"people who let themselves learn new things are the best kind of people."
published: 2019
pages: 406
read/heard: 11/11-20/2020
book: 90 in 2020
read/heard: 11/11-20/2020
book: 90 in 2020
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.
"dude, I'm so fucking goddamn sorry my grandma was such a dick to you just now. bitch can be such a bitch-ass, salty-ass bitch sometimes."
THOUGHTS
im in between 2.5 and 3 stars; i liked it but maybe i would have been okay never having read it?
im not sure.
i dont even really feel that usual feeling where even if i wasnt a fan of a book 100, im still okay having read it.
i dont know if i would have been okay never having read this....or if im like okay i read it. i dont know.
does any of this make sense?
if were going based off the synopsis, this story sucked.
if we go based off what this story gave us, this story was good!
this does involve love and at the core of it, that is what the story is about but to mention only that in the synopsis is such a disservice to this book.
yes he does fall in love with Brit and yes Joy does help him along with that relationship and vice versa and yes there is a "curve ball" but there is so. much. more!
for example and without spoilers: his parents. and life! and his sister Hannah. and Q!
did i read this right? that there is going to be second book?
a) why!!!!!!!!!?
why the fuck cant a story just be a story and that's it! why is everything a fucking series?
b) how? i dont really see how this would allow for book 2. i dont see why there would be a book 2; he's off to college. let the kid be. its ends just fine.
what i didnt like about it:
1. yes he falls in love with Brit.
it was so out of the fucking blue though that i found it hard to believe. it just happens out of nowhere and like wtf?
2. here was a chance to make a beautiful male friendship work so well (Frank & Q), and it was but i feel like there were points where frank could've definitely been a better friend. but i get it, its a thing. its a real thing and its also a trope in these kinds of stories. so this one is more so just a personal dislike for me.
3. Q's ending.
really?
fucking really?
i dont hate it at all, if anything more power to him and the story. but really? you mean to tell me that's who he was after? (im not sure how to properly word it here.) that's how it ends for my man!?
tbh, i 1000000% believe Q deserves better. and if there was a book on just his story, i'd read the fuck out of it.
what i liked!:
1. all of the Korean in this book.
look obvs, i dont know about Korean culture. so i liked that it was sprinkled throughout the book.
2. the story if its read without ever having read the synopsis.
its a good story. its just the synopsis really sucks.
if you read it, did you see the thing with Frank's ______ and the ______ happening before it even happened?
i did.
i don't know how i saw it but i saw it early on. and then i was mad when it did happen.
i was mad before it happened because i thought to myself "what a cop out" but once i reached it, i found myself really liking and accepting that turn.
(oooohhh and that whole thing with him & Joys dad!!!! yea, you might be rich but you're in debt. i might be poor but i have no debt and everything is mine and mine only! uuuugh! i loved the fuck out of that part!)
hmm...there's a whole lot more that i think i could say but ill just leave it at this.
(today is 12/22/21. i wrote this back on 11/20/20. we all know i dont remember much by now)
IF YOU WANT TO READ THIS BOOK AND HAVE YET TO READ THE SYNOPSIS, DONT READ THAT AND JUST JUMP IN.
k, im over this! thanks bye!
(sorry for any and all typo's. im being lazy as fuck and leaving it at that.
xoxo!
one day frank is in class when he locks eyes with Brit and boom. there they go falling for each other.
his Korean parents want him to only date a Korean girl just like Joy's parents want her to date a Korean man so they come up with a plan to pretend to date each other so they can both go out at the same time with their own partners while each of their parents think they are out together.
and everything is going fine until Brit says i love you all of 2 seconds later. frank says it too but he realizes that he doesnt. that after all this time of fighting his parents, he actually really does want to be with a Korean girl.
joy breaks up with Wu and Joy and Frank end up dating.
that is until both their parents throw it down and end up not talking anymore. the kids are now forbidden from seeing each other so they go behind their backs and involve Q as a pawn so they can go out.
eventually Joy calls it quit between them because she doesnt want to upset her parents and because realistically they are all leaving for college anyway so its not like it was going to last.
and thats all that happens between Frank and his love life.
on the sideline:
-franks parents are hella racists themselves and he just now sees it.
-they are so racist, they disowned their own daughter because she married a black man. which, why? they fucking love Q.
-franks dad ends up getting shot at the store they own. which leads them to discovering that he has cancer.
-frank gets into stanford and Q goes to MIT. ...and its made to seem as if their friendship wont survive the whole transitioning phase. i get it but ugh.
-Q is gay. the entire time frank gives him shit for not going after the girl he likes when in reality, he's gay. when frank is leaving to standford, he stops by Q's to say goodbye and Q ends up kissing him. its his way of coming out. and frank of course is taken aback but more so because he felt that his friend wasnt comfortable enough to say anything. that i loved.
-franks dad ends up passing away during thanksgiving which means, its about to be his dad's one year anniversary.
-hannah does come back and make up with her parents before dad passes away. and they clear things up but it was rather fast and not really delved into.
and i think that's it.
im 100% sure there's a lot more i left out but it is what it is.
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