Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Kelly Yang’s Front Desk has been on my radar for ages and my shelf ever since my second girlie picked it as her free book for–something. (It’s been long enough that I don’t remember exactly what.) When I finally started listening to it three weeks or so ago, however, I was honestly worried at first. Was this going to be the sort of immigrant story that I needed a healthy dose of emotional resilience to read? (My supply of that, you understand, depends a great deal on how each of my kiddos–and my husband–is doing and how much sleep I’ve gotten recently.) I quickly realized, however, that Yang is a genius at blending the undeniably hard with both the humorous and the heartwarming. She and her parents are living incredibly difficult lives as immigrants–were doing so long before the events at the start of the story–and yet, over the course of the book, they manage to find both their people and a way forward, however unexpected it may be. Mia’s growing confidence is lovely to see, and I loved finding out from the author’s note that one of the aspects of the story I thought the least realistic was (like many of the events of the book) based on Yang’s real life experience. In following Mia and her family as they become hotel managers and deal with crises both large and small, Front Desk is a poignant picture of the ups and downs of the American dream–and how modest that dream often is for the first generation of immigrants. If you haven’t already, go read this one!

In the meantime, it snowed yesterday and I have a pot of apples cooking down on the stove. (Not the last of the apples, but I’m down to half a box!) After I switch my laundry, I’m thinking a cup of hot chocolate might be in order…