Scan barcode
A review by ihateprozac
American Panda by Gloria Chao
3.0
I wanted to love this. It was a meh 3.5 stars.
The first half is disappointingly underdeveloped. There’s little to no discussion of college life, in spite of the fact that this is a huge adjustment and transition period for a 17 year old girl. It’s treated more as a vague physical setting, like a cafe or bus station, than a transformative period in her life.
The protagonist Mei is passionate about dance, but the author doesn’t spend enough time adequately conveying this passion or even explaining dance terminology in a way that allows readers to connect with her. There’s so much dance jargon thrown around and I couldn’t understand what she was doing, which really pulled me out of the story.
Mei also feels much younger than the 17 years she’s purported to be. While some of this can be attributed to her strict upbringing prohibiting her from experiencing a lot of life for herself, she honestly reads as a naive 14 year old. This is doubly strange if you try to listen to the audiobook (which I abandoned in favour of the ebook), because the audiobook narrator makes her sound like a sardonic 25 year old.
Mei has little to no chemistry with her love interest either, so this book couldn’t even rely on the romance to prop it up.
Admittedly the second act was much stronger, with Mei finally taking a stand against her parents and fighting for what she wants to do with her life. The pacing, build up, and duration of the conflict was a little lopsided, but ultimately the second half of the novel was far more enjoyable. The satisfaction of watching a downtrodden teen finally stand up for herself and get what she wants was GREAT, and though it couldn’t make up for the first half of the novel, it did leave off on a high note.
The first half is disappointingly underdeveloped. There’s little to no discussion of college life, in spite of the fact that this is a huge adjustment and transition period for a 17 year old girl. It’s treated more as a vague physical setting, like a cafe or bus station, than a transformative period in her life.
The protagonist Mei is passionate about dance, but the author doesn’t spend enough time adequately conveying this passion or even explaining dance terminology in a way that allows readers to connect with her. There’s so much dance jargon thrown around and I couldn’t understand what she was doing, which really pulled me out of the story.
Mei also feels much younger than the 17 years she’s purported to be. While some of this can be attributed to her strict upbringing prohibiting her from experiencing a lot of life for herself, she honestly reads as a naive 14 year old. This is doubly strange if you try to listen to the audiobook (which I abandoned in favour of the ebook), because the audiobook narrator makes her sound like a sardonic 25 year old.
Mei has little to no chemistry with her love interest either, so this book couldn’t even rely on the romance to prop it up.
Admittedly the second act was much stronger, with Mei finally taking a stand against her parents and fighting for what she wants to do with her life. The pacing, build up, and duration of the conflict was a little lopsided, but ultimately the second half of the novel was far more enjoyable. The satisfaction of watching a downtrodden teen finally stand up for herself and get what she wants was GREAT, and though it couldn’t make up for the first half of the novel, it did leave off on a high note.