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A review by zinelib
The Silence That Binds Us by Joanna Ho
emotional
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? No
5.0
High school sophomore Maybelline Chan (her Taiwanese-American mom thought the make-up line sounded glamorous!) has the perfect brother in Danny, recently admitted to Princeton...until she doesn't. This novel starts off as a deeply felt story of grief for May and her parents, along with May's best friend Tiya and Tiya's older brother, Marc, who had been Danny's best friend. Tiya and Marc even come over and clean the Chans' house, when the family members cease to be able to take care of themselves.
Every time I retreat into my cave of slience, I spruce the place up.
But May's hiatus from school ends with the beginning of her junior year, and she is confronted with Danny's ghost everywhere she looks, and when a glimpse of happiness rebounds into guilt and pain. Then, to add to the family's trauma, a classmate's racist dad blames "Asians" for the high pressure at their high achieving high school and specifically references Danny. Was Princeton not enough for his parents?
The first part of the book, with its depiction of the unrelenting emotion suicide survivors experience, might be a great book on its own, but what elevates it is how when the narrative moves into centering racism in the community, May is forced to examine her own lack of concern for her BIPOC classmates and their realities. Tiya and Marc are Haitian-American and when they invite May to protest the murder of a Black child, May doesn't show up for them. The rest of the novel is about how May and others stand up.
The first part of the book, with its depiction of the unrelenting emotion suicide survivors experience, might be a great book on its own, but what elevates it is how when the narrative moves into centering racism in the community, May is forced to examine her own lack of concern for her BIPOC classmates and their realities. Tiya and Marc are Haitian-American and when they invite May to protest the murder of a Black child, May doesn't show up for them. The rest of the novel is about how May and others stand up.
The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.
--unclear attribution, often associated with Dante. Packs a punch with all the Israel-Gaza both sidesism rampant in the world right now. See also
Being nice doesn't change racist systems. Fighting back does. To people who support those systems, fighting to dismantle them--or dang, just pointing out injustice at all--doesn't feel nice.
Favorite book of the year so far!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide