for her, which she finds disconcerting.
I thought Fiona Wood did a wonderful job describing Vân Uoc's struggles to fit in, while staying true to herself. But who was she? She felt caught in the middle between her Australian-ess and her Vietnamese heritage.
I loved that Fiona Wood brought forward a very relevant and current issue/situation - that of refugees and of what is abysmally called by our disgraceful government, boat people. Reading about Vân Uoc's situation and especially about her parents' horrific story was heartbreaking.
This was a very well written, enjoyable, yet compelling novel, that's got teenage angst relating to fitting in, achieving, making decisions and first love. On top of that, there are a few extra layers about class, about opportunities, about immigrants'/refugees' issues and about post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
And I couldn't help but love all the many Jane Eyre references and the fact that Vân Uoc considered her a role model of sorts.
I received this novel via Netgalley. Many thanks to the publishers, Macmillan Australia, for the opportunity to read and review.
Cover: 5 stars.
aderonkea's review against another edition
3.0
I was an ARC of the novel to review from Novl so here are my thoughts on it: https://youtu.be/SuOjCXhU9B8
smitchy's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 really. Really liked this book. It reminded of Looking for Alibrandi by Malina Marchetta (another great Australian coming of age book). The themes of identity, independence from parents, responsibility and expectations are handled well. Many topical subjects - particularly race / refugees - would make this an ideal book for secondary schools. Highly recommend for 13+
jess64au's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. It felt like an Asian looking for alibrandi.
tiffyofthemonts's review
5.0
A million thanks to the publisher for sending me an advance copy. Cloudwish hooked me from the very beginning and did not disappoint.
While the story itself is compelling (give me the "girl and boy come from two different worlds and fall in love?" trope any day of the week... especially if mixed class or mixed race relationships are involved), I was most notably blown away by how personal it felt and how deeply I could relate to Vân Ûóc and her thoughts and feelings and experiences.
Let me be very clear: Vân Ǔóc and I come from two different backgrounds. I am Taiwanese-American with parents who immigrated to America out of their own free will. They went to college in Taiwan and were able to pursue further education when they moved to the States. They had NOTHING when they came here but they were not refugees by any means. In spite of our differences, I still understood Ván Ûóc as though I were reading my own diary.
Having grown up in a suburb filled with affluent white kids, I know the feeling of being an "other." I understand the social navigation, the responsibilities, trying to measure up and fit in, trying to keep school and home separate, the shame of being part of a different culture, and the guilt that comes from feeling ashamed at all...
But I also know what it's like to balance all of that with dreams. And expectations. I was the English-loving STEM student who spent her lunch hour in the art room working on mixed media pieces or in my sketchbook and tutoring kids who needed physics help after school. The premise behind my AP Studio Art portfolio? Head vs. heart. Home. Belonging. Choices. I applied to college as an engineering major. (And eventually transferred into the humanities.)
So I get it.
How refreshing to see a fragment of my own experiences reflected back at me. (How silly that such a small thing feels "refreshing"—for white readers, this is just a given.) But Ván Ûóc is smart and thoughtful and proud and insecure and observant and dedicated and driven and creative and reflective and funny and socially conscious and politically aware and practical and daydreamy and weird and a typical teenage girl and also not a typical teenage girl at all. She reminds me of myself at age 17. Kindred spirits. I can't help but think that if I had read this book back then, I would have been all the better for it. I could have learned a lot from a girl like Ván Ûóc when I was 17.
But back to the book itself. The story was charming, and the characters delightful and sincere and real. (I'm so glad Michael showed up again. He was my favorite in Wildlife, so I was pleased to see him still doing his thing. I also liked Billy Gardiner—he's kind of a lovable idiot who is courteous and means well and is very polite to parents but is self-assured and arrogant and maybe a little offensive and ignorant because he was born and raised privileged. He reminded me of some of the boys I knew in high school, whom I looked at in very much the same way that Ván Ûóc looks at Billy.)
The relationships are complex and varied—there's friends and then there's school friends, and first love, of course... But you also have a mother/daughter relationship that is riddled with the complexity of culture "clash" and additional baggage, and it makes the interactions feel that much more poignant and sweeping. And the writing was rich and clever—what a voice. It carried me through the pages and left me satisfied but also still wishing I could stay just a little longer.
Books that feature POC characters and are written by white authors can often go awry, but I thought this was done incredibly well. To me it really feels like the author did her due diligence in researching and speaking with many actual Vietnamese people—in other words, letting Ván Ûóc speak her story without it being muffled or slanted by white preconceptions. Does the story rely on certain stereotypes? Sure. But those stereotypes exist and are still relevant today, so I'm happy to see those stereotypes (and their effects/influences) as an important aspect—but not the main focus—of this story.
