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An #AAPIHERITAGEMONTH review: Parachutes by Kelly Yang

First, I want to start by saying happy Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage month!! I realized that I wasn’t reading any books by Asian authors, and what is a better month to start incorporating those books than this month.


I recently moved from College for the summer and my family is moving to a different state, so I didn’t have access to my personal libraries. I quickly rectified this by taking a trip to a local thrift store. The books that I got ranged from $0.99- $3.99, and the instagram post/reel that I made of about the book haul will definitely be up before this book review. Now, Let’s get into the author of this book.


Meet the Author, Kelly Yang

(This is the bio of hers that is given on the back of the book, so this is a note saying that this blurb is not my original thoughts)


Kelly Yang is the New York Times best selling author of Front Desk, winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Children’s Literature. She went to college at age thirteen and is a graduate of University of California, Berkley and Harvard Law School. She is the founder of the Kelly Yang Project, a leading writing and debating program for children in Asia and the United States.She is also a columnist for the South China Morning Post and has been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Atlantic. Kelly is a mother of three children and splits her time between Hong Kong and San Francisco. Please find her online at www.KellyYang.com . Parachutes is her YA debut.


(Back to my original thoughts)

This woman is impressive, and that all I can think of to describe going to college at 13, thats 4-5 years before the average person. She is also an alumna of UC Berkley, which is where I’ll be interning at the beginning of June!! I’ll be sure to take pictures of the book on campus and tag the school and author.


Book Cover:

This book was on its side when I picked it up, so I didn’t pick the book by the cover—I picked it by the spine. The colors and the font grabbed my attention, then the synopsis kept it. I had never heard of the book before I picked it up, and there are very few YouTube reviews on it. I’ll link some of them at the end of this blog post even though I haven’t watched them as of yet while I am writing this portion of the post. I love the cover just as much as I loved the spine; the main girl, Claire, is designed in the same color scheme as the author‘s name and the title of the novel. Also the parachutes are a cute tie in that isn’t too distracting. The one thing that bothers me, which isn’t anything really to complain about, but it just personally bothers me is that their eyes are the same color as their skin. If it were a light blue or light gray, that would‘ve been perfect.


Description:

(These are also not my original thoughts or words, this is the official synopsis found on the book. The purpose of including this is to provide a non-spoiler description of the book, and to provide details that made me want to pick up the book.)

“Speak enters the world of Gossip Girl in this modern immigrant story from New York Times bestselling author Kelly Yang about two girls navigating wealth, power, friendship, and trauma.

They're called parachutes: teenagers dropped off to live in private homes and study in the United States while their wealthy parents remain in Asia. Claire Wang never thought she'd be one of them, until her parents pluck her from her privileged life in Shanghai and enroll her at a high school in California.

Suddenly she finds herself living in a stranger's house, with no one to tell her what to do for the first time in her life. She soon embraces her newfound freedom, especially when the hottest and most eligible parachute, Jay, asks her out.

Dani De La Cruz, Claire's new host sister, couldn't be less thrilled that her mom rented out a room to Claire. An academic and debate team star, Dani is determined to earn her way into Yale, even if it means competing with privileged kids who are buying their way to the top. But Dani's game plan veers unexpectedly off course when her debate coach starts working with her privately.

As they steer their own distinct paths, Dani and Claire keep crashing into one another, setting a course that will change their lives forever.”


Rating

The average star rating on goes as follows:


GoodReads (4.23/5) https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/52696571-parachutes


My rating for this book was a 3.25 stars out of 5. I told myself that I wouldn’t keep any books that I rated later under 4 stars, unless it’s apart of a series that I like. This book is neither, so I will be selling it and here’s the link if you’re interested.


In MY OPINION this book is

  • Plot- or character-driven? Both

  • Strong character development? Yes

  • Loveable characters? It’s complicated

  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Expectations:

This book uttered the name of Gossip Girl, and it did not resemble it at all. I had never hear of a parachutes, so I was excited to learn about how they lived their lives. I was getting more Zoey 101, boarding school vibes from the description than Gossip Girl. I thought that this book would deal more with Dani and Claire learning more about each other and how they’re not that different through cultural and economic viewpoints. I thought that Dani’s coach would be a creep because the synopsis says, ”When her debate coach starts working with her, privately, Dani’s game plan veers unexpectedly off course.”I thought this would be a a coming of age novel, that would deal with the struggles of two girls in California.


Trigger Warnings:

(These trigger warnings are user submitted on StoryGraphs and not submitted by the author. The only author submitted triggers are ”scenes depicting assault and rape) If you do not feel comfortable with reading subject matter with this included, please exit this review and take care of your mental health. Thank you for reading to this point and for supporting me.


(This is the Spoilers section of the review. The trigger warnings give details that may give spoilers, but I still recommend reading them to insure you are comfortable with topics that will arise. Everything after this point may contain spoilers so take this warning if you care about spoilers. If you’re leaving at this point, thank you for making it this far and thank you for supporting me.)


