Review: When We Fell Apart
It's AAPI month [Asian American and Pacific Islander] month on Goodreads and since I'm practically done with my reading goal this year, I decided to follow through this month by the authors recommended by the GR newsletter for the AAPI month, and this book looked pretty interesting, so I decided to try it out. No harm done, aight?
After Min's girlfriend Yu-jin is found dead, apparently a case of suicide, Min is desolate. He finds it hard to believe that the girl that he was so happy with, the girl who seemed so happy with him could commit. He refuses to believe that Yu-jin could have committed suicide. The things just don't add up. Devastated, Min decides to find out the reason for Yu-jin's death himself, and his suspicion puts him into the devilishly cunning So-ra, the ever mysterious Misaki and Yu-jin's father, the Defence Minister of Korea himself.
QUICK THOUGHTS AND REVIEW: 3.6/5. NOT BAD FOR A DEBUT NOVEL.
Possible Trigger Tags:
1. Suicide
2. Mentions of homophobia
3. Mentions of self destructive thoughts
WHAT DID I FEEL ABOUT THE BOOK'S:
1. Writing Quality: The writing does seem a bit confusing. While I do love dual POV, I do not like the dual narration style that takes place in the book. Third pov narration for Min while first POV narration for Yu-jin. I really do not like this method of narration because first of all, it's confusing, and second of all, it fails to fulfil its purpose of telling the story. While they do help the story, I would have liked it if there was a uniformity in the narration which would probably help me in understanding the story better. I did feel an adrenaline rush with the book advancement, kudos to that very very much, but I do not personally connect with the story.
2. Character Development: Character development is hard to understand while it does seem relatable at some points. I don't know exactly where to pin point any of the characters. Especially Misaki, while Misaki seems like she's one of the main characters who sets a lot of stuff in motion, it seems like there's a major blank on her charcterization as well as character development. Because I felt like I was missing out on her as a person because I couldn't exactly picture her as a character.
I did wanna throw a brick at Yu-jin's parents and Sora. Her parents first because first of all, they were fucking helicopter parents. I hate helicopter parents, they're so fucking entitled, like let your kid breathe. Your child won't fucking run away if you give them the freedom to do their own stuff. Instead, they'll become more closed off with you if you try to pry into every single matter of theirs even when you don't have any business to. So-ra because she had NO right to out Yu-jin like that. Like if I don't want to come out to my parents, that is solely my business and none of yours. Mind the business that pays you bruh, why meddle in others? So-ra was the last straw.
I did wanna throw a brick at Yu-jin's parents and Sora. Her parents first because first of all, they were fucking helicopter parents. I hate helicopter parents, they're so fucking entitled, like let your kid breathe. Your child won't fucking run away if you give them the freedom to do their own stuff. Instead, they'll become more closed off with you if you try to pry into every single matter of theirs even when you don't have any business to. So-ra because she had NO right to out Yu-jin like that. Like if I don't want to come out to my parents, that is solely my business and none of yours. Mind the business that pays you bruh, why meddle in others? So-ra was the last straw.
3. Couldn't put it down- Ness: 7/10. While this book is interesting, Min's portion of narration often becomes boring and I found myself skipping certain paragraphs while not missing a portion of the book at all.
4. Intellectual Depth: The book is about searching and finding a place of belonging in this world, as Yu-jin has to try to find a place in this world while still trying to figure out who she is and still being the perfect daughter of her parents. It is also about belonging and family as Min tries to find out about his other side of heritage, one where he thinks he could actually find a connection with. Being bicultural sends him into that never ending place of "hanging in between", too Korean for American standards, and too American for Korean standards. This creates an inner conflict within him and he finds it hard to fit in anywhere else.
The conflict inside Yu-jin is a different conflict entirely. While Min's conflicts are based heavily on the circumstantial, Yu-jin's are more on the internal. She finds it hard to fit into a single image or finds difficulty in who she wants to be. She yearns to be free with So-ra, while she also tries to remain the perfect daughter as both of her parents. She's trying extremely hard to fit into all these pictures that are so jarringly in contrast with one another that they begin to tear into her, breaking her into different pieces. Which in turn is harming her from inside. Being used to putting herself on impossibly high standards, failing to fulfil even one of them brings a sense of shame and the urge to her own mind. At the same time she's also confused about her own self about liking and falling in love with a woman [a.k.a sexual identity crisis] which in itself is pretty overwhelming in itself.
5. Plot: The plot is quite interesting. I do love the storyline and how it follows the lives of both Yu-jin and Min, one leading up to the death, while the other after the death. It was quite interesting to see the dual time thingy that would lead up to the same event? I should really stop putting the plot point of explanation right at the end because I often run of things to say here. You know, I should actually start writing this first? What do ya guys think?
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