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High school senior Frank Li is a Limbo–his term for Korean-American kids who find themselves caught between their parents’ traditional expectations and their own Southern California upbringing. His parents have one rule when it comes to romance–“Date Korean”–which proves complicated when Frank falls for Brit Means, who is smart, beautiful–and white. Fellow Limbo Joy Song is in a similar predicament, and so they make a pact: they’ll pretend to date each other in order to gain their freedom. Frank thinks it’s the perfect plan, but in the end, Frank and Joy’s fake-dating maneuver leaves him wondering if he ever really understood love–or himself–at all.
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My Review: 4/5 Stars
A beautifully written story of not only first loves but finding yourself when expectations are telling you who you should be instead of letting you figure it out all on your own. The story is just so real. There are pressures and expectations parents give their teenagers in all their shapes and forms. For Frank it is being Korean-American and watching as his parents lived in their own bubble with their expectations of what they expected from their son. Perfect grades. Date a Korean girl. Follow the path they planned out for him. Frank doesn't hold back his feelings, the good and the bad, but of course it's in his own mind. How can he just saw screw it to what they want when he watched his sister do exactly that and she is no longer talked about? And if family expectations wasn't enough to figure out, how about finding yourself and falling in love for the first time? Nothing is easy and as Frank put it its simplicated (simple + complicated). I loved reading the story through Frank's voice. Like I said, it was real and honest and pretty hilarious at times. Frank's senior year of high school is definitely an interesting but you cheer for him at his lowest and highest moments as he learns some pretty hard life lessons early on. Great story.
I received an ARC for an honest review.
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