Graphic


Moderate


Minor



Characters

Claire:

Claire was more sympathic throughout the novel. I was honestly surprised to see that she was so caring and open despite how both of her parents. It was like the author wanted her to be the Astrid from Crazy Rich Asians, which is where a person is rich beyond belief but also so kind to everyone. It makes me think how nice can a person who is that rich be, especially when they don’t have experiences that would teach them how to be nice. I feel like there should be more instances where by ignorance Claire insults or offends the lower socioeconomic people in her lives. I was so sad that the world seemed to want to humble her at every turn with racism, discrimination, and r@pe.


Dani:

I found Dani likable for most of the novel, but she got annoying when it came to Zach. I wanted to scream why can’t we find a way to healthily communicate our feelings to people. I wanted to help Dani by getting her a really good therapist, because she feels like the pressure of the world is on her shoulders. She didn’t tell anyone about what she was dealing with, and when she did barely anyone believed her. I was sad that everything seemed to want to hold her down from achieving her goal of being happy and successful.



Jess:

I have to issue an apology to Jess, because I thought that she was the one who told Jay about Claire and Zach. I have conflicting opinions about Jess: she is like a lion who is sometimes sweet to other lions, and other times she’s trying to throw them off the cliff like Scar did to Mufasa. Jess was there for Dani when she wanted to be, but she was too caught up wishing herself to be a good friend. I wish Claire had stopped being her friend at the end of the book, but somehow everyone stayed friends throughout the year.


Ming:


I’m so glad that Ming got away from her homophobic family and away from underwear Kevin. I was happy to see her use her circumstances to try to help other parachutes, even though Mrs. Mandalay said that she shouldn’t do that. I wanted her to have a good life, but it was a constant struggle after struggle. I hope that she goes far with her music and that Ming gets to live her best lesbian life.





Florence:


I’m glad that she became more open with herself, because she deserves happiness. I was screaming for her to communicate better with Ming, but I’m glad they got a happy ending. Also they were just as careless with their escapades as Claire and Zach, Im surprised more people didn’t see them.





Nancy:

She was not really a main character. She was poor and I caught onto that at the beginning, and I’m surprised that her friend didn’t.











Jay:

I actually rooted for Jay at the beginning, and I think that this was a good representation of r@pe culture. People think that likable people who are attractive aren’t capable of r@pe. He seemed like a nice guy who was trying to get from underneath his fathers thumb and was sad about his absent mother, but Jay is a misogynist who doesn’t care about the people who he is not sexually active with. He felt like he had the right to Claire’s body, because they were in a relationship. He shows zero remorse for r@ping Claire, but he has remorse for being caught and called out.


Teddy:

He was cute until he turned into complete trash. I’m glad that Claire got away from him, because he was abusive to her.






Zach:

This man turned reckless after seeming like a level-headed person at the beginning of the book. Why are we fucking in the school pool and outside on a hike?? I am all for him being with the person who he loves and doing that sexually (even though he’s a high schooler, but sex is normal during high school ages), but he doesn’t have money like Claire does. Having sex in public places can result in being on the sex offender registry, and Zach puts too much work to succeed for something like that to trip him up. I felt sorry for Zach, because his mother is dealing with drug addiction and is not really being able to be a mother to him. He is seen as being the poorest person in the book, except for maybe Nancy, and this is only overlooked by others because of his talent.


Mr. Connelly:

This man was a creep from the beginning to the end. I want to ask why Dani didn’t recognize this, but she wanted a father figure so bad and more importantly, she is the the child and the student. Dani should be able to be able to trust her coach who believes in her and her talent without having to look for an a hidden motive. He came on to another student before, and the fact that he called being called out on his predatory actions as being “me too’d.” This man is like one of the people who are upset about me too, because now they don’t know if a women would call them out for the creepy stuff that they did.


Ms. Jones:

How about a round of applause for the best teacher at this bumb-ass school. Honestly, I’m glad that Yang decided to make the only black character a likable person, but I do have thoughts about the fact that she is the only black person. I’m glad that she actually teaches the parachutes, because that is what they ned. The education that they were getting in that remedial class was not the education that their families sent them to America for. She also tried her best to be there for Claire, and she didn’t pressure her to report what happened. Ms. Jones, was there to be the wise older black woman— which is a stereotype in itself, but her presence was needed, not matter what race.


Mrs. Mandalay:

I want to be surprised what people will do for a check, but money is one hell of a motivator. I say the acts of good that she did for Ming and Claire as good, but I had to realize that she only did that because they increase the amount of money for the school and her. Ming, the expert violin player, is gay and, yes, Mrs. Mandalay helped her get away from her homophobic parents, but that was because she would bring money to the school. Mrs. Mandalay helped Claire with the teacher not because she wanted to help, but she knew others, such as Jay, use their native language and didn’t want his dad to hear that Chinese students were being discriminated against. She, like Dani says, sacrifices students for the check she will receive on the first of every month.

Emma:

Emma was a minor character, but I enjoyed her. The chapter with her mom was one of the lighthearted moments in the book, and I was so grateful for with the excess of trauma I had to endure. I’m glad that her and Claire got over the mean and pointless prank that Jess did, and it was nice that Emma was supportive of Claire in her case against Jay.






Claire’s mom:

I felt sorry for Claire’s mom, but not too sorry. I was glad that she left her husband at the end, because he never really loved her, he loved that she didn’t question him about his affairs. The mom believed that money and gifts would make Claire happy, because that was her only source of happiness in her life that was devoid of meaning. I think that therapy is needed by her, and others in this movie. Claire’s mother never speaks about how her actions and beliefs lead to how Claire is at the beginning of the book, and how Claire constantly feels like she needs a man.


Claires Dad:

Boo! Corny! Tomato, Tomato, Tomato! This man has no morals and no true code. He doesn’t love his family, and his only point of having one is to show face. This man sacrifices his wife to chase random and bold mistresses, who try to add his daughter on social media. He pays off his family because he doesn’t want to be bothered by them. He is just as bad as Jay’s father, because he doesn’t challenge him. He just wants to kiss ass to get more money. I’m glad his actions ended in him being alone.


Danis mom:

I‘m not even sure if Yang gave the mom a name, but she was honestly trying to be a good parent. I think that Dani’s mom is impacted by her life in the Philippines, and she doesn’t know how to adapt her parenting style to fit what Dani wants. Dani wants her mom to be there for her emotionally and physically to support her, but it’s not really possible, because she needs to work to provide a good life for Dani. She makes some mistakes and is passive in the book, but that is typical of people who were raised in a collectivistic society.


Those are all the characters that I remembered off the top of my head , and if there are other main characters than they didn’t make an impact on my mind.


My Experience Reading The Novel


Timeframe: May 13-20, 2022 (a total of eight days)


Plot:

The book starts with Claire and her family in China, which we can tell might have love but in a commercial sense where they use each other for something. When we are introduced to Dani we get told about her love for debate, and we also get to see her love for her debate coach who is one of the only people who believes in her and her dream to go to Yale. The coach was so inappropriate with Dani and is inquiring about her relationship status. Ming is Dani’s friend who is a master violinist, and she was kind of saved by the headmaster because Ming is gay and her family is homophobic. There is also Zach who is in band with Ming and Dani, and Dani is slightly in love with him even though he barely knows her. Teddy is Claires boyfriend in China and he seemed very sweet, he wanted Claire to be happy and not fetishized by American boys when she got to California. There was an instance where they stopped talking because he was being an asshole about Claire. Leaving, but he makes it up with a grand gesture of roses and a card at the airport. Claire‘s mother is sad and is constantly on edge, because her husband is cheating on her. This woman is constantly talking about saving expensive gifts, so she can save the money and not live in poverty if he decides to leave her. The school put the parachutes in basically remedial classes, which is the opposite of why their parents sent them to America. The first night that Claire and her mother came to California was awful for Dani and her mother. Claire threw up on the carpet, and Clair’s mother left them to clean it up. They work as maids, but that doesn’t mean they want to clean for other people in their own home. Dani and Teddy had sort of cyber sex, and after that it was all that Teddy wanted to do, and that lead to the end of their relationship. Florence and Ming started a relationship, and I was so excited that the lesbians in the book got good representation. Claire eventually starts a relationship with Jay, and he seems like he cares about her and her academic endeavors. The teacher ends up taking Dani to a bar and hitting on her, and when she tells the headmaster she makes excuses about how it will never happen again. Florence and Ming are so in love that they were caught by two people making out. As Dani is hiding from Mr. Connelly in the supermarket she eats a salad, and she tries to avoid him and gets caught for shoplifting. The staff basically extorts her, so Claire comes to save the day. Jay has become a bad boyfriend because hes ghosting Claire when her mom comes to meet him. We find out that he is cheating, and I honestly think that he is a sex addict when needs to get help. Then Claire and Jays relationship was made from bad to worse, because she tried to give him head and he said “nah I’m good.“ Claire ends up breaking up with Jay, but then she ends up being with Zach. They go from chill hanging out at the pool to fucking in the school pool really quickly. Dani is obviously hurt because she ended up seeing this while it was happening and she was in love with Zach. Then, Jay ends up r@ping Claire, because he is mad that she slept with Zach when he was so “patiently” waiting for her. It was at the 380 page mark where I wanted to DNF the book due to the sheer amount of trauma that is had in it without saying much. Claire ends up in hell and she doesn’t go to school, and when she does, she runs into Jay. The whole school is against Dani and and Claire because of their claims of sexual harassment and r@pe. Claire’s family is handling in this like a business transaction and not like the mental health of their daughter. Florence ends up confessing her her friends that shes an illegitimate daughter, and then she doesn’t introduce Ming to her parents and they end up breaking up. Later we find out it’s because she was embarrassed that her parents weren’t married. After Claires case and Dani‘s speech at the debate contest, I’m glad that they made up. It was realistic that nothing changed after Dani came out about what Mr. Connelly did to her, and Claire lost the case against Jay. Lastly, there was another girl named Bree who Mr. Connelly came onto in the past. I was glad that they went to the police, but also fuck the police. The percentages of r@pist that get charged is so small. I hope that they get their definition of justice.



