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A review by narteest
Luck of the Titanic by Stacey Lee
4.0
Ugh no no noooooo. That ending!!!
Do you know how conflicted I am about the ending?
First off, I am not a fan of the movie Titanic. It's about as exciting as a cup of milk (and I don't like the aftertaste of milk AT ALL). Sure the movie has it's highlights. Leo. Fun stuff. Probably the music. But essentially, the story isn't at all that fascinating. (But this is just my personal opinion on the movie, I know many love it! But I could never really relate...)
With Luck of the Titanic, I found myself really enjoying it! Sure, I had my moments of what are you doing, you risky girl! But my overall feeling is that if I have to go back to any kind of Titanic fiction, if I had a choice between the movie or this book, I'd choose this book. Valora while stubborn, had a lot more to her than the main character in the movie.
Luck of the Titanic is fast paced and the plot is wound in the complexities of life. Things such as being with family, neglect in the family, meeting new people, and dealing with one's role in society, and how to make a future for oneself. And most of all, how easily lives can end.
The writing is good, metaphoric and emotive. Lee does excellently in blending in Cantonese culture into the language though I'm still undecided if I prefer "Uncle" in English or Cantonese. Lee used English, but well. There was also that scene of Bo being corrected by Valora on his English, which is familiar and it DOES happen, but at least Bo is nice enough to accept the corrections....when I know some who would find it annoying and pretentious.
The relationships are great. I love the sibling relationship between Val and Jamie. Where the movie Titanic focuses on a romantic relationship, this novel puts the sibling relationship in focus, and the romances on the side. Both Val and Jamie are fantastically crafted. I loved the Johnnies. I loved the Val and Bo moments. And I loved the moments of interaction between Val and the other ladies, like April and Charlotte.
Now, my gripes, and a few reasons why this isn't a full 5 stars:
1) The ending!!!! It's not the loss of life that occurs - this is expected - but do I actually believe that one would go and one would be left behind?! Yes, racism can be ugly but something has got to make a person wonder if the person floating in the middle of the ocean is not just the ordinary 'Jap' - especially if she can speak with an English accent. I found this end frustrating because it didn't fully make sense. Anyway, it was a fitting end, I'm still unsure if I find this ending or Titanic's ending to be more frustrating. There's a less diplomatic word I want to use here, but truthfully, I did really enjoy this book, so I won't use it.
2) Val and Jamie's parents. You know, I love stories that go into depth about relationships. It gives them shape, it gives them volume, and it makes the motives of the main characters more real. I did love reading the parts of Val's and Jamie's contrasting perspectives on their parents' relationship, one that was fraught with difficulty because their father was Chinese while their mother was white. And thus, this caused a lot of friction. But what bothered me most was that I never got see what made their parents fall in love and get together in the first place. Marriage in the way of their parents had to mean something, especially a time period in which society is unfriendly to poc.
Overall, I'm glad I decided to pick up this book. It was a good read (despite a few frustrations!)
Do you know how conflicted I am about the ending?
First off, I am not a fan of the movie Titanic. It's about as exciting as a cup of milk (and I don't like the aftertaste of milk AT ALL). Sure the movie has it's highlights. Leo. Fun stuff. Probably the music. But essentially, the story isn't at all that fascinating. (But this is just my personal opinion on the movie, I know many love it! But I could never really relate...)
With Luck of the Titanic, I found myself really enjoying it! Sure, I had my moments of what are you doing, you risky girl! But my overall feeling is that if I have to go back to any kind of Titanic fiction, if I had a choice between the movie or this book, I'd choose this book. Valora while stubborn, had a lot more to her than the main character in the movie.
Luck of the Titanic is fast paced and the plot is wound in the complexities of life. Things such as being with family, neglect in the family, meeting new people, and dealing with one's role in society, and how to make a future for oneself. And most of all, how easily lives can end.
The writing is good, metaphoric and emotive. Lee does excellently in blending in Cantonese culture into the language though I'm still undecided if I prefer "Uncle" in English or Cantonese. Lee used English, but well. There was also that scene of Bo being corrected by Valora on his English, which is familiar and it DOES happen, but at least Bo is nice enough to accept the corrections....when I know some who would find it annoying and pretentious.
The relationships are great. I love the sibling relationship between Val and Jamie. Where the movie Titanic focuses on a romantic relationship, this novel puts the sibling relationship in focus, and the romances on the side. Both Val and Jamie are fantastically crafted. I loved the Johnnies. I loved the Val and Bo moments. And I loved the moments of interaction between Val and the other ladies, like April and Charlotte.
Now, my gripes, and a few reasons why this isn't a full 5 stars:
1) The ending!!!! It's not the loss of life that occurs - this is expected - but do I actually believe that one would go and one would be left behind?! Yes, racism can be ugly but something has got to make a person wonder if the person floating in the middle of the ocean is not just the ordinary 'Jap' - especially if she can speak with an English accent. I found this end frustrating because it didn't fully make sense.
Spoiler
I get why Valora did it, but there just didn't seem to be enough heavy emotion in that moment to actually give the girl who was fighting to get to America for a better life to give up everything. In saying that, I get that she did it for her brother, who is her twin and who matters more to her than even her own life. But despite how well the scene flows, it's abrupt and for me, I was left kind of wondering, that doesn't quite make sense. I was expecting a different kind of punch to the gut which would end in Val's death. I think it didn't help that in those final pages, rather than Val wondering if the Johnnies made it out alive, her thoughts seemed like facts that they were?2) Val and Jamie's parents. You know, I love stories that go into depth about relationships. It gives them shape, it gives them volume, and it makes the motives of the main characters more real. I did love reading the parts of Val's and Jamie's contrasting perspectives on their parents' relationship, one that was fraught with difficulty because their father was Chinese while their mother was white. And thus, this caused a lot of friction. But what bothered me most was that I never got see what made their parents fall in love and get together in the first place. Marriage in the way of their parents had to mean something, especially a time period in which society is unfriendly to poc.
Overall, I'm glad I decided to pick up this book. It was a good read (despite a few frustrations!)