A review by sparksofember
American Panda by Gloria Chao

2.0

This was okay but also kind of odd and bland. The love interest was too perfect and we didn't really get to know him (I spent over half the book expecting to discover he had approached her on a dare or as a part of a sorority initiation since she kept treating him like a yoyo but nope, he really was just that sweet and understanding.). The medical scenes were a little gross - the point was to show why Mei wasn't a good med-school candidate but I'm not one either and really didn't need to know - I ended up fast-forwarding through most of the gross anatomy scene. I liked how the story wrapped up with things evolving but not in a perfect bow.

Also, I had a big question that never seemed to come up in the book. Did the grandmother & aunt still live in Taiwan or had they moved to the US? I was confused because the book mentions taking them to the airport after a visit, but then later the aunt shows up suddenly.

Spoiler

Did they fly from Taiwan planning to crash the brother's wedding? Or did they live close enough for the aunt to rush over mere hours after the grandmother's death? But if they lived that close, why the earlier flight? Or did they live close enough that the aunt literally hopped in a plane for a couple hours just to come scream at them? I'm guessing not, since the funeral was local. If they had come all the way from Taiwan, you would think Mei and her brother would have been like, "Why were they in the US? Were they planning to crash the wedding?"

Regarding the audio narration, I had issues with the volume being too soft and then suddenly too loud and blaring. I had to keep the volume very high and suddenly turn it down constantly. I also thought a lot of the pauses mid-sentence were awkward and didn't flow well. It wasn't enough to make the book a pain to listen to, it was just a little off and distracting.