Things I loved:

I loved that there were different cultures that we in the book, and I loved to see the aspects that are good and bad of each. I was also glad that the book didn’t just go with a basic rich people bad, poor people good. Both Dani and Claire had moments where I wanted to scream at them and other moments when I wanted to hug them. I also loved that they showed an American education as mediocre for the foreign students, because that is honestly what it is. America is like a name brand that slaps their name on a $5 t-shirt and charges the customer for $400. I was also happy to see that the parents weren’t just absent in this book, but the kids actually talked to them even of they didn’t tell them everything.

Things I didn’t love:

I hated that is book threw every bit of trauma that it could into 500 pages. I honestly think that the book could’ve been shorter, because much didn’t happen until the end of the novel. I wanted to throw the book at the fact that every person in California is apparently racist against Asians, which sounds bad, but please hear me out. I am not Asian, so I can not accurately speak on the racism and discrimination that Asians experience, especially after covid. That being said, EVERY SINGLE PERSON has something racist to say. I was wondering how these people could feel comfortable outside of the house if everyone is racist. I rolled my eyes at every encounter with non-white people because I knew that it was going to result in racism. I think this book included a lot of topics, but it felt surface level for a lot of them even with a page count of 496.


Notable Quotes:

I annotated the book, so I’m going to share my janky color-coded tabs with you.


Blue: Sad Quotes

”She buys them for him because she hopes the sweet gooey taro will somehow lure him away from his mistress, providing the kind of warmth and stickiness that will make him want to come home.”


“Why do we always have to massage the truth for him?”


“Ever since I can remember, I’ve been using my good news to try to fill the void my dad left.”


“Wait!” I reach out and grab his arm. I jam my hand inside my purse and pull out the fish-oil capsules I had gotten for my grandmother and shove them into his hand. I didn’t forget. Because despite what my parents think, I actually am a good Chinese girl.”


“You debated so well the next day!” Josh had argued. I want to pound my fist onto the keyboard and scream, Because I had to! Because my mom works eighty hours a week cleaning your room! I HAD TO!”


“You wanna be a whore? I’ll treat you like one,” he says.”


“Tell me, did he make you come?” he asks. “Your little white boy?”

I feel my heart leave my body. His fingers find my panties, and he yanks them down.

“Stop, Jay, please stop,” I beg.

But he doesn’t stop. He doesn’t stop.”


“I’m just saying, if you’d just been . . . violated . . . wouldn’t you want to get out of there as fast as possible?” Mr. Francis looks around the room and the student rep, Jordan, nods.”


“Why didn’t you scream louder? Kick him in the balls, dig your nails into him, run out of there? Why didn’t you do all the things society tells you to do when you get raped, having never been raped themselves?”


“Instead, my body lay there limp, worried if I shoved and kicked, it’ll take longer, it’ll be worse. My mind drifted out of my body, like the two were entirely separate…”


Gray: Relatable things/Things that made me think

“Do you ever get the feeling like everyone’s looking at you but no one actually sees you?”


“I didn’t want you to see me like this . . . ,” he mutters. He looks so naked sitting there, his pain exposed, I want to wrap a blanket around him.”


“Does sleeping with someone make it easier or harder to get over them? I wonder.”


“I’m confused. “Is he your boyfriend?” I ask Dani.

“What? No!” Zach denies quickly. Too quickly. Dani retreats behind one of the couch cushions.”


“I want to take things slow and savor every moment.”


“We both fall quiet. What do you say to someone after he’s raped you?”


“ I told myself I wasn’t going to cry again, but my eyes are not capable of staying dry. I don’t know if they’ll ever be dry.”


“All I’ve ever been to them was a pawn, not a daughter.”


“Do you really want your name synonymous with rape?”


“Is this what the rest of my life is going to be like? Moments of happiness punctured by the memory of what happened, like a bomb which can detonate at any time.”


“Everyone will know you’re damaged goods,” my dad warns.”


“This is just a regular school day for them, not a warzone they have to share with their rapist.”


“There’s remorse in his eyes, I can see it. But that doesn’t make it any more bearable.”


“I know, I’m just saying, I’m hurting here. I’m already hurting. You don’t have to go and ruin my life,” he says.”


“I shake my head at him. It’s so unfair he puts this on me—he did this. He ruined his own life.”


“I tell myself there’s nothing to be scared of tomorrow. The worst thing that can happen to me has already happened.”


“As I drift to sleep, I wonder whether in replaying his once cherished words to me, am I forgiving him? Am I betraying myself?”


“My mom holds me in her arms as I cry, and I feel my heart fill with the kind of love I thought I’d never be able to get.”


“Is that what you want, Claire? To have a long, drawn-out police investigation?”


Red: Red Flags about Mr. Connelly

“It’s kind of embarrassing, but my ideal person is Mr. Connelly. ”


“Dani!” Mr. Connelly calls. I turn around. Jokingly, Mr. Connelly waves his hand up and down in front of my eyes. “Earth to Dani! What’s up? You thinking about your boyfriend?” he teases.

I blush. “I don’t have a boyfriend,” I tell him.

“Really?” he asks. “Hey, I’m glad I bumped into you. I’m thinking about making you team captain for the next tournament. You think you can handle that?”


