Reviews

I think my expectations were too high for this Newbery winner. The writing is lyrical, I loved the magical realism aspects as well as the Korean culture and tales, but the plot had so many holes that left me frustrated as a reader.
Lily, her sister Sam, and their mom move to live with their ailing grandmother, Halmoni. Lily loves Halmoni, she feels like Halmoni is the only person who can really see her, and I did love their relationship. However most of the characters were flat. I usually love a sister relationship but the older sister was such a jerk and the younger sister was so whiny and they were just always fighting. The story jumps around a lot from mother/daughter conflict to sisterly conflict to dying grandmother to talking tigers to being new in town and then they threw in lesbian relationship at the end for good measure. I wanted to love this book but I just didn't.

supernana's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

huyle's review against another edition

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4.0

A very heart-touching book with a nice little twist and metaphor(?). The monologue and thought process of our main character and her development is well-written. And it’s quite tear-jerking as progress through moments of grief

after_hours_reader's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

infinitori's review against another edition

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5.0

Magical, and made me bawl. Amazing.

twentythreebirds's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

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