Not-entirely-intentional YA stretch continues! First off, I'm glad this book exists. Contemporary YA for Asian Americans is necessary- growing up I can think of [a:Lensey Namioka|26612|Lensey Namioka|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1209043915p2/26612.jpg]'s Yang siblings and some of [a:Laurence Yep|14199|Laurence Yep|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1208559025p2/14199.jpg]'s stuff ([b:Ribbons|25284|Ribbons|Laurence Yep|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1392175703s/25284.jpg|26028], [b:The Cook's Family|25265|The Cook's Family|Laurence Yep|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1167628964s/25265.jpg|2927742] etc.) but it'd be nice to count authors on more than one hand.

American Panda is a cute debut novel. While we've seen variations on the "Tiger parents" scenario in other stories, have any really addressed what happens when a sibling is disowned? Four years prior to the start of the story, Mei's brother was cut off from family for loving a girl with reproductive issues, so all of the pressure to be the perfect golden child now falls on her shoulders. It's a lot to deal with alongside a first year at college (and while a teenager to boot) and grappling with the idea that maybe germophobes don't make great doctors.

I'm 3rd or 4th generation depending on which side you look at, so I certainly don't have similar pressures as Mei (I've been told it's not a race to have kids lol), but dealing with estrangement from people who love you but are holding you at arms length because of that love? oooh resonance. At least one of my rating stars is for Xing because that is a hella rough place to be in, especially while taking the high road in interactions. I also recall older generations having very negative associations with Japanese people, somewhat justified by personal experience but not a good enough excuse to yell at a pair of 20 somethings in the 90s, so that too has some truth grains for me.

The author is clearly an MIT grad, because there's a lot of very granular detail that's likely understood by people who went there. I went to a talk recently where the speaker said, "It's okay to have multiple identities", and the presence of Taiwanese, dance, and MIT-specific shibboleths speaks to that. I do think the "I'm here a year younger than my peers because I skipped a grade!" thing could've been explored more because teen girl anxiety (or maybe it's for the best it wasn't, because a year off doesn't seem that out of the ordinary?) ( )

I really did enjoy this book I really liked how this book really give me insight to a totally different culture and found it really eye opening. Mei is a character that grew on me but she def could be a harder characters. I liked the romance but did not love it. I really did like the self discovery part of this novel and dealing with finding your dream path and dealing with parent objections. I also like how the phone calls really framed this novel and was a nice sturcuring element. I hope to read more books by this author in the future.
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I really did enjoy this book I really liked how this book really give me insight to a totally different culture and found it really eye opening. Mei is a character that grew on me but she def could be a harder characters. I liked the romance but did not love it. I really did like the self discovery part of this novel and dealing with finding your dream path and dealing with parent objections. I also like how the phone calls really framed this novel and was a nice sturcuring element. I hope to read more books by this author in the future.
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This book got me out of a 2ish week reading slump! Yay!

I actually quite enjoyed this. I learned a lot about Taiwanese culture and MIT.

This is a really good contemporary with less romance than I had expected and more 'finding oneself'.

Overall a good read with interesting characters and cultural differences. ( )

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE.

My one complaint was that one very important element/plot point felt too over the top for how rushed it was--blink and you'd miss it--but further familial development actually made this make more sense in retrospect.

This was adorable and heart-warming and I loved how much culture it brought in, from the simple Mandarin phrases to the many traditions incorporated.

So. Much. Fun. ( )