A review by rachcannoli
American Panda by Gloria Chao

4.0

Books that have deeply religious characters, even if they're just the parents, usually really annoy me because I just find it hard to relate. I'm not from a religious family and while my parents had their strict moments, they were always extremely supportive of my dreams no matter how ridiculous they might have been. So I expected to get very frustrated very quickly with this one because a third of the way through it was starting to grate on me that Mei wouldn't just gain a damn backbone and stand up for herself. But she goes through the necessary changes that her character needed and that come with age so I ended up really enjoying myself. She's a very likable character and even though I'm not Asian, I can still understand and empathize with a lot of her plights. It's obviously not groundbreaking and I basically predicted everything that happened, but still a super fun read and even if it's a predictable YA book, at least it has a fresh perspective.