Wait for Me

by An Na

A teen pretends to be a perfect daughter, but her reality is far darker, in this penetrating look at identity and finding yourself amidst parents’ dreams for you, by Printz Award–winning novelist An Na.

Mina seems like the perfect daughter. Straight A student. Bound for Harvard. Helps out at her family’s dry cleaning store. Takes care of her hearing-impaired little sister. She is her parents’ pride and joy. From the outside, Mina is doing everything right. On the inside, Mina knows the truth. Her perfect-daughter life is a lie. And it isn’t until she meets someone to whom she cannot lie that she’s willing to consider what the truth might mean, and what it will cost. Because Ysrael, the young migrant worker who dreams of becoming a musician and who comes to work for her family, asks Mina the one question that scares her the What does she actually want?

Genres: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Asian Literature, Audiobook

192 pages, Hardcover

First published June 8, 2006

About the author

An Na was born in Korea and grew up in San Diego, California. A former middle school English and history teacher, she is currently at work on her third novel. She lives in Vermont.

(from Web site)

Reviews

[Rashika (is tired) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wait for Me was a new-to-me title when it showed up on my (metaphorical) doorstep. I hadn't heard much about it but upon some research found out it was being republished with a pretty new cover and all. I dove into the book not entirely sure what to expect but ready to meet new characters and enjoy a new story.

This review is a hard one to write because upon finishing, I am not entirely sure how I feel about Wait for Me. I am divided on it because there are parts of it I enjoyed and other parts that really made it hard for me to finish the book feeling like I had read something worthwhile.

I think the number one issue I had with the book was just the pacing and really, it's length. The story takes place over a period of time but I feel like that period of time isn't really conveyed through the words. Everything seems so rushed to me even though it isn't rushed. Because there are fewer pages, there isn't as much room for development so there isn't that slow burn of getting to know characters and getting to see characters get to know each other.

On top of that, there is just too much going on for the number of pages there are. We have sub plots that are resolved and addressed but not in a thorough manner.

Even as I say that though, I actually enjoyed An Na's writing. There is a lyrical quality to it that just made me keep reading and I almost wonder if the book wouldn't have been better off had it been written in verse. I know different people feel differently about verse novels but I tend to enjoy them and I feel like Wait for Mewould have been infinitely better in verse.

An Na explores a lot of issues particular to the children of immigrants in Wait for Me and I think she does an excellent job of really capturing the complexities of parent/child dynamics that can exist. However, I also feel that I wanted to get to know her parents a little better but tbh, I just enjoy families and could read about them all the time.

Overall, I don't know if I can claim to have loved the novel but I do think it is worth the read and an important book in this day and age.

***This review has also been posted on Xpresso Reads

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of books possess characters who are authentic enough that you can understand what they experiencing. Wait for Me took it a step further and allowed me to empathize with the characters' emotions and greatly sympathize with their sorrow.

Mina's senior year is cut out for her - she resides as president of the Honor society, maintains straight A's, and is a member of many other clubs. No one knows that her entire life is a smoothly orchestrated lie, composed by the expectations placed by her mother. Every day, she forces herself into the facade that has completely enveloped who she is. When a young Mexican man named Ysrael arrives to help at her family's dry cleaning business, Mina begins to question if the life she has is what she truly wants.

At times it was scary how similar Mina's family environment was to mine. Not just scary, but also very sad. Few books revolve around Asian-American families, but Na's Wait for me creates a high standard. I loved everything from the perfectly poetic prose to the three dimensional characters.

The feelings Mina suffer through - her hatred of her mother but also the need to satisfy her - poured off the page and spilled into my soul. I am amazed by the amount of development that she underwent in such a short novel.

While some of the secondary characters remained static and the climax could have been stronger with a bit more rising action, Wait for Me was a strong, small novel that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys family drama or wants to try reading it.

[PinkAmy loves books, cats and naps · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 STARS

Mina, crushed under the weight of her harsh mother’s expectations, creates the facade of a perfect Korean daughter lying and stealing money from her parents’ dry cleaning store until she can leave. Her most authentic relationship, with her hearing impaired younger sister Suna, gives Mina unconditional love and purpose. Then she meets Ysrael, a Mexican immigrant, and for the first time falls in love.

