She and her parents are refugees from Vietnam (her family is ethnically Chinese, though Teochew, to be specific). Lucy’s parents are not the educated elite that people often associate with diasporic Asians. One of the refreshing things about this book is that it centers the experience of an Asian person from a working-class background. I’m almost surprised that it managed to get the green light for publication without some white publishing industry professional whining about “reverse racism,” I’d venture to say it offers one of the most incisive critiques of wealthy white people’s elitism and hypocrisy that I’ve seen in a young adult novel. I can’t say I regret it.Ī lot of books about diasporic Asians call out racism, but this book takes it to another level. I was really looking forward to reading this book, so much that I actually set aside the #DiversityDecBingo book I was reading to read this instead. What she finds at Laurinda is equal parts fascinating and horrifying, and she must learn to navigate the school’s social snakepit without losing sight of herself and her roots. While she is hopeful, she is also anxious about whether she will fit in among the elite students at her school. My Summary: Lucy Lam receives the Equal Access scholarship to the prestigious Laurinda and walks into Year 10 thinking it will be her ticket out of the impoverished neighborhood her family lives in. Note: This book was originally published under the name Laurinda in Australia back in 2014.
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