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A review by isabelbrieler
American Panda by Gloria Chao
2.0
There are a couple reasons I struggled with this book.
First and most importantly, I found the incessant fat-shaming of our main character pretty triggering, especially since she was a size 8. I don’t understand why Chao felt the need to include that kind of detail and while I understand why she included the comments from her mother, Mei herself made some remarks, which bothered me a lot.
Secondly, there’s nothing really new about this book. And while that’s not necessarily bad, I just read When a Dimple Met Rishi, which features a lot of the same tropes and, in my opinion, did it better. So I wasn’t really enjoying this book too much because it felt like I’d just read the same kind of story.
Overall, this book is mostly fine. Because of my life experience and the books I’ve read recently, though, I personally didn’t like it.
First and most importantly, I found the incessant fat-shaming of our main character pretty triggering, especially since she was a size 8. I don’t understand why Chao felt the need to include that kind of detail and while I understand why she included the comments from her mother, Mei herself made some remarks, which bothered me a lot.
Secondly, there’s nothing really new about this book. And while that’s not necessarily bad, I just read When a Dimple Met Rishi, which features a lot of the same tropes and, in my opinion, did it better. So I wasn’t really enjoying this book too much because it felt like I’d just read the same kind of story.
Overall, this book is mostly fine. Because of my life experience and the books I’ve read recently, though, I personally didn’t like it.