A review by robertrivasplata
Almost American Girl by Robin Ha

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

Coming of age memoir bildungsroman of moving from Korea to the American South as a teenager. The story arc of Ha's coming to America and finding her place there is heartwarming. Does not hold back about the shortcomings of either Korean & American society. Does a really good job of illustrating the experience of only being able to understand every third word or so of what everyone around you is saying. I kind of wish Ha had subjected us to the whole list of all her favorite Korean comics instead of having her read composite comic Queen's Quest. As a child of the 90s, I am amazed at how Korean pop has achieved a place in American pop culture today even larger than Japanese pop culture's in the 90s. The part where people are asking Robin about Korean pop culture,and she's like “I dunno, I only care about the comics” is pretty relatable. Ha does a pretty good job of explaining her mom's motivations and reasons for doing everything she did. Kind of surprised Robin's mom was able to convince her to get in the car to be surprised at the comix shop. I want to see the memoir that covers what their current relationship looks like.