Casey Han is a Korean immigrant who grew up in Queens. She faces many of the same problems of other immigrants -- fitting into a new culture -- as well as some that even native children face clashes with her parents expectations versus her own desires. But there are things about Casey that arent obvious like the fact that every day she reads a Bible passage, writes it down and contemplates it. She also likes to make hats and devotes quite a bit of time to learning the craft.
Her parents work in a dry cleaning business with hopes of seeing their two daughters succeed. Her sister, Tina, is going to become a surgeon, and Casey, who has just earned her Bachelors in Economics from Princeton, is expected to study law or at the very least, go to business school (B-School.) Neither option appeals to Casey.
After a terrible fight, her father kicks her out of the family home and Casey heads over to her white boyfriends apartment to stay with him. A boyfriend that her parents do not know about and would not approve of because he is not Korean.
She arrives at her boyfriends apartment to find him actively engaged in a ménage-a-trois. She leaves there and spends the evening in a high-end hotel that she really cant afford.
The next day, she runs into a Korean-immigrant acquaintance from her church, Ella, and learns that Ella has always desired a close friendship with her and when Ella learns that Casey needs a place to live; she invites Casey to live with her until she figures out what she wants to do.
Throughout her journey, Casey has many people who act as benefactors in her life Ella; her sister, Tina, who gives her money the day she is kicked out of her home; Sabine, her boss at the job she worked through college and during the story; her bosses at the investment bank where she eventually lands a job; a used bookseller who befriends her, etc.
Each of these people tries to help Casey and she is not always as receptive as you would expect to their assistance. Especially since she seems to consistently be making decisions that work against her best interests, mostly financially. She runs up huge debts buying expensive clothes, meals out, etc.
As Casey struggles to adjust to life in America as an adult, her friends and family also go through the same struggles. Some of the struggles come from conforming to the cultural expectations: Ella marries Ted, who is also the son of Korean immigrants, but their marriage fails; her sister Tina marries a Korean man but chooses to become an epidemiologist rather than a surgeon and this greatly upsets her father who has told everyone his daughter will be a surgeon; her mother is raped by the music director at her church, but blames herself for the rape. (I, personally, love how Casey gets back at him for the rape when she finds out about it.)
This is one book, where there were many times that I found the protagonist to be a bit of a twit especially when she consistently goes on spending sprees for clothing when she has other bills to pay. But, she is struggling for her place in a culture that she understands but her parents dont. She sees her non-Korean counterparts doing what they want to do with their lives and getting support from their families, but she doesnt get that.
I felt that it brought forth many of the struggles that immigrants face as they try to integrate their lives and values into a society that often does not mirror their lives and values.
Her parents work in a dry cleaning business with hopes of seeing their two daughters succeed. Her sister, Tina, is going to become a surgeon, and Casey, who has just earned her Bachelors in Economics from Princeton, is expected to study law or at the very least, go to business school (B-School.) Neither option appeals to Casey.
After a terrible fight, her father kicks her out of the family home and Casey heads over to her white boyfriends apartment to stay with him. A boyfriend that her parents do not know about and would not approve of because he is not Korean.
She arrives at her boyfriends apartment to find him actively engaged in a ménage-a-trois. She leaves there and spends the evening in a high-end hotel that she really cant afford.
The next day, she runs into a Korean-immigrant acquaintance from her church, Ella, and learns that Ella has always desired a close friendship with her and when Ella learns that Casey needs a place to live; she invites Casey to live with her until she figures out what she wants to do.
Throughout her journey, Casey has many people who act as benefactors in her life Ella; her sister, Tina, who gives her money the day she is kicked out of her home; Sabine, her boss at the job she worked through college and during the story; her bosses at the investment bank where she eventually lands a job; a used bookseller who befriends her, etc.
Each of these people tries to help Casey and she is not always as receptive as you would expect to their assistance. Especially since she seems to consistently be making decisions that work against her best interests, mostly financially. She runs up huge debts buying expensive clothes, meals out, etc.
As Casey struggles to adjust to life in America as an adult, her friends and family also go through the same struggles. Some of the struggles come from conforming to the cultural expectations: Ella marries Ted, who is also the son of Korean immigrants, but their marriage fails; her sister Tina marries a Korean man but chooses to become an epidemiologist rather than a surgeon and this greatly upsets her father who has told everyone his daughter will be a surgeon; her mother is raped by the music director at her church, but blames herself for the rape. (I, personally, love how Casey gets back at him for the rape when she finds out about it.)
This is one book, where there were many times that I found the protagonist to be a bit of a twit especially when she consistently goes on spending sprees for clothing when she has other bills to pay. But, she is struggling for her place in a culture that she understands but her parents dont. She sees her non-Korean counterparts doing what they want to do with their lives and getting support from their families, but she doesnt get that.
I felt that it brought forth many of the struggles that immigrants face as they try to integrate their lives and values into a society that often does not mirror their lives and values.
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