“Mr. Connelly insists on taking me to lunch off campus on Monday to cheer me up from my loss at the tournament in Orange. I tell him I have band at 2:00 p.m., but he says he’ll write me a pass.”


“Thanks for having lunch with me,” he says, beaming. “I don’t always get the company of such a beautiful, talented young woman.”


“You want to grab a bite again?” he asks. “Off campus? C’mon, my treat.”


“My pleasure,” he says, reaching over and gripping my hand in his, a firm, unwavering hold that conveys the full extent of his confidence in me, and I’m both thrilled and enraptured. “Do you feel better now?”


“Zach Cunningham?” Mr. Connelly asks. He seems amused by this as he shakes his head. “Didn’t figure him to be your type.”

I look down at the cue cards.

“He’s kind of a lightweight, don’t you think?”

I don’t like where he’s going with this, so I clear my voice and start my speech.”


“Mr. Connelly cuts in again. “So how long have you guys been dating?” he asks.

I put down my cue cards. “We’re not dating.” Not yet anyway.

“C’mon, I saw his hand on your shoulder. That looked like dating,” he says. Why’s he so interested in this?

Mr. Connelly crosses his arms. “I just want to make sure your head’s in the right place, that’s all,” he says. “That is, if you still care about going to Snider. . . .”

“Of course I care about Snider,” I erupt. I steady my hands on the table.

“Then why are you wasting your time playing footsy with Junior?” he mutters under his breath.”


“His face brightens, and he claps his hands. “Let me make it up to you. There’s an Italian restaurant—”


“Where’s everybody?” I ask.

He makes a pained expression. “Heather’s not feeling well. Josh wanted to come, but his girlfriend’s having some sort of meltdown, so he has to stay and Skype with her. And Audrey and Jake and the rest of them said they have a big physics exam. So they’re just going to get some sandwiches and study…” “Looks like it’s just going to be me and you, Thunder Girl!” Mr. Connelly beams. “C’mon, the Uber’s here.” He takes my arm and leads me outside to a waiting car.”


“The Uber takes us to the financial district and, oddly enough, pulls up right in front of another hotel. “I thought we were going to get some seafood,” I say to Mr. Connelly.”


“A bar?

“It’ll be fine. You’re with me,” he assures me.

I shake my head, but Mr. Connelly insists.

“Relax. You can order a lemonade.”


“I feel more like an underage date than a pupil as Mr. Connelly sits down next to me.”


“He takes a long swig and studies me. His eyes fall on my hair, which is usually up in a ponytail or in a messy bun, but tonight is down over my shoulders. “You look nice,” he says. “You should wear your hair like that more often.”


“Our fingers touch slightly, and he looks at me, his eyes lazy with alcohol. He moves over closer to me, almost like he’s going to kiss me, and I drop my hands and stare at the condensation on my lemonade glass.”


“I feel his eyeballs traveling up and down my upper body, and I squirm in my seat. This is getting really weird.

“You know, if you’d been around when I was seventeen, oh man . . .” He reaches over and places his hand on my leg. I freeze, staring down at his hand. Shit!”


Pink: Romance

“No, because I’m gay,” she finally says.”


“And it’ll be so unfair because they won’t even appreciate how pretty you are,” he continues. “All Chinese girls look the same to them! ”


“I turn and see Teddy running toward us. He’s carrying roses and a card.”


“I’m just a normal girl,” I say.

He laughs. The sound of his laughter is so addicting, and I try to memorize it. “You are most definitely not just a normal girl,” he says.”


“As we kiss, his legs wrap around mine. He presses into me. We both want more, but he stops.”


“We didn’t have sex. But we did take our clothes off and sleep together, falling asleep in each other’s arms and waking up together. I’m proud of myself for my self-control. And I’m proud of Jay too, the fact that a guy will listen to me.”


Green: Lines That I Just Simply Like

“ I want to press the emergency exit lever and jump out. I start ugly crying all over again.”


“I don’t know whether to be impressed with his honesty or offended that he doesn’t at least lie and say his phone was dead.”


“My mom says hotels make you forget reality—what happens in a hotel, stays in a hotel. I wonder if that’s something she tells herself so she can avoid thinking about what my dad does in them”


Yellow: Things That Made Me Want to Fight Underwear Kevin

“Yesterday he offered me a beer. I told him I don’t drink, and he got mad and said drinking’s a part of American culture,” she says.”


“He took away my violin,” she says. “My host dad, he just grabbed it from me. I thought he was going to break it!”


