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A review by stephxsu
Bitter Melon by Cara Chow
4.0
You know, I’m always pretty hesitant to read these books. Stories of difficult and overbearing Asian mother-daughter relationships a la The Joy Luck Club always seem to blend together for me after a while. Happily, while the premise of BITTER MELON is not unique, it presents Frances and her mother’s story in a way that worms inside your heart and draws out your emotions.
Ms. Taylor, Frances’ speech teacher, tells her that words contain great power, and so it is with this book. We may not be able to understand Frances entirely, who seems to miss that certain sort of “openness” that I like most about YA protagonists, but we are very much absorbed into her painful struggle to define where her mother ends and she begins. Frances suffers verbal, physical, and emotional abuse at the hands of her mother, and while hopefully most readers will not have experienced the same level of horror, we can all relate to the tensions that arise when our desires don’t match our parents’ expectations.
The plot escalates at an enthralling rate, and becomes practically impossible to put down at some points. No, there is nothing of the action- or adventure-novel type, but as Frances’ cover-ups of her speech activities continue to pile up, and her relationship with her mother becomes worse and worse, I was on the edge of my seat, nervous for her.
BITTER MELON is an incredible tale of an oppressed teenage girl’s blossoming, and has an ending that befits all of Frances’ struggles and hard-won triumphs. It is a book I would recommend to a wide range of readers, for its emotional, all-too-real portrayal of the dark side of mother-daughter relationships, and the power that one can find within oneself, with the right words and support.
Ms. Taylor, Frances’ speech teacher, tells her that words contain great power, and so it is with this book. We may not be able to understand Frances entirely, who seems to miss that certain sort of “openness” that I like most about YA protagonists, but we are very much absorbed into her painful struggle to define where her mother ends and she begins. Frances suffers verbal, physical, and emotional abuse at the hands of her mother, and while hopefully most readers will not have experienced the same level of horror, we can all relate to the tensions that arise when our desires don’t match our parents’ expectations.
The plot escalates at an enthralling rate, and becomes practically impossible to put down at some points. No, there is nothing of the action- or adventure-novel type, but as Frances’ cover-ups of her speech activities continue to pile up, and her relationship with her mother becomes worse and worse, I was on the edge of my seat, nervous for her.
BITTER MELON is an incredible tale of an oppressed teenage girl’s blossoming, and has an ending that befits all of Frances’ struggles and hard-won triumphs. It is a book I would recommend to a wide range of readers, for its emotional, all-too-real portrayal of the dark side of mother-daughter relationships, and the power that one can find within oneself, with the right words and support.