American Panda

From the very first sentence I loved Mei's voice and felt like I understood her feelings of frustration, embarrassment, and guilt regarding her parents. There is so much humour and heart in the story and I'm so glad to have had the opportunity to read it. I will definitely be getting a copy once it's released!

I received this E-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks!

American Panda is a book about finding yourself and standing up for your beliefs despite strict cultural beliefs. It wasn't a contemporary with a cheesy love story thrown in there just for the heck of it, and I definitely appreciated that. I don't know a lot about Taiwanese culture, but I feel like after reading this story I have learned more than I may have without it. The pronunciation guide included at the front of the book was helpful as there is a lot of use of the language and it made me feel less like I was butchering the language in my mind.
It was a fun and quirky story that follows Mei, as she makes the transition into college and finding her own path despite her parents strong objections to anything besides what they have planned for her. Mei finds herself in a situation where she realizes she cannot be a doctor like they have planned; her passion of dance calls for her to find a different career.
Where I struggled with this book was the way Mei's family treats her. In the beginning her mother is constantly criticizing her and making her feel like she is not pretty enough and her father is a whole other story. After finding out the reason for Xing's disowning I couldn't look at them the same way again.
Despite all of this, Mei does stand up for herself and is able to accept the consequences of it. With the help of her brother she comes to find her own path and it made me quite proud of how she far she comes by the end of the story. I don't want to get too much into the story, that might spoil it for those looking to read it when it comes out.
Unrelated to the actual story, the chapter headings were the cutest thing, I love how they're going to match the finished hardcover of this book. I will always love books with chapter titles, its so reminscent for me.
Overall, I did enjoy this story a lot. It was very informative, but at the same time enjoyable to read. Besides the issue with her parents, I found that it skipped around too much for my liking. It was very much many stories combined into one and it was a bit hard to keep track. Its definitely a book we need more of, the representation of strong Asian women was wonderful to read and I definitely will keep my eyes open for any Gloria Chao books that come out in the future. It has a strong message, that you should do what makes you happy, and not what makes other people happy.
Keep your eyes peeled for American Panda when it hits shelves on February 6th.
Happy Reading!

Rating: 4.5 stars.

I will admit, this book did stress me out a ton. Mei's life is quite stressful. She skipped a year in school, so she's a year younger than everyone else and is now starting college. Her parents want her to become a doctor but Mei loves dance and secretly dreams of running a dance school. She doesn't try to pursue this dream because her brother is a disappointment to her parents since he is going to marry an infertile girl. But when Mei meets Darren, he challenges her parents' ideas and encourages her to pursue her dreams.

I think my favourite thing about this book was that it was set in college. Mei's dorm struggles were so relatable and her experience at her university's health centre was hilarious. If you're in college or just graduated, you will really appreciate the college experience shown in this book.

I also really loved seeing a book about a Taiwanese-American teenager. Her culture was so interesting to me since I've had no exposure to the immigrant experience in YA books or IRL. Her family drama was what really carried the book's plot and had me turning pages at lightning speed. It was crazy to me to see the stuff that Mei's mom would say and to see just how overbearing she could be. Each chapter starts with a text or voicemail from Mei's mom, which totally stressed me out (because she texts or calls A LOT). I did find it really cute when Mei gave her mom a tour of campus and I did love seeing Mei's relationship with her mom evolve.

If you loved When Dimple Met Rishi, then I would highly recommend American Panda.

3.5 stars.

This was completely adorable, and I don’t mean that in a condescending, cutesy way either. Okay, maybe kinda cutesy. First though, I want to stress that I am a person commenting on a story that is not my own heritage, and that everything I say should generally be taken with a grain of salt because I am in no way qualified to having any real opinion about experiences that are not my own. I in no way mean to delegitimize them. On that note though, one of the things I think this book does best most of all is comment on the relationships and struggles one has with their family, whom they generally love, but also find themselves in conflict with their values and beliefs. Underlying all the traditions that Mei is forced to uphold under the gaze of her overbearing, traditional parents, I think she really does love them, and honors and appreciates the sacrifices they have made to help her get where she is in her life today. That being said, the most tragic part of the story is that with her parents being so headstrong and overbearing and Mei being shy and reclusive in the beginning, it becomes almost impossible to imagine that any happy ending can happen at all without some sort of heartbreaking moment from either party. Throughout the novel, Mei struggles immensely with keeping her secrets from her parents, and it feels like she is literally being eaten inside with the guilt that she is throwing away everything her parents have sacrificed. The very fact that she does have this guilt is proof, I think, that she does truly love them and where they came from. That being said, as someone on the outside of this kind of family relationship, sometimes it did feel a bit forced and overly dramatic, almost bordering on stereotypical, but I am fully prepared to accept that is because I have no personal experience with immigrant/Taiwanese parentage whatsoever.