WAIT FOR ME is my second An Na book this week. Na’s poetic writing feels almost lyrical. Told in Mina’s first person and Suna’s third person points of view, both girls suffered from their mother’s emotional abuse. I didn’t agree with the lengths Mina had gone to deceive her mom, she didn’t have a lot of role modeling for healthy communication in her family.

I wish Na has been more specific about the acquaintance rape/coercion with Jonathon and felt like that storyline was incomplete. I also would have liked to see how the consequences of Mina’s lies played out in her family.

I will continue to read more of Na’s books. Her word building is exceptional.

[cynthia ✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wait For Me is absolutely breathtaking.
No, that's a huge understatement.

When I was reading this book, I felt like *I* was Mina. I could feel her pain and sorrow in every scene. The words in this book are so descriptive, it's unbelievable.

If you're looking for a wholesome, sappy romance book with loads of depressing scenes in it, read this book. You won't regret it.

[Michelle Addae · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of my favorites right now. Although some stuff was weird. It's about how a girl named Mina is responsible for her academics and tends to take care of her sister Suna. Mina's mother also is really strict with her and makes sure she gets all the help she needs and support, so she can go to Harvard or a really good college. Her parents both work at a clothing store and had an employee, named Yasrael. He and Mina both had grown a nice relationship and ended up being a couple, and even when Suna was upset about this and thought her sister Mina was gonna leave her, Mina ended up staying with her at the end of the book. This book was really good not only because of the wording, but because I can relate to this, in real life. Wanting to achieve your mother's dream is really hard, and sometimes it could be stressful because all you want to do is make your mom happy. So her having this issue was really promising to me because I finally knew I wasn't the only one. However, what I thought was weird was the romance part. Me as a person, I don't really like stuff that has to do with kissing, making out, this and that. But what really grossed me out the most was the face-licking part. It just confuses me how they licked each other faces, like what? This author has more books, and I am hoping to get a chance to read them one day because her books are really interesting and attractive to me. Suna, Mina's sister is one of my favorite characters, even though the book switches points of view, Suna's point of view is more real, and what she says about how she knew that Mina was gonna want to leave her, kinda hit me. Because let's be for real if you really loved someone and they were leaving, and if you had a choice to leave with them, wouldn't you also go? Either than that, the book was really good, and amazing which is why I give it a 5/5.
Would 100% recommend it.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and simple, in the best way. I found myself relating to Mina's story, not because I lied to my family in order to live up to their expectations, but because I too have had to make the painful and paralyzing choice between pleasing my parents and living my own life according to what I wanted. It's a choice that often has to be made more than once.

The writing was good, and there was lots of beautiful imagery. I'm not sure, however, that we needed to hear parts of the narrative from Suna's perspective. She was an important character, of course, but I'm not sure it added much for us to be inside her head. Her perspective was unique, though.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man, there's a lot to like here, but sadly there's also a lot to dislike. Let's go through them all and see if you'd enjoy this.

THE GOOD: Beautiful writing style and a clear voice separating the two sisters' chapters. With such a short page count, the author perfectly conveys the immense pressure of parental expectations and how it affects both main characters. Every character is flawed in some way and most make an effort to do better.

THE BAD: At first, I actually liked the love triangle, but it just got messy at the end. Some conflicts in the book are just never resolved despite being built up for chapters and chapters. The final chapters dip way too hard in the melodrama. And finally, the insta-love. It's just a preference thing, but when everything else is so grounded in reality, having insta-love sucks. I get that it's a short book and there's not much time to develop it, but the author clearly is capable of doing so much with little space.

In summary, I loved the book a lot at first but things in the latter half brought it down for me. I'd still recommend it for those who like contemporary YA stories and diverse tales.

