Cloudwish (The Six Impossiverse #3) in Aussie Readers

Jul 09, 2015 Tien rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own, australian-author, blog-tour, young-adult, contemporary, arc, signed-by-author

Cloudwish was, in the first instance, a cover crush for me. It was beautifully design and very catchy! The thousandth of second after I read the name of the main character (note: 2nd word in blurb), I MUST READ THIS Potentially Awesome Book. And let me just assure you now, it did NOT disappoint. The promises of ‘magic’, of ‘Jane Eyre’, and romance were met but in addition to all this an in-depth look of what it means to be an Asian teen in the Australian landscape.

Vân Uoc was first introduced as ...more

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Jul 02, 2015 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc-are, provided-by-publisher, aussie-author

Cloudwish is a delightful new contemporary young adult novel from Fiona Wood, author of Six Impossible Things and Wildlife.

Asked to choose a prop for a creative writing assignment, Vân Uoc Phan selects a small glass vial. Inside, a slip of paper says wish. Vân Uoc considers the possibilities, she could wish not be the only 'scholarship/poor/smart/Asian' in her privileged private school, or that the government would stop persecuting asylum seekers, but Vân Uoc's most private and fervent wish, is
Cloudwish is a delightful new contemporary young adult novel from Fiona Wood, author of Six Impossible Things and Wildlife.

Asked to choose a prop for a creative writing assignment, Vân Uoc Phan selects a small glass vial. Inside, a slip of paper says wish. Vân Uoc considers the possibilities, she could wish not be the only 'scholarship/poor/smart/Asian' in her privileged private school, or that the government would stop persecuting asylum seekers, but Vân Uoc's most private and fervent wish, is for Billy Gardiner to like her.

Readers familiar with Wildlife might recognise Vân Uoc and Billy for their role in the book as minor characters.
Vân Uoc is the only daughter of Vietnamese refugees, she lives in a housing commission flat, attending the prestigious Crowthorne Grammar on an academic scholarship. She is quiet and studious, her parents expect she will become a doctor or a lawyer, though Vân Uoc dreams of becoming an artist.
Billy Gardiner is Crowthorne Grammar's golden boy, he is smart but takes very little seriously. One of the first eight on the successful school rowing team, the son of wealthy parents, he takes his privilege for granted in a way Vân Uoc never can.

When Billy suddenly takes notice of her, Vân Uoc assumes she is being set up for a joke but as his attention persists, she begins to wonder if a wish really can come true. The ensuing relationship between Vân Uoc and Billy is sweet and believable, deftly handled by the author within the context of the story.

But this is not just a story about a teen romance, throughout the story, Wood sensitively explores the experience of diversity in all its forms with a focus on socioeconomic, racial and cultural difference. Vân Uoc keenly feels the divide between herself and her classmates, she can't afford designer jeans or even a cup of coffee after school, her free time is limited to spending Friday nights watching movies in her neighbours flat, and she has responsibilities they can't imagine. Vân Uoc is also haunted by her parents experiences as refugees. Though she knows few of the details, her mother's annual slide into depression suggests unimaginable horrors.

With references to Jane Eyre, Vân Uoc's idol, and Pretty in Pink, Australian politics and the legitimacy of asylum seekers, mean girls, Chapel Street, and magic, Cloudwish is a wonderfully observed and heartfelt Australian story about identity, belonging, love, and dreams.

"Jane had all the answers. Of course she did. When had she ever let Vân Uoc down? It struck her like a proverbial bolt from the blue that within Jane Eyre's framework of realism - of social commentary on class, on charity schools, on imperious rich relations, on gender equality and the restricted opportunity for women, on love and morality...there was also some mad magic." ...more

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Sep 07, 2015 Lauredhel rated it it was amazing

Shelves: australian-women-writers-challenge, australian, aww2015

If you know me, you know I ordinarily hate the Arsehole-To-Lover trope. However, if there's one way you can get away with it, it's this: make the AtL an adolescent, and be a fabulous writer. Fiona Wood did both of these things!

Plus, a bonus point for HAVING A CHARACTER CALL OUT ABLEIST LANGUAGE OMG. THANKYOU. I've been banging on about this forever: if you're going to put in ableist language in YA dialogue for "authenticity", just don't do it uncritically, same as you wouldn't for racist and oth ...more

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Aug 20, 2015 Glaiza rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, australian-author, contemporary, poc-main-characters, netgalley, arc, not-mc-lgbtqia

"I recognised myself in Jane Eyre. It amazes me how many white people can’t read themselves in black characters. I didn’t feel any separation between Jane and me. We were tight."

– Alice Walker, Sydney Writer’s Festival, 2014.

(I love how Cloudwish opens with this quote.)

Vân felt like a friend who walked down a similar path of books and daydreams. As Vân tackles another school year, she connects with Jane Eyre’s quiet fortitude and draws strength from Jane’s story in her choices to act when she fe ...more

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