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A review by whitneymouse
Finding My Voice by Marie Myung-Ok Lee
3.0
**Thank you to Netgalley and Soho Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating**
I was unaware this was a reissued book going into it. This book was published the year I was born! A lot has changed since then, however, the author noted in her Afterword that she consciously made the decision not to update the book for a contemporary audience in order to "preserve the history of...the 1990s." I'm sad to find my childhood is becoming Historical Fiction.
I do think that, ultimately, the choice to not update will be an issue for many casual readers. Even as someone who was around during the time period, there were things I had to look up (For example, "dittoed copies". I'm aware that ditto machines exist but I couldn't tell you how they're different from a copier). Otherwise "timeless" books have updated language or technology in order to better meet the reader halfway. I always think of "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" as an example of this because the way we deal with some of the issues of the book have changed, therefore the book was updated to better reflect that.
I was also a little concerned that the author states in her Afterword that "the issues that the novel explores --racism, immigration, parental pressure, bullying--have changed for the better --while also continuing on, even intensifying in places." While people perhaps are not as overtly racist as the characters in this book, I do not think it is correct to say that those topics have "changed for the better" since the 90s. They have greatly intensified, especially in the last four years in the US.
To get into the actual content of the book, it was alright. Ellen is a perfectly passable protagonist who is struggling to decide where she's going to college, wanting to get out of her small (and racist) town, dealing with pressure put on her by her parents, and falling in love with a classmate. I do think if this were to be written today it would need to delve much deeper into the issues the book discusses. The issues are explored at a very superficial level with no deeper dive into any of them and what they really mean for the character. The book is very short, so it doesn't have the time to do so. The racism and bullying portrayed in this book is VERY overt. There is no nuance, no microaggressions like we'd be more likely to see now. It is very in your face with the adults doing nothing but saying Ellen is being "too sensitive" for the most part or sometimes even taking part. I think it's important going in to know this as it may shock some readers.
Ellen's friendship with her friend, Jessie, was sweet and briefly hints at the anxiety that comes with growing up in a small town and thinking you'll never leave. I did enjoy the parts about the two of them. Similarly, I thought Ellen's relationship with her mother was sweet. Her father puts a lot of pressure on her to get good grades and attend Harvard, and while you sense that that may be important to her mom, Mrs. Sung also emphasizes that she wants her daughter to be happy wherever she ends up going to college.
While I understand the format of this book is very similar to others of its time period, I can't really give it more than a 3. It felt like more should have been done with the plot. It was very "I have this problem" and then it was fixed with the literary equivalent of a band-aid. The issues were big and the solutions were simple. It never felt like Ellen really learned to overcome her problems. The book is called "Finding My Voice" and it's really "one time she stood up to a bully and immediately resigns herself to things not getting better". I don't get the sense that Ellen is going to continue to call people out on their racism and rude behavior. It's just a little underdeveloped for me. I'm not sure I'd say it fully captures the feeling of what the 90s were like to be called "Historical Fiction", either. It was a decent book and I can see that it was clearly an influence on the YA genre, but it's not one I'd be rushing out to recommend.
I was unaware this was a reissued book going into it. This book was published the year I was born! A lot has changed since then, however, the author noted in her Afterword that she consciously made the decision not to update the book for a contemporary audience in order to "preserve the history of...the 1990s." I'm sad to find my childhood is becoming Historical Fiction.
I do think that, ultimately, the choice to not update will be an issue for many casual readers. Even as someone who was around during the time period, there were things I had to look up (For example, "dittoed copies". I'm aware that ditto machines exist but I couldn't tell you how they're different from a copier). Otherwise "timeless" books have updated language or technology in order to better meet the reader halfway. I always think of "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" as an example of this because the way we deal with some of the issues of the book have changed, therefore the book was updated to better reflect that.
I was also a little concerned that the author states in her Afterword that "the issues that the novel explores --racism, immigration, parental pressure, bullying--have changed for the better --while also continuing on, even intensifying in places." While people perhaps are not as overtly racist as the characters in this book, I do not think it is correct to say that those topics have "changed for the better" since the 90s. They have greatly intensified, especially in the last four years in the US.
To get into the actual content of the book, it was alright. Ellen is a perfectly passable protagonist who is struggling to decide where she's going to college, wanting to get out of her small (and racist) town, dealing with pressure put on her by her parents, and falling in love with a classmate. I do think if this were to be written today it would need to delve much deeper into the issues the book discusses. The issues are explored at a very superficial level with no deeper dive into any of them and what they really mean for the character. The book is very short, so it doesn't have the time to do so. The racism and bullying portrayed in this book is VERY overt. There is no nuance, no microaggressions like we'd be more likely to see now. It is very in your face with the adults doing nothing but saying Ellen is being "too sensitive" for the most part or sometimes even taking part. I think it's important going in to know this as it may shock some readers.
Ellen's friendship with her friend, Jessie, was sweet and briefly hints at the anxiety that comes with growing up in a small town and thinking you'll never leave. I did enjoy the parts about the two of them. Similarly, I thought Ellen's relationship with her mother was sweet. Her father puts a lot of pressure on her to get good grades and attend Harvard, and while you sense that that may be important to her mom, Mrs. Sung also emphasizes that she wants her daughter to be happy wherever she ends up going to college.
While I understand the format of this book is very similar to others of its time period, I can't really give it more than a 3. It felt like more should have been done with the plot. It was very "I have this problem" and then it was fixed with the literary equivalent of a band-aid. The issues were big and the solutions were simple. It never felt like Ellen really learned to overcome her problems. The book is called "Finding My Voice" and it's really "one time she stood up to a bully and immediately resigns herself to things not getting better". I don't get the sense that Ellen is going to continue to call people out on their racism and rude behavior. It's just a little underdeveloped for me. I'm not sure I'd say it fully captures the feeling of what the 90s were like to be called "Historical Fiction", either. It was a decent book and I can see that it was clearly an influence on the YA genre, but it's not one I'd be rushing out to recommend.