Reading Notes:

Chapter two: oh no, this is a dual pov kill me now. I hope this is done well

Page 14- I am on page 14 and I just realized due to reading the synopsis and the trigger warning that Dani’s coach is probably going to r@pe her, and I’m really hoping that isnt what’s going to happen. Page 17- I really hope that this teacher is just a really nice person who wants Dani and other students with less money to succeed, because rn they’re hamming up how nice he is a little too much. I’m getting suspicious and its getting weird. Page 39: the teacher definitely seems like he is trying to flirt with Dani. The asking her about the boyfriend seemed very inappropriate. I think I wouldn’t be catching on to the weirdness of it all and the foreshadowing if I hadn’t read the trigger warning of the child-adult relationship Page 43: after reading the trigger warning and it said someone in the book was gay I guessed it was Ming, and I was right. I didn’t guess that she hadn’t told Dani, or that the headmistress knew and didn’t say anything and brought her to the US to saved her. That was a sweet surprise. It shows that she actually cares about the students and isn’t just using them as a trophy for the school. Pages 45: Teddy, the boyfriend is just so annoying to me, but the line about the American boys not knowing how beautiful Claire is because they think all Chinese girls look the same is so true. Guys in the US like to fetishize Asian women because they think that they are docile and they think they’ll be more submissive them other races in America, which is weird of them. teddy also folded like an omelette after hearing the news that Claire was moving to America, which I get because long distance is hard, but it also felt like he wanted to break up already. I refuse to believe anything other than that the way he didn’t fight for her. Pg 48: the moms jokes about selling her birkins if the dad left her is a sad joke. What’s making the dad still stay if he’s had all those mistresses and why isn’t’ t the mom financially in a place now that she doesn’t have to resort to that. Page 54: SO heather is buying her debate speeches. I get that that is equivalent to what the people in china are doing with their tutors, so props for the parallels, but I wish that the girl was equally as hard working as Dani. I don’t want this book to be as black and white as rich people bad, poor people good. Page 58: teddy came to the airport with flowers awww that is so romantic. He waited until the last minutes, but its better than nothing. This is the fighting for the relationship that I was waiting for. Text would’ve been good in my book, but his surprise was so much better. page 60: There are some actions that parents do that make me wonder if they wanted to be parents, and Claires mother pretending not to know her as Claire openly sobbed about leaving her boyfriend and everything she knows is one of those Page 80: The chapters go by very quickly, and although others complained about the writing style, I’m not currently having any problems. I’m interested in seeing what the author is going to do to fill an almost 500 pg count. Right now Dani has finally talked to Zack, and yay, finally she’s communicated with him. I was kind of disappoint that she was deliberately trying to get worse at the flute for a man that she never really had a conversation with. Now we’re dealing with heather who stole her debate points, and Dani just confronted her. Heathers reaction makes me long for the days that you could fight someone and that would be the end of the drama. Page 90: I understand why Claire is upset that the parachutes don’t have class with the American born students. The education that they’re getting from the teacher sucks, and the benevolently racist teacher is a reason for that. The what’s you’re favorite American food prompt had me rolling, and so did Claires answers answer about the soup and America being a melting pot. Also I’m confused how Jessica though Clair wanted Jay, but then her and her friends were making jokes about Claire wanting an American boy. Page 97: Mrs De la Cruz has the patience of an angel, because I would’ve wept Jesus tears and fought Claire for throwing out my good mattress. I’m literally sleeping on one from the dumpster after I gave mine to you and that’s how you repay me. After Claire judged the house for being so small, I’m not sure why she didn’t think about what THROWING a mattress away would mean for her host family. Page 107: with every passing page I like heather less and less, why would she steal Danis point. what was the reason/? Is she that insecure about her abilities. The way they’re amping her up to be a mad person I dont want to hear a single redemption note for her. Please let her be a mean girl for the sake of being mean. Page 113: I don’t know how I feel about teenagers having sex in the media. I obviously know it is happening in real life, and I could do a whole blog post about the amount of men I know that were 12-14 when they first had sex and it was with a woman that was too old to be having sex with them. That being said. I’m hoping this book doesn’t go in depth to anyones sexual life. If it gets explicit I will DNF this book. Page 118: I feel bamboozled that Zach is white. I want poc love and I’m not getting that. That being said the scene with them at the library was cute. I hope Zach isn’t the rapist, because I want to like him, but all bets are off if he does anything to hurt anyone (besides exposing heather as a liar and cheater) Page 124: They are throwing all the worst encounters that could happen on this book. I feel like it’s important to shine a light, but also it feels like an anti Asian hate psa. The guys in the club hit the girls with the where are you really from and Asian is my type Page 126: teddy better hang up the call after hearing how drunk Claire is and not have cyber sex with her Chapter 18 starts on page 127 and I have two red flags. 1. Why is the coach taking her to lunch while she has a class, that’s weird that’s suspicious 2. He said and I quote, “I don’t always get the company of such a beautiful, talented, young woman.” That could be endearing, but it just feels kinda creepy and wrong. It’s giving thank you for coming on this date with me vibes Page 131: it feels weird that Teddy went through with the sexual encounter even if it was over the computer while Claire was drunk. It was sweet to ask if she was okay after, but he’s on my shit list. page 134-135 I liked the bonding moment over the laundry. I feel like they bith connected on the studying dedication of each other and it was a nice bonding moment Pg 137: I was excited that Florence asked Ming out, because now there is some nuance in the rich kids. It still feel like Florence is a subtype, but at least there is some progress Pg 140 still more updates with Dani and her coach. He asked if she wanted to grab a bit again, and he also joked around about her having a boyfriend again. As a coach he cares too much about her “love life” Pg 142: I feel like Zack also liked Dan, but he’s ashamed of being poorer than her. Him and his mother live in a trailer home together and his dad left, like Dani’s which was a nice bonding moment for the two. Jessica is being a bitch about the instagram and posting half naked pictures of Claire. Her and Heather are now competing for worse character along with the coach, but he technically hasn’t done anything as of yet. I’ll also mention that Jessica’s trainer is sleeping with her, which is inappropriate, because she is under age. Page 147: Nancys is broke, she has no money. The book hasn’t quite said this but it’s my prediction. She didn’t “forget” to move her card. If she was still wealthy, she’d have cash or something Page 154: so Zach notices the coach’s attention on Dani too this be foreshadowing. 156: boo teddy, he got a taste of sexing and now that’s all he wants. 159-161: the teacher has crossed all the boundaries and I have to circle back to write more on this. 163: I’m glad that Claire made it into the English 3 and that she’s going to education that her parents wanted her to get. Even Jess was happy and all teddy said was yay. 164: I’m glad Claire put her foot down with teddy who is officially on my shit list. Claire made a responsible decision and he’s holding the gaokao over her head. I’m glad they broke up. 168: I’m glad ming and Florence are happy in their relationship. Ming being excited about the kiss was very cute. Also I’m glad that Dani is starting to realize the coach is kinda weird. 169: I’m glad ming is having Good stuff happen for her and that she’s going to work at the agency and make sure others get better just families than her. Also I hope Florence is nice when ming introduces her to Dani 172: I hope Claire gives blue cap guy a chance to be her friend 177: this man is yet again trying to get Dani alone, I’m glad she said they should do something as a team 178: there better be a good reason why Florence didn’t invite ming to the party 180: why would Dani show up uninvited to Zach’s place 182: I feel sorry for zach I know academics and taking care of his mom is really hard. Rehab cost a lot and he’s already in scholarship. When Zach said “I didn’t want you to see me like this” I felt that. I have depression and I had a person do my dishes that were sitting there from October until November. 183: Dani is giving my dark Vanessa vibes, because she admires her teacher so much that she doesn’t see the problem. 184: I’m glad Jay was nice and told her to text when she got home. 189-195: this is another section that I’m going to dissect this, but I knew the coach was trash. Worst character in this book, hang him by his balls and drag him by a car 196: Jess was the main one who said we’re all yellow to the white people, then she put rice in Emma’s locker. 🙃 like… did you get the car? Did you get the guy? Page 201: this man just just come to San Francisco to or LA or wherever they are to take his daughter to dinner to only talk about himself and then pay off his daughter “like a whore”. It’s sad to see that Claire is struggling between what her family thinks is right BSs doing stuff for herself

