Name: Girl in Reverse
Rating: 3.5 (2 reviews)
ISBN: 9781442497351

Barbara Stuber

"Lillian Firestone is Chinese, but the kids in her 1951 Kansas City high school can't separate her from the North Koreans that America is at war with. Sick of the racism she faces at school and frustrated that her adoptive white family just sees it as 'teasing,' Lily begins to search for her birth mother"

Girl in Reverse

Being adopted isn’t easy—especially when you’re seen as a national enemy. A teen seeks the roots of her identity in this stirring novel from the acclaimed author of Crossing the Tracks. When Lily was three, her mother put her up for adoption, then disappeared without a trace. Or so Lily was told. Lily grew up in her new family and tried to forget her past. But with the Korean War raging and the fear of “Commies” everywhere, Lily’s Asian heritage makes her a target. She is sick of the racism she faces, a fact her adoptive parents won’t take seriously. For Lily, war is everywhere—the dinner table, the halls at school, and especially within her own skin. Then her brainy little brother, Ralph, finds a box containing a baffling jumble of broken antiques—clues to her past left by her “Gone Mom.” Lily and Ralph attempt to match these fragments with rare Chinese artifacts at the art museum, where she encounters the artistic genius Elliot James. Elliot attracts and infuriates Lily—especially when he calls their first kiss “undimensional.” With the help of Ralph and Elliot, will Lily summon the courage to confront her own remarkable creation story? A poignantly beautiful novel, Girl in Reverse celebrates the formation of identity as well as the art that draws us all together.

Sarah Sammis

The novel is written with the same first lyricism that I so enjoyed in Stuber's other novel, Crossing the Tracks (2010). Every word counts towards the unfolding of Lily's history — the truth of her life.

I especially like that Lily despite her desire to learn the identity of her parents, doesn't want to leave her adoptive family. Lily and Ralph have a tight bond and although she's sometimes jealous of what he can get away with, he clearly loves and respects her.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2022/comm...


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Girl in Reverse

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