One thing I definitely want to comment on is Mei and her relationship with Xing and Xing’s disownment. We know from the summary that he is going to be part of huge moment of transition for Mei. My thing with Xing though, is that he remains shrouded in mystery for a good chunk of the novel and we aren’t given much explanation until he and Mei meet up later on. We know that he was disowned because of the girl he was dating, but that’s about it and I really felt like I was straining for more information to clarify the situation. When he becomes part of Mei’s life again, it becomes a lot clearer and less unnatural and artificial. I feel it would have made for an easier reading experience if there was more of a buildup to their final meeting. The scene where he appears at Chow Chow and there is a big fight between him and his family was a lot of information to take in at once and felt overwhelming, especially because it read as if we knew a lot of information, though we didn’t.

The relationship between Mei and Darren was pretty cute, even if at times it felt rather awkward. As embarrassing as this would be for Mei, I was kind of hoping that the guy who barged in on her checking her rash was going to be Darren. It would be totally awkward and embarrassing for sure (I know I would die on the floor for sure) but it could have been a funny icebreaker for their relationship. It’s interesting to note the differences between Mei and Darren’s upbringing. One is the child of immigrants and thus closer in proximity to the corresponding traditions, and the other is from a family that has been American for generations. I was a little surprised by how mean Darren was with his comment about Mei being brainwashed, though. Their relationship was really starting to build a foundation at that point, and I felt it was clear that Mei was struggling with her parents’ traditions. It was cruel and frankly, unnecessary. I really hurt for Mei after that comment, and I wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be the end of them or not. Thankfully, it wasn’t, and we got lots of hot chocolately goodness after he apologised and they made up. Also, because Mei didn’t seem to have many friends, I was glad she had someone her own age that she could rely upon. (As a side note though, what is up with the Lady Peanut/Pecan/Almond nicknames? Is that another MIT thing? Because I feel like I completely missed where that came from (I mean, all the MIT lingo completely went over my head, so it’s not entirely unexpected).)

I really liked the structure of the novel though. I thought the voicemails from Mei’s family were an interesting addition, even if they were just a comedic effect. The little notes about having no chapter four or chapter thirteen were quirky additions that took no effort at all but added to the cultural aspect of the book. As much as I didn’t understand a single Mandarin word, I also really liked the emphasis on them as well. I super appreciated the Author’s Note at the beginning, where she explains the Romanization of the words and how to pronounce certain letters based upon their accents. Even if I was hopeless at translating, I thought it was a nice consideration to the readers.

I think a lot of my comments and thoughts about this book stem from the fact that I haven’t experienced anything that Mei has by myself. I haven’t been pressured to study a subject I cannot stand, and I haven’t been threatened with expulsion from my family and only support system if I didn’t follow the rules. But for the record, as I previously said, I do think the author did a great job at exploring the relationships Mei had and her own internal struggles with it all in a clash of her own culture and that of her parents. I did feel like I got to know Mei the best, and even if the rest of the characters felt a bit one-sided at times, they provided a good balance for Mei. The only character that was just plain awkward for me was Dr. Chang, from the moment she was introduced to her near repulsion at just being a doctor in general (if I were her patient, I’m not sure I would feel entirely confident that my health was in her hands). Also, as a final note, I loved the emphasis that was placed on Mei’s love of dance, and I especially loved that it was Chinese dance in particular. Another reason why I feel that she truly does love her heritage, if not always the traditions and superstitions. I wish it had been in the summary though, because throughout the book it often felt like a side note and I didn’t figure out how much attention I was supposed to pay it until halfway through the book. Anyway, overall I did really like it and I’m super glad I got to read it. I am totally here for diverse reads and main characters and am thrilled that books like this are being written and published.

I've heard do much goodness about this book, but sadly I am unable to read it. It's not available in Kindle format, and I have no other way to read it. Maybe I'll get the chance to read it before these reviews are archived and I can leave a proper review. So since it's only fair, and it's a diverse novel with a lot of love, here's five stars.