Teen Fiction

Finding My Voice

Name: Finding My Voice
Author: Marie G. Lee
ISBN: 9780064472456

by Marie G. Lee

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Overview

Ellen Sung is taken unawares by Tamper Sandel, and when he kisses her, her whole world shifts. She doesn't have time for a boyfriend, especially one who's probably not going to college. She's completely absorbed in keeping her grades up to please her strict immigrant parents, who will freak out if she doesn't get into Harvard. Even an evening with her best friend, Jessie, feels like guilty time away from her studies. She can't tell her parents about Tomper, or about the racist slurs she receives in school. These days, Ellen's not sure whom to please. And what about what she wants: does that matter at all?

As she tries to enjoy her senior year and choose which college she will attend, Korean American Ellen Sung must deal with the prejudice of some of her classmates and pressure from her parents to get good grades.

About the Author, Marie G. Lee

Marie G. Lee is a second-generation Korean American who was born and raised in Hibbing, Minnesota. Her books include If It Hadn't Been for Yoon Jun, Necessary Roughness, and Night of the Chupacabras. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Kenyon Review, and several anthologies. She has appeared on PBS's "Asian American" and is a founder of the Asian American Writer's Workshop.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

PW singled out the ``unusually well balanced'' portrayal of the Korean-American heroine of this ``sensitive'' novel as she experiences senior year at her Minnesota high school. Ages 10-up. (Sept.)

School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up-- Ellen, 16, is the only Korean student in her small - town high school. Her senior year presents problems that compound the usual challenges and uncertainties of adolescence; she is anxious to fit in and ambivalent about her heritage. Her immigrant parents live in a kind of suspended exile between the past and the present, never speaking about their homeland or struggles as refugees. A series of racist taunts and incidents hurt and puzzle Ellen. Meanwhile, her parents insist that she concentrate on academics to the exclusion of the social life she craves. This likable, gentle teen has a lot going for her: intelligence, common sense, good friends, some supportive teachers, a budding romance, etc. Her friends and antagonists are, in the main, believable. The portrayal of her parents is not as satisfying; they are too stereotypically inscrutable and remote. However, the process by which they slowly, reluctantly, loosen their hold is described with poignancy and empathy. Obscenities of ``typical'' high school conversation are included. The bittersweet romance involves much physical contact, but is apparently unconsummated. This title gives voice to a point of view that has been wanting until recently in fiction about Asian-Americans. It is a welcome addition.--Libby K. White, Schenectady County Public Library, NY