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A review by ellytheskelly
Heart and Seoul by Jen Frederick
0.75
Korea is all of these people just as I am not one thing or the other. I am complicated and contradictory and I don't know how all of it can coexist, but it has to because these versions are all me.
I can't speak on the struggles of an adopted child. I've heard that part of this story is accurate, and I'll take that.
However, when reality (people being rude to adoptees) is so outlandish, WHY make your plot so contrived and crazy that it makes it feel like the very real struggles are also made up and contrived???
The main character, Hara, is irritating. She repeats herself constantly and asks questions with obvious answers like "how did you know I was American?" (BESTIE, you're speaking ENGLISH and you do a blank stare when they speak Korean to you. YOU LOOK AMERICAN.) She asks this question and gets the exact same response, verbatim, twice in this book. Also the trope of "oh a cute local will just teach me the language 3 days into my trip abroad teehee" trope bothers me a LOT. Like please just take some time to learn some basic words and phrases. Write them down! Why did she wait until day 3 to download a translation app????
And now it's time for SPOILERS.SHE HAD SEX WITH HER STEPBROTHER.... TWICE????? AT LEAST ONE OF THEM KNOWINGLY????? AND THEN THEY HAD THE AUDACITY TO JOKE ABOUT HOW "it could be worse, we could be actually related" I LITERALLY DRY HEAVED.... Yujun was the FIRST FREAKIN MAN you encountered you can move on!!! YOU MET HIM LIKE 7 DAYS AGO YOU CAN MOVE ON!!! Bro literally what happened to her whole no strings attached vacation boyfriend thing?
However, when reality (people being rude to adoptees) is so outlandish, WHY make your plot so contrived and crazy that it makes it feel like the very real struggles are also made up and contrived???
The main character, Hara, is irritating. She repeats herself constantly and asks questions with obvious answers like "how did you know I was American?" (BESTIE, you're speaking ENGLISH and you do a blank stare when they speak Korean to you. YOU LOOK AMERICAN.) She asks this question and gets the exact same response, verbatim, twice in this book. Also the trope of "oh a cute local will just teach me the language 3 days into my trip abroad teehee" trope bothers me a LOT. Like please just take some time to learn some basic words and phrases. Write them down! Why did she wait until day 3 to download a translation app????
And now it's time for SPOILERS.