Gustavo T. reviewed YELL-Oh Girls! Emerging Voices Explore Culture, Identity, and Growing Up Asian American on
Helpful Score: 1
I was expecting so much more from this book. But it didn't deliver, not as much as I had hoped anyway.
Maybe it's because I cannot relate to these stories, but I just felt there was too much hostility and pent-up anger in the words of these women and girls.
I am sure it's not easy to grow up with two different cultures: the one of your ancestors and the one of the country you were born in and raised, but most of the times people have a genuine curiosity about people that *look* they're like from a different country. There's no malignity in asking a question or wondering whether or not you speak Chinese or just English.
Many of these women strongly feel they're being discriminated against (!) maybe because someone (definitely in good faith!) asked them what part of Asia they were from!!
Again, maybe I am disliking this book so much because I just cannot relate to these women's feelings, but maybe also because the author mainly focused on giving them a way to just get rid of their anger, without really trying to establish some sort of communication between them (daughters of immigrants or immigrants themselves) and the "foreigners".
Despite all, I still recommend this book to anyone who wishes to have an insight on growing up Asian American.
Maybe it's because I cannot relate to these stories, but I just felt there was too much hostility and pent-up anger in the words of these women and girls.
I am sure it's not easy to grow up with two different cultures: the one of your ancestors and the one of the country you were born in and raised, but most of the times people have a genuine curiosity about people that *look* they're like from a different country. There's no malignity in asking a question or wondering whether or not you speak Chinese or just English.
Many of these women strongly feel they're being discriminated against (!) maybe because someone (definitely in good faith!) asked them what part of Asia they were from!!
Again, maybe I am disliking this book so much because I just cannot relate to these women's feelings, but maybe also because the author mainly focused on giving them a way to just get rid of their anger, without really trying to establish some sort of communication between them (daughters of immigrants or immigrants themselves) and the "foreigners".
Despite all, I still recommend this book to anyone who wishes to have an insight on growing up Asian American.
