Review by Booklist Review
Kang offers a funny and heartfelt exploration of identity, cultural disconnect, and the sometimes messy path to self-discovery. Seventeen-year-old Jane Choi is a fashion-forward, high-achieving teen in suburban Nebraska who suddenly realizes she may be the least "K" person in her social circle. As her best friends obsess over K-pop and K-dramas, Jane--named after Jane Eyre by her second-generation Korean American parents--feels left out of a culture she barely knows. Determined to rewrite her narrative, Jane launches Project K-Jane, a private social media campaign, to reclaim her Korean roots. Help comes from surprising places: her charming classmate Edward Liu and Halmi, her loving, wise grandmother. But when the project spirals out of control and fractures friendships old and new, Jane must reckon with how little she's considered others' struggles--and how much pressure she's put on herself. While Jane's self-absorption and the teen drama skew a bit young for a 17-year-old protagonist, her earnest voice, clever dialogue (especially with her parents), and timely themes about cultural belonging and self-worth make this an accessible, relatable read.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Living in Omaha, Neb., attending a mostly white school, and having been named after Jane Eyre, 17-year-old third-generation Korean American Jane Choi feels out of tune with her heritage. To her chagrin, her Korean culture--obsessed classmates seem to know more about Jane's heritage than she does: she doesn't speak Korean, she's not versed in the latest K-dramas or K-pop songs, and she hates kimchi. When she learns that her parents plan to name her baby brother Franklin, after the American founding father, she resolves to save him from experiencing the internal shame she holds from feeling ignorant about her Korean heritage. With help from her grandmother, Jane educates herself in all things Korean, including the food, language, music, and more, which she documents on a private social media account. But when a specific video somehow goes viral, Jane struggles to manage the emotional fallout of online infamy. Hilarious and heartening, this earnest novel by Kang (the Control duology) excavates one teen's longing to connect--with her identity, her family, and the people around her who seem to find comfort in aspects of her culture that she wasn't raised to celebrate. Quick pacing and lighthearted prose buoy weighty themes of parental pressure and the sometimes devastating influence of social media on one's self-perception. Ages 13--up. Agent: Jordan Hill, New Leaf Literary. (Oct.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A Korean American teenager, believing she's not "Korean enough," tries reinventing herself. Jane Choi, a 17-year-old Korean American girl in Omaha, Nebraska, feels embarrassed about her ignorance of Korean culture. Even Matty Ricci and Bridge Johanssen, her best friends, who are cued white, obsessively watch K-dramas and are K-everything experts. Jane's second-generation parents haven't transmitted the bits of cultural knowledge they have, and she's worried that Franklin, her soon-to-be-born baby brother, will be clueless, too. Feeling inadequate, Jane devises Project K-Jane as a solution: She starts teaching herself all about Korean culture, recording her progress on a private channel on the StoryThyme app. She cooks Korean dishes, learns about holidays, studies Korean language, and watches K-dramas, imagining someday guiding her brother. She also hopes her vlog will entertain her cousins, fellow "white on the inside" bananas, who are her only audience. If she impresses her crush, culturally savvy Taiwanese American Edward Liu, even better. But Jane's retreat into her obsession alienates her friends and breaks the trust her parents have in her. And when she accidentally goes viral, the ensuing drama shows her what belonging really means. This refreshing portrayal of a young woman navigating culture and identity highlights the diversity of Korean diaspora experiences. Jane's angst, perceptive voice, and self-awareness add dimension to her transformation. Kang weaves thought-provoking musings on authenticity and the gatekeeping of cultural identity throughout. A nuanced, skillfully executed, and highly entertaining exploration of cultural belonging.(Fiction. 13-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
