With all the hullabaloo surrounding Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, it seems Bitter Melon by Cara Chow is perfectly poised to capitalize on the hype surrounding ‘tiger mothers.’ However, I think Bitter Melon stands well on it’s own merits.
Frances, a high school senior, has spent her whole life following orders from her domineering mother out of a sense of duty much like filial piety. When a schedule mix-up has Frances in a speech class instead of calculus, Frances finds that perhaps her mother’s plan isn’t the right path for her to go down.
I found Bitter Melon to be a complex and fascinating look at the relationship between a parent and a child. No relationship is black and white. This book shows those shades of gray. On one hand Frances’s mother is self-sacrificing. On the other hand she’s borderline abusive, slinging emotional abuse like mud. It’s hard to come to a definitive conclusion on her mother, as hard as it would be for me to come to one about my parents. You can’t always boil people down to one word.
I thought Frances went through a huge amount of growth. Reading this book was like watching someone grow a back bone, seriously. My heart broke with hers at certain incidents. I mean, some parts are pretty hard to read. You just want the conversation to be different, but obviously the reader can’t change the words on the page. And you know, I like the Frances learns to let people in. I like that she finds true friendship. I like that there’s some moral ambiguity. I like that we can’t come to a definitive conclusion about her relationship with her mother.
In all, Bitter Melon is a strong contemporary read. I am looking forward to more from Cara Chow.
Other Reviews of Bitter Melon by Cara Chow:
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This one of the first positive reviews I’ve seen for Bitter Melon. It’s one of the reason I love book blogging–so many different opinions.
I haven’t seen any negative reviews of Bitter Melon yet. Hm, I must be looking at/reading different blogs I suppose. It’s a pretty good book though.
This sounds like a book I would enjoy – thanks for the review!
Sheila (Bookjourney) recently posted..The Secret Life Of Emily Dickinson by Jerome Charyn
Great review April! I don’t think I’ve heard of this one before, but it definitely sounds like the kind of book I love, and especially the type of book I’m looking for right now!
Ashley recently posted..The Bigs Games On- Read-a-Thon!!
Sounds great and I like how you said your heart broke with her. Writing that affects us like that is special.
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