212 Damn underwear Kevin is here again to ruin the day. I want to say that Ming should have been more cautious, but love will make you do stupid things. This might be a controversial opinion, but Kevin wasn’t wrong. If I were a parent and my kid was fooling around with their significant other in their bedroom of my house I would punish that behavior as well. I think that due to previous instances this behavior is red flag-ish, but Kevin isn’t in the wrong in this situation


213: this email is so American that it’s funny. I’m not sure why speaking your native language is considered “inconsiderate” and are all the teachers going to be racist


217: Im glad that Florence was nice when they were introduced


238: I hate that when Dani tried to tell someone about what happened that they think she’s lying


247: were are officially Jay Stan’s, but also the clothes was only $6,000 that seems really cheap for CRA


249: Why is Mrs. Mandalay being so terrible to Dani when she was so accepting and accommodating of everyone else’s problems


255: Wow look at the parallels between jay and teddy with Claire’s good academic news jay said he’s proud of her


264-268: The debate coach is a little bitch, and I’m not sure why he is the hill that the school is deciding to die on. I hate that the teammate said “but you debated so well the next day”. I get raped and I was functioning as a normal adult until I broke down and I wasn’t


278: Okay, I’m so confused because this seems so out of character for the Mrs. Mandalay, because one second she’s supporting the students and now she is supporting the teacher, even in private. I would suggest Dani go to the police, but I know how long that takes. She’s should post it on instagram


283: and the real estate agent is racist too. My goodness


285: the “what do you want a proposal” makes me not like Jay, come on man! This is why I can never Stan a man


288: so not a single person believes Dani on the debate team? I as a reader was picking up weird vibes, so I know they should’ve seeing as they’ve been around longer.


Note: this book hasn’t triggered me, but it makes me want to throw tThe book and put up my hand and scream why is it so hard to believe survivors, why is it so hard for people to believe me?


