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A review by kaikai1618
Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi
I really enjoyed reading this book. I haven't felt sad while leaving a book in a while but this book has really connected with me.
This book has some of the most sharp and authentic characters I've read about, messy people with the best banter. The way everything is worded in this book is a level above your typical YA. I've read a lot of Young Adult realistic fiction, and at some point a lot of those books start to blend together, to sound the same. However, with this book there were extremely intelligent, witty characters and the writing was brilliant. I loved the wording of everything because it was phrased like poetry. It was beautiful.
As a young person who reads a lot I'm trying to find a books that will challenge me a little more with the writing while still connecting with the characters. Books with more extensive vocabulary are typically in adult books so I don't identify with them as much. But the writing in this book was more sophisticated while still having characters closer to high school. I felt like I got more out of this book because in a way, the writing took me as a reader more seriously and used more sophisticated language. This is the first book I've read that has done this for me.
I could say realistic too much but that is how I would describe why this book stood out to me. The authenticity in this book was different from other books I've read. In most other books, the realisticness comes from a heart wrenching and emotional event that is overwhealming for the characters. That isn't bad at all, but the thing about this book is that it's didn't do that to me. Instead I was slowly immersed into these characters lives, lives that are not very easy--especially Sam's. Instead of reading the book I could visualize everything so clearly without even realizing. During that time while different parts of Sam and Penny's pasts were revealed it felt more like just the exhaustion of reality than a heart stopping reveal. I felt their baggage in a slow way. Their everyday burdens were like layers, revealed gradually over the coarse of the book in small to sometimes larger tendencies, fears, or actions.
I can see why people may not like this book. I can see why Penny my seem extremely pessimistic, unlikeable, or cynical.
But to me, the way her character was written and the writing style kept me intrigued, and the way she described things was unique from what I typically see. There's something about other styles of writing in young adult romance that blend together for me, that make me not connect with the characters as much. Those are the books I read for entertainment or possibly books I just didn't get as much out of as I'd hoped. I know in those books Maybe I wouldn't have liked penny's perspective as much. I wouldn't have found it as interesting or connected with it.
This is how I know that the writing was great. If Penny was described any other way I don't think I would have gotten as much out of her character or Sam's character.
It also happened to make me feel better as a young Asian reader reading about a smart, well read, Asian woman.
When I said Mary. H.K. Choi's writing is like poetry, I mean it. I love poetry, love the way normal sentences are molded into intricate and beautiful new stanzas in how they're worded. In poetry "eyes" become "soul searching spills of Indigo". Sentences become art because poems are (at least typically and I'm also thinking of slam poems and modern poetry) shorter than books, trying to sculpt imagery into less words. Still, the writing in this book was not merely throwing around pretty wording and fancy over-description. The words were poetry in a way that they exuded personality and displayed everyday life observation. This is why it surprised me when I saw this kind of artful wording in a YA book. It's fairly atypical in YA romance books I have read.
God, when I finished this book I was so sad because I thought there would be more but it was the acknowledgements (which I also read haha). This is one of my new favorite books.
This book has some of the most sharp and authentic characters I've read about, messy people with the best banter. The way everything is worded in this book is a level above your typical YA. I've read a lot of Young Adult realistic fiction, and at some point a lot of those books start to blend together, to sound the same. However, with this book there were extremely intelligent, witty characters and the writing was brilliant. I loved the wording of everything because it was phrased like poetry. It was beautiful.
As a young person who reads a lot I'm trying to find a books that will challenge me a little more with the writing while still connecting with the characters. Books with more extensive vocabulary are typically in adult books so I don't identify with them as much. But the writing in this book was more sophisticated while still having characters closer to high school. I felt like I got more out of this book because in a way, the writing took me as a reader more seriously and used more sophisticated language. This is the first book I've read that has done this for me.
I could say realistic too much but that is how I would describe why this book stood out to me. The authenticity in this book was different from other books I've read. In most other books, the realisticness comes from a heart wrenching and emotional event that is overwhealming for the characters. That isn't bad at all, but the thing about this book is that it's didn't do that to me. Instead I was slowly immersed into these characters lives, lives that are not very easy--especially Sam's. Instead of reading the book I could visualize everything so clearly without even realizing. During that time while different parts of Sam and Penny's pasts were revealed it felt more like just the exhaustion of reality than a heart stopping reveal. I felt their baggage in a slow way. Their everyday burdens were like layers, revealed gradually over the coarse of the book in small to sometimes larger tendencies, fears, or actions.
I can see why people may not like this book. I can see why Penny my seem extremely pessimistic, unlikeable, or cynical.
But to me, the way her character was written and the writing style kept me intrigued, and the way she described things was unique from what I typically see. There's something about other styles of writing in young adult romance that blend together for me, that make me not connect with the characters as much. Those are the books I read for entertainment or possibly books I just didn't get as much out of as I'd hoped. I know in those books Maybe I wouldn't have liked penny's perspective as much. I wouldn't have found it as interesting or connected with it.
This is how I know that the writing was great. If Penny was described any other way I don't think I would have gotten as much out of her character or Sam's character.
It also happened to make me feel better as a young Asian reader reading about a smart, well read, Asian woman.
When I said Mary. H.K. Choi's writing is like poetry, I mean it. I love poetry, love the way normal sentences are molded into intricate and beautiful new stanzas in how they're worded. In poetry "eyes" become "soul searching spills of Indigo". Sentences become art because poems are (at least typically and I'm also thinking of slam poems and modern poetry) shorter than books, trying to sculpt imagery into less words. Still, the writing in this book was not merely throwing around pretty wording and fancy over-description. The words were poetry in a way that they exuded personality and displayed everyday life observation. This is why it surprised me when I saw this kind of artful wording in a YA book. It's fairly atypical in YA romance books I have read.
God, when I finished this book I was so sad because I thought there would be more but it was the acknowledgements (which I also read haha). This is one of my new favorite books.