Though I never lived in the abject poverty that Kim, the main character, and her mother lived in, I found that, while reading, it reminded me a lot of my experiences growing up. I was reminded of the pull between being Chinese and being American all at the same time and never fully fitting in to either side, to always being just a little bit different, a little bit "foreign" even though I had been born here.

However, this book isn't just a story of an immigrant Chinese girl who makes good with her life. I liked her descriptions of growing up, of maybe falling in love, of family relationships, and the relationships between a parent and child. It was a soft book with a bittersweet ending and I loved and slightly hated every single character in it, which is just how it should be. I could really picture the settings where the story takes place.

I really didn't think I'd like this book that much. I actually only read the book because I had run out of books to read on my Sony Reader so when I went to see what ebooks the County of LA library was offering that were currently available, I remembered that I had seen this book on the shelf at Barnes & Nobel. So I checked it out just to have something to read on the train while I was waiting for the books on my wish list to come available. But, it's a lovely book and I'm glad to have read it.