[Katelynne Thach · Rating 5 out of 5]

When reading this, I'm not sure how to feel about it. In some parts it makes me feel frustrated, but then it makes me feel thankful. Towards the end we see that Mina, her mom, and Suna get into a fight, which makes Mina run out of the house, going to Ysreal, who is at the bus station. Suna goes after her because Mina was the only one there for her. Well her mom ignored her and had not much care for her Mina did. Mina loved her very much and gave a lot for her, and would practically run around the whole world for her. So, Suna would obviously go after her, she's the only one she has. When they do finally see each other on different sides of sidewalks, so Suna walks towards her. Not seeing the car going past she almost gets run over, if not Mina told her to stop in time. Now the reason why I feel bad would be because Mina wants to live her life, she wants to go with Ysreal and live her life with music & etc, but she is stopped by so many things in her life. More like the people she loves are holding her back, I'm not saying Suna is holding her back, but Mina wants to do so many things, but she has so many responsibilities. The reason why I feel thankful for her would be because without Mina Suna would have nobody. Well not nobody because she has her dad, but she won't have a person that will give her the relationship she has with Mina. I'm also grateful that Mina was left with Suna because if Mina had left that time Suna could change, without having her mother figure without her, she'll have to do things herself, she'll have to go through stuff by herself, and her mother might put the expiations on to Suna, which could have negative side affects. So that's why I'm grateful that Mina stayed behind and that she has someone there for her. This book was very interesting, heartfelt, and was a roller-coaster. It made me feel all types of different emotions and it felt refreshing to have a book do this to me. I will absolutely remember this book as I grow up and it will hold a special book in my heart.

[Brendan Trohon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that this book was decent I did not love it but I did not not enjoy it so I gave it a 4 stars because I also do not like to read about romance,its not my favorite but if you like romance and struggling through strict rules to be with your partner then I strongly encourage you to read this book. I did though think it had a pretty decent ending aswell.

[chavelitareads · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book will always be with me. Less than 200 pages, yet I still think about the characters. Maybe because I can understand the family dynamic being a Haitian-American and the stresses of being the perfect student and child. I just loved the authenticity of the characters. I even cried. I love this book so much.

[Kourtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written, heart rending book about becoming yourself. It’s about how hard it is to break out of the confines of who you are expected to be.

The story is told through chapters alternating the POV between Mina, the older sister, and Suna, the younger sister.

Mina and Suna are the daughters of hard working Korean immigrants. Their mother expects great things from Mina. But because of Suna’s hearing impairment, she is always left in Mina’s shadow.

This is not a story of an overachieving sister though. Mina’s big secret? She can’t do math and her grades are in a tail spin. She’s so bound up her lies she can’t see any way out.

Until she meets Ysrael…

It’s a fragile lovestory where the triangle involves Mina choosing between Suna and Ysrael. Between herself and her mother.

Mina is at that point in her life where everything is closing in, but she doesn’t realize how many choices there are–if she will only own them.

The writing is absolutely breath-stealing. Sentences I found myself rereading to absorb just how powerful and image creating they were.

An Na sets a scene so well. I will definitely refer back to this book for how to bring a setting to life without paragraphs of description. She conjures up the library, the beach, the mexican restaurant with such vividness that I am sitting beside Mina trying to prod her along.

A stunning book and a great YA read!

[Poopstalker2k14 · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was just terrible. It was not very well written, and when it's the younger sisters part it seems like a whole other character. In fact Mina (the main character) is just plain aggravating. She relies on the dependence of man throughout the whole book. She even has to rely on a guy to help her cheat and seem like she's doing good in school, and in trade she gives him her body. She also relies on a guy to take her away from her horrible family situation. In which she choose the sketchiest looking person, who as a scar running along his face. It doesn't end there. She has a younger sister who is hearing impaired and is always constantly being verbally abused by her Asian mother. Which she countless times tried to run away from with out even trying to help. She also introverts to music, and I feel like half the book is just her listening to music to run away from things. Her character development is extremely weak, and so is her sisters. The deep passion I hold toward this book is only hatred. Because it only supports the idea that women need to rely on a man to live, and I can tell that the aim for this book are pubescent girls. These are the kind of books that won't let women progress into the world of equality. I am only giving you my knowledge on this book so you realize how terrible it is and never decide to pick it up. It took me 2 hours to read it and I regret each minute. I want my time back.

[Karissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an alright read. It follows the story of Mina, a Korean-American girl who has been lying to her mother for at least a year about everything. Her grades, the clubs she is in at school, going to Harvard, and even stealing money from the laundromat her parents run. After all, it is summer vacation and freaking hot outside and they aren't paying her or her sister for their help. Why not take a little on the side?

But when her father pulls her back out, her parents are forced to hire Ysrael. Ysrael is Hispanic so Mina's mother instantly dislikes the boy and plans to keep a close eye on him.

Mina and Ysrael end up falling in love (of course). And Mina plans to run away with him, away from all the lies she has created. Her mother is always bragging about the fake accomplishments Mina has gotten and she knows that soon the jig will be up. But when her little sister, who is partially deaf, almost dies, Mina decides to stay in order to help her sister. But she tells Ysrael to wait for her.

Her little sister is always in some far of dreamland. Her mother is the typical demanding Korean/Asian mother. Because of her sisters' imperfection she tends to be harder on her it seems. Which is insane since their mother is one crazy mother.

It was predictable, but a nice story.

[Miyuki-isb · Rating 2 out of 5]

I chose the novel Wait for Me by An Na because I read the short review at the back and I saw many great comments there so I was very interested to read the story. I think this novel has a really good ideas and concepts for teenagers to read about. The main character Mina, she wants to impress her mother so she kept lying about her grade and tells her that she has really good grades and she is the president of the school. She lies on the outside but inside she knows who she really is and it makes her to feel worse each time she lies. And she finally meets a person who she can not lie and both Mina and her younger sister, Suna fall in love with that person and that makes the relationship with the siblings a little awkward. I think many teenagers can connect themselves to this novel especially Korean people because it talks about Korean family and how the Korean parents want the kids to go into the best college and push them to study.
This book is 169 pages and the reading level is not hard. I would not recommend this book even though it has a very good concepts in it. Even the concepts are good, there aren't any interesting events in the story. So I have to say that this book had good concepts but those were not expressed well in the novel.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wait For Me is a brief (less than two hundred pages) book about a girl named Mina and her complicated relationship with... everything, but I think primarily truth, and love.

The book begins with Mina, a straight-A student, president of the Honors Society, and explicitly Harvard-bound, studying for SATs, trying desperately to please her mother while at the same time despising her, working at the family dry cleaners and looking after her sister Suna, our second narrator. Their family seems to exist in an uneasy balance, with Mina the perfect daughter being pushed all the time by their mother, and Suna and their father in the background, observing. However, Mina is keeping secrets. A lot of secrets. The arrival of a young man named Ysrael tips MIna's carefully balanced life over, and things begin to unravel, fast.

I'm... not sure how I feel about this book. I did enjoy it, but there isn't much resolution that I could see. I did love Mina's relationship with Suna, and the way An Na represented the family tension so realistically I had hairs rising on the back of my neck. I think it's an excellent little slice of life novel, but maybe not for me?

Be aware: a rape has occured in the book's past and is brought up with a fair amount of frequency.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mina is the image of a perfect daughter - as far as her demanding mother knows, she gets good grades, is studying hard for the SATs, and is the president of the Honors Society at school.

Unfortunately, the truth is far different. Mina is an average student, skips out on her SAT classes at the library, and lied to her mother about being the leader of the group. Working as often as possible at her parents' dry cleaning business, Mina has taken it upon herself to alter receipts in order to give herself a "salary" of sorts.

But this facade comes crashing down the moment she meets Ysrael, a migrant worker her father hires to help out. This young man shows her that there is a difference between the path her mother wants her to take...and the one she wishes to choose.

Another major part of the story is Mina's younger sister, Suna, who is deaf. Mina's mother is ruthless when it comes to picking Suna apart...and Mina feels it is her responsibility to defect some of the anger and frustration in order to keep her sister safe...

[Samantha · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm thirty-six pages in and I'm not enjoying the story at all. I don't really feel engaged with the characters or even care what is going to happen next.