290: Florence and Ming have been so careless about hiding, damn is that how much in love they are because I need to get like them. Also thank you Claire for being decent and not outting them. Clap x3


291: is there a non racist person who lives where they are minus the black teacher? Everyone in this town in racist? I agree it happens, and maybe its different for Asians that it is for black people, I can’t speak to their experience, but I’ve never experienced this much blatant racism


293-294: chuckle, chortle, laugh are all things I did when Emmas mom discovered the condoms. Why wouldn’t Emma just leave them in her locker or something. Im glad that lead to her and Claire bonding though


303: The security guards are racist too?? And Mexicans look nothing like Filipino people


306: period Claire come through for Dani. I love that she didnt need any details, and she just bailed her friend out. And the fact that she complimented Dani on her debating, yay bonding


307: yes, Im glad the arachutes are testing out of those remedial classes


310: I guessed this post point awhile ago. I’m surprised that they are surprised


311: oh shit, I didn’t see that Florence is illegitamate coming, like damn no lube no nothing


312: oh come on jess. You all paid someone to seduce your dads mistress I dont want to hear anything from you


315: Jay better have a good reason for not texting and not showing up


326: I hope Claire doesn’t go back to jay. I think he needs help and not in a funny way. I think he needs to get help with his sex addiction


330: how did Dani not realize that it was jay one of the most popular boys in their school who was fucking in the house that her and king were cleaning in the beginning. Their school can’t be that big where she’s never seen him before


332: so jay is officially on the shit list and he is an asshole. If I were Dani I would still tell


336: I’m glad the coming out was not a huge deal but also so that build up for nothing. And I think Jay needs to learn how to communicate. Claire was insecure and inexperienced when it came to sex and he could’ve said something better than I’m good


340 just is ghosting her again, please leave that man


343 he sounds life that fucking Dobby like thing from lord of the rings


346: I do think Dani was going to tell Claire, but the debate thing is bigger that’s her future at risk over some teacher who hit on her


348: is sex really that important


350: I relate to his insecure the sex is making Claire feel.


353: so the kiss with Zach wasn’t okay, but him touching your hand as you all are alone is okay?? Claire should just tell Dani


357: unrequited love sucks but I’m glad Dani is going to be straight forward with Zach hopefully he litters get down easy


359: now I’m all for a hot girl semester Claire, but come on. Now we’re making out with zach in the pool. Why didn’t we just say something to Dani

360: In the words of Dr. umar I beg your pardon. Did they just fuck in the school pool?? Well that was quick

362: oh Fuck notnot Dani saw them having sex I’m screaming, crying, and throwing up


364: why Claire? Why would you agree to go to the dinner


366: I have no sympathy for Jay maybe if he was a better boyfriend and a decent person I would


367: no please no. Jess is a bad friend for taking Claire to stay with Jay


373: this conversation could’ve gone better, but both Dani and Claire were in the wrong. I wish they could’ve had a heart to heart over this instead of letting a guy get on between them


374-376 TRIGGER WARNING IN EFFECT FOR. RAPE.

I guess I can see how I got raped because I really beloved that Jay was nice in the beginning of the novel, I even rooted for him at a certain point. I thought that Dani would be raped by the creep teacher, but I don’t see this coming. I had to take a break after reading this because I was triggered. It made me think about that happened to me even though it didn’t


378: Dani shouldn’t have said anything to Zach it wasn’t her place


380: I’m honestly over this book at this point. It feels like trauma the musical the series, because barely anything happy has happened. Ming and Florence are having issues over telling their parents that they’re gay, and I’m not having fun. Not one single arch isn’t Trauma filled


384: the person who I told when I was raped reacted like jess and I deleted the message he sent me, but he told me that he didn’t know that all it took was to be “tall, dark skin, and on the football team to enjoy me sexually” he told me it was 40% my fault for the sexual activity I agreed to before


386: Zach is a piece of shot too. If she was being safe with all of the guys she slept with it’s fine.


387: I hate that this is most peoples response to hearing that someone has been raped. I don’t HAVE to report it to the police, and why is it that I’m sorry that happened or are you okay is t the first thing they say. The police don’t care and barely any rapist get charged. They’re going to ask why she waited so long? Where’s her proof? The system is built against victims, and the process is a long one. I also waited 5 days before reporting my assault


394: I’m so glad Ms Jones is there to provide structure and support, but jays family has too much money for the system to work fairly


397: “do you really want your name synonymous with rape?” This line really hit me, because despite beautiful picture of myself on Instagram my post with the most interact is me talking about being raped. Everyone loves true crime and wants to invite themselves into the crime scene that is my vagina. It feels like nobody wants to be with me because my vagina is diseased with rape.


401: so jays dad doesn’t want there to be bad press about the school because he wants to sell houses? Well he’s definitely not going to have anything good to offer to Claire’s situation


403: Claire’s dad must be smoking crack. I’ve never heard a rapist who’s trying to save face say yeah, I’m definitely gonna rape her again it was so amazing the first time that it happened


407: I fee sorry for Claire. I haven’t seen my rapist in person since the day before I reported him


410: so Florence and ming broke up wow this feels very misplaced and minor compared to the literal rape that happened


415: does jays dad own this apartment?? God I feel so sorry for Claire to have to constantly see her rapist


420: this whole school needs some fucking therapy, but I’m glad Dani and Zach are aon better terms with each other


Apparently I was wrong about Jess telling jay

Dani won the comp

Claire didn’t win the case, thank you Emma for coming through

The friends end up actually good

Mind and Florence are back together who cared about her parents being married any ways

ATP Jay and me Connelly can share a jail cell

Bree and Dani are giving my dark Vanessa

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