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A review by storycrab
Ocean's Godori by Elaine U. Cho
5.0
This book was almost perfect. And I'm giving it 5 stars anyway because it has the potential to be amazing.
There's a key theme throughout the book that's central to many of the characters; we don't belong in the places that we seem like we should belong to. For example, as it says in the back of the book summary, "Ocean Yoon has never felt very Korean, even if she is descended from a long line of haenyeo" and this sentiment of not belonging applies not only ethnically, but socially, culturally, and even job-wise. As a 5th generation Chinese-American, who is visibly East Asian, this theme deeply resonated. I look like I should belong with the Chinese-American/AAPI community, but the cultural pressure of American society to conform has robbed me of my connection to Chinese/Chinese-American culture. Folks have commented about how I'm "basically white" and don't know any "actual Chinese culture."
However, I think that at its core Ocean's Godori is not about the lack of belonging, but rather about finding where you belong and who you belong with in a subtle twist to the found family trope. All the POV characters have a similar arc of searching, or returning, to their found family. Of course, with this novel being the beginning of a series this arc is a bit incomplete, although I look forward to its conclusion.
The one major drawback of this novel is the profoundly creepy and icky romance that underlies the entire story between Haven and Ocean. The man literally stalked her by hacking into confidential files, finding out what ship she's on, and joining it. Ick with a capital I. Also, I don't understand why so many folks like him as his whole character screamed "uwu soft boi" who can't talk about his feelings and instead make it everyone else's problem until the right person (Ocean) brings him out of his shell. It feels like a gender swapped bad romcom from the 90's that everyone will look back on in a few years time and "discover" how problematic it was/is. Dropping this storyline would easily secure this novel's status as a classic I would reread over and over again, but instead I'll just have to skim through Haven's sections. Fortunately, the other POV characters are extremely compelling and interesting and I cannot wait to get more of them.
There's a key theme throughout the book that's central to many of the characters; we don't belong in the places that we seem like we should belong to. For example, as it says in the back of the book summary, "Ocean Yoon has never felt very Korean, even if she is descended from a long line of haenyeo" and this sentiment of not belonging applies not only ethnically, but socially, culturally, and even job-wise. As a 5th generation Chinese-American, who is visibly East Asian, this theme deeply resonated. I look like I should belong with the Chinese-American/AAPI community, but the cultural pressure of American society to conform has robbed me of my connection to Chinese/Chinese-American culture. Folks have commented about how I'm "basically white" and don't know any "actual Chinese culture."
However, I think that at its core Ocean's Godori is not about the lack of belonging, but rather about finding where you belong and who you belong with in a subtle twist to the found family trope. All the POV characters have a similar arc of searching, or returning, to their found family. Of course, with this novel being the beginning of a series this arc is a bit incomplete, although I look forward to its conclusion.
The one major drawback of this novel is the profoundly creepy and icky romance that underlies the entire story between Haven and Ocean. The man literally stalked her by hacking into confidential files, finding out what ship she's on, and joining it. Ick with a capital I. Also, I don't understand why so many folks like him as his whole character screamed "uwu soft boi" who can't talk about his feelings and instead make it everyone else's problem until the right person (Ocean) brings him out of his shell. It feels like a gender swapped bad romcom from the 90's that everyone will look back on in a few years time and "discover" how problematic it was/is. Dropping this storyline would easily secure this novel's status as a classic I would reread over and over again, but instead I'll just have to skim through Haven's sections. Fortunately, the other POV characters are extremely compelling and interesting and I cannot wait to get more of them.