Part of it is I feel like I missed out on too much. I have to keep being filled in on what happened piece by piece, and that only makes me feel even more disconnected from what is going on, as I don't fully understand why Mina acts the way she does.

The only character that seems remotely interesting is Suna, but even in the chapters that are focused on her (short chapters in third person, unlike Mina's longer chapters told in first), all she does is observe.

It's sometimes confusing when the characters speak and when they don't, as the book rarely uses quotes for dialogue. I think the idea behind it is the quoted dialogue is in English, and the rest isn't, but if that's the case, it isn't very clear at all.

I'm just bored with this book. I kept reading in the hopes that it would get better, but why continue to force myself to read a book I'm not enjoying?

[Christina Getrost · Rating 4 out of 5]

High school junior Mina is the daughter of Korean-American immigrants who own a dry-cleaning business. She's been pushed to get good grades all of her life, with the goal of getting into Harvard. But she's started lying about her grades, saying they're better than they are, while stealing money from the cash register to save up to move out on her own after graduation. She does not want to go to college, let alone Harvard, but she can't get up the courage to tell her strict mother. Meanwhile her younger sister Sunna, who's deaf and wears a hearing aid, gets hardly any attention from her mother at all. When Mina starts secretly dating a boy who's definitely not someone her mother would approve of, Mina's choices get really hard. A good book about relationships between mothers and daughters, between sisters, and the stresses of being an immigrant family.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly I really liked this book. An Na's style is beautifully understated and her story is well-crafted. Although some elements are very familiar - the striving immigrant parents, the expectation that their first-generation daughter get into Harvard - An Na puts a new spin on things by making the main character, Mina, a liar and an underachiever. In spite of Mina's flaws, I found her character sympathetic, and was moved by her relationship with her hearing impaired sister, Suna.

There were a few things that bothered me. Although Suna uses a hearing aid in one ear and has some residual hearing in the other, she cannot hear a car coming at her, but she listens to her sister breathing as she lays in bed (when, presumably, she wouldn't be wearing her hearing aid).

But overall, this is a moving story and well worth a read.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this story. It takes place in Southern California. It's about a Korean girl and a Hispanic boy who fall in love. It's about immigrants and their children and what life is like for them. It's a novel about disappointing your parents, defying expectations, and making mistakes. It isn't perfect, but there were times when I felt like I was there in the story. It was also interesting to read because many of my high school friends were immigrants (Chinese, Hispanic, German) and I remember that their parents had very, very high expectations and it was hard for them.

An interesting device that the author uses is switching voices between Mina and her sister, Suna. I am not sure it worked because while Mina's story is told in the first person, Suna's is told almost through someone elses eyes. It was a bit odd.

[April Helms · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mina seems to be the perfect girl. Straight-A student. President of the honor society. Potential Harvard student. The trouble is, Mina's perfect life is a lie, and the summer of her senior year, she has to work harder and harder to protect the illusion, not just to live up to her mother's high expectations, but to protect her younger sister Suna. Suna is battling her own private demons as she learns to make her voice heard. Then, along comes Ysreal, a migrant worker with dreams of his own -- and a man Mina cannot lie to. An Na's writing is lyrical, gripping, and takes us to a world and culture we may not be familiar with. But regardless of background, this book speaks to the experiences of all teens and young adults struggling to meet expectations from parents and peers.

[Alina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a slightly different take on a different immigrant Korean family from that of ���A Step From Heaven”. There are two sisters in this story and ultimately this book is about the bond between them. An Na crashes through the stereotypes people have of Asian kids and give a side that many may not think about. Since this family lives in southern California, there is also the aspect of how people deal with immigrant workers from Mexico.

An Na shows two sides of a bittersweet story, from the older sister (Mina) who is a lost teen trying to find her way in the world and the younger sister (Sena) who views the world from a dreamlike quality. I think many teens no matter what their heritage is will identify with these characters in some fashion and take courage and hope from them.