Anyway. This review has turned into one massive blog entry so I'll sign off here and just leave you with this: Cloudwish is easily my favorite Fiona Wood book by far. I feel blown away and want to flip back to the very beginning and reread it all again right away.
While the story itself is compelling (give me the "girl and boy come from two different worlds and fall in love?" trope any day of the week... especially if mixed class or mixed race relationships are involved), I was most notably blown away by how personal it felt and how deeply I could relate to Vân Ûóc and her thoughts and feelings and experiences.
Let me be very clear: Vân Ǔóc and I come from two different backgrounds. I am Taiwanese-American with parents who immigrated to America out of their own free will. They went to college in Taiwan and were able to pursue further education when they moved to the States. They had NOTHING when they came here but they were not refugees by any means. In spite of our differences, I still understood Ván Ûóc as though I were reading my own diary.
Having grown up in a suburb filled with affluent white kids, I know the feeling of being an "other." I understand the social navigation, the responsibilities, trying to measure up and fit in, trying to keep school and home separate, the shame of being part of a different culture, and the guilt that comes from feeling ashamed at all...
But I also know what it's like to balance all of that with dreams. And expectations. I was the English-loving STEM student who spent her lunch hour in the art room working on mixed media pieces or in my sketchbook and tutoring kids who needed physics help after school. The premise behind my AP Studio Art portfolio? Head vs. heart. Home. Belonging. Choices. I applied to college as an engineering major. (And eventually transferred into the humanities.)
So I get it.
How refreshing to see a fragment of my own experiences reflected back at me. (How silly that such a small thing feels "refreshing"—for white readers, this is just a given.) But Ván Ûóc is smart and thoughtful and proud and insecure and observant and dedicated and driven and creative and reflective and funny and socially conscious and politically aware and practical and daydreamy and weird and a typical teenage girl and also not a typical teenage girl at all. She reminds me of myself at age 17. Kindred spirits. I can't help but think that if I had read this book back then, I would have been all the better for it. I could have learned a lot from a girl like Ván Ûóc when I was 17.
But back to the book itself. The story was charming, and the characters delightful and sincere and real. (I'm so glad Michael showed up again. He was my favorite in Wildlife, so I was pleased to see him still doing his thing. I also liked Billy Gardiner—he's kind of a lovable idiot who is courteous and means well and is very polite to parents but is self-assured and arrogant and maybe a little offensive and ignorant because he was born and raised privileged. He reminded me of some of the boys I knew in high school, whom I looked at in very much the same way that Ván Ûóc looks at Billy.)
The relationships are complex and varied—there's friends and then there's school friends, and first love, of course... But you also have a mother/daughter relationship that is riddled with the complexity of culture "clash" and additional baggage, and it makes the interactions feel that much more poignant and sweeping. And the writing was rich and clever—what a voice. It carried me through the pages and left me satisfied but also still wishing I could stay just a little longer.
Books that feature POC characters and are written by white authors can often go awry, but I thought this was done incredibly well. To me it really feels like the author did her due diligence in researching and speaking with many actual Vietnamese people—in other words, letting Ván Ûóc speak her story without it being muffled or slanted by white preconceptions. Does the story rely on certain stereotypes? Sure. But those stereotypes exist and are still relevant today, so I'm happy to see those stereotypes (and their effects/influences) as an important aspect—but not the main focus—of this story.
Anyway. This review has turned into one massive blog entry so I'll sign off here and just leave you with this: Cloudwish is easily my favorite Fiona Wood book by far. I feel blown away and want to flip back to the very beginning and reread it all again right away.
limeywesty's review against another edition
3.0
Read Fiona Wood’s latest YA novel Cloudwish not for its dreamy title, nor for its powerful messages of diversity in Australian YA, its adorable romance or its references to Jane Eyre. Read it, because Van Uoc is one of the most humble yet fierce protagonists of 2015. Van Uoc is the daughter of two Vietnamese migrants, a scholarship student at a private school and avid daydreamer about blue-eyed Billy Gardiner, but she is anything but a cliché caricature of the asylum seeker debate. Navigating between cultures in a coming of age story that can only exist against the backdrop of Australian multiculturalism, Cloudwish is in equal parts a sweet and imperative part of the surging landscape of Australian YA.
yasminix24's review against another edition
4.0
A wonderful insight into the experience and perspective of a teenager from a Vietnamese background - the family culture and sense of duty to her parents, and the trauma of her parents' experience as refugees. Vân Uoc is a wonderful, marginalised yet humbly self-empowered character whose story is a delight to follow.