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A review by perpetualephemeral
If You Still Recognise Me by Cynthia So
4.0
This book took me on a journey. Never did I think that a book would resonate with me so clearly - a book that follows a wholly imperfect main character, crushing on people near and far, a main character that wraps herself in communities and speaks so eloquently about the world.
Before I discuss what I love about this book, I want to discuss the only reason I'm rating it a 4.5. The whole grandparent storyline. For me personally, I found it very weird. Although now I do realise that Theresa and Rebecca's story with letters was cleverly woven together with Joan and Elsie's happy ending, I found the entire wild goose chase for it a little bizarre, and it turned me away at points. I do understand that Elsie did it for her love for Ada, but it just didn't quite feel right in my head.
Now, what I loved about this book. A lot. I loved the character arcs we see in Po Po, Ritika, and Ada. I love the slow unravelling of the Elsie's family dynamic. I love the rekindling and realisation of Uncle Kevin being gay. I love ALL OF THE REP. Ace rep, enby rep, bi rep, just general queer rep. The exploration of cultural identities? So much of this book was incredible.
The messiness of the end with Joan and Ada and Elsie was fantastically written, and that scene at the end in Joan's flat. My god. The characters genuinely felt like they lept off the page. I felt genuinely crushed when Ada says she has a crush on Gracie. I felt nervous for Elsie in her understanding of how she felt about Joan. And I was so happy with how almost every relationship ended up, how we never see Elsie come out to her Po Po.
If You Still Recognise Me is a book I could talk about for a while. And I'm very happy that Tessie got me to read this one.
Before I discuss what I love about this book, I want to discuss the only reason I'm rating it a 4.5. The whole grandparent storyline. For me personally, I found it very weird. Although now I do realise that Theresa and Rebecca's story with letters was cleverly woven together with Joan and Elsie's happy ending, I found the entire wild goose chase for it a little bizarre, and it turned me away at points. I do understand that Elsie did it for her love for Ada, but it just didn't quite feel right in my head.
Now, what I loved about this book. A lot. I loved the character arcs we see in Po Po, Ritika, and Ada. I love the slow unravelling of the Elsie's family dynamic. I love the rekindling and realisation of Uncle Kevin being gay. I love ALL OF THE REP. Ace rep, enby rep, bi rep, just general queer rep. The exploration of cultural identities? So much of this book was incredible.
The messiness of the end with Joan and Ada and Elsie was fantastically written, and that scene at the end in Joan's flat. My god. The characters genuinely felt like they lept off the page. I felt genuinely crushed when Ada says she has a crush on Gracie. I felt nervous for Elsie in her understanding of how she felt about Joan. And I was so happy with how almost every relationship ended up, how we never see Elsie come out to her Po Po.
If You Still Recognise Me is a book I could talk about for a while. And I'm very happy that Tessie got me to read this one.