[bjneary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mina and Suna are two sisters who work long hard hours at their parents dry cleaners. Mina is the oldest sister who lives a lie, she steals money from her parents' business, lies to her mother about her place in school and where she will go to college. Suna is the youngest sister who has a hearing aid and talks to their car as if it was human. Mina and Suna are very close. Their mother is nasty keeping secrets of her own. She runs Mina's life, is nasty to Suna and her husband. Enter a new worker to their dry cleaner, Ysreal, a talented musician, born of migrant worker parents who has befriended both girls, unbeknowst to their mother. An endearing story of love and how one can change when their life is a lie. A great multicultural read, I can't wait to read An Na's other books!

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about Mina may look like a perfect girl but she is not. Mina is a straight A student and a Honor Society president in her school. She works in her family's dry cleaners and cares for her little sister, Suna. On the outside She does everything right but on the inside she knows the truth. She tells her parents that Harvard accepted her but it was a lie. She wants her parents to be proud of her. Only one person she cannot lie to is Vsrael. Vsrael is a migrant worker who wants to be a musician. Later on in the story he works for Mina's family and asks her one question that gives her the most fear. What does she wants? This situation happens everywhere in the world when students tell their families that they did something good at school and the truth is they didn't.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thoughtful tale of adolescence and what happens when you start making your own decisions.

Mina is a Korean-American high school junior who has successfully tricked her overbearing, strict mom into thinking she's doing well in school. Mina's secret is held by Jonothan, an old family friend whom Mina wants to avoid at all costs.

Mina's chapters alternate with her younger sister Suma, who is hearing-impaired and mostly ignored by her parents.

Tough love, immigrant experiences, choosing your own path and romance are weaved together by Na, who somehow makes even the most complicated stories seem so simple.

Although it's not as poignant and beautiful as "A Step From Heaven," it's a story that will intrigue teens who are forging their own way in life.

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for my literature for adolescence class and i can see why this book would be a great read for teenagers. Teenagers can really relate to the main character because of all the pressures and expectation placed on her by her parents. Like many teens, she has to choose between living the life set up for her by her parents, or living the way she wants to. the story is crafted beautifully and the characters are very interesting. There is a love and hate relationship between the two sisters that is interesting to see. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to all the young adults out there that are unsure of their path.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The biggest struggle I had with the book was the changes in the tense between the sisters. One was written in third person present tense and the other was first person past tense. It annoyed me and I found it taking me away from the book.
The characterization of some seemed one-dimensional or shallow, and the book ended so abruptly.

However, I did like the premise of the book, the focus on the pressure from the parents, and the character with a hearing aid (although this is not talked about too much). I just felt that parts of it could have been more developed.

I enjoyed "A Step From Heaven" more.

[Rei · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. It had the promise of a relatable (but not necessarily likable) teenage protagonist with very real Asian-American issues and representation for people with hearing impairment, but it ended up being cliche and uninteresting. Mina and Ysrael's relationship developed too rapidly, Suna was portrayed to be weak and selfish with no character development at all, and Jonathon was a typical jerk who blackmails girls into getting into bed with him. The characters were one-sided and the plot was lacking and rushed. An Na wasted an opportunity to present an emotionally-charged and poignant novel.

[Anna Yoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

She was my star author since I could share my feelings with her a lot. This book was interesting enough for me to choose and read. I liked the plot and it was not an ordinary one. Very unique, but she has her own style of writing, which is very descriptive and is loved by many people. Her writings make me say 'whoa'. Writing so detailed that I can illustrate the exact scene that is going on. The ending, however, went kind of fast for me, meaning that I wanted more that she left in the book. Still I think she blurred the ending a little so we can imagine how the life of Mina would be. Very touching and descriptive, this author always makes me want to cry.

[Ari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wait for Me was a disappointment for me, but it tells a good story with some rare elements in YA; interracial dating between POC, and the handling of a disability. The characters were mostly underdeveloped, perhaps the novel was too short for the reader to really connect to the characters. I felt detached to all that was occurring throughout the book except for the romance between Ysrael and Mina. Their romance developed slowly and it felt authentic. The ending was surprise because it seemed far too abrupt. I was sure the epilogue would clarify things but it doesn't