BOOK REVIEW: Frankly in Love
Frankly in Love by David Yoon (#97 in 2019)
Frank Li is a high school senior, taker of AP courses, preparer of standardized tests, and the average teenager. But Frank has one problem -- he doesn't know where he fits in. Frank is Korean- American and feels as though he's caught between conforming to his parents' traditional views and being the person he wants to be. Everything becomes more complicated when Frank falls in love with a white girl at school. For most teenagers, this wouldn't be a problem. Frank knows, however, that his parents won't approve of a non-Korean girlfriend. When Frank realizes that his family friend, Joy Song, is in the same strict-Korean-parent-predicament problem, they create a plan to "fake date" one another so that they can sneak around with their real significant others. FRANKLY, with a plan like that, something is bound to go wrong...
For book lovers: Frank Li is adorable. He's a likable character with complex teenage emotions. Yoon developed Frank as a protagonist who not only catered to an under-represented community in literature (Korean-Americans), but effectively made that character relatable to teenagers of other ethnicities as well. I liked that Yoon included multiple love interests for Frank because I felt like that would be more realistic than having Frank, a typical teenager, crushing on only one girl. Frank also has conflicting views on his parents. Does he loyally accept their racially-based opinions because he's a "good son" or does he challenge their opinions because he is a more progressive thinker? Frank constantly battles with the common first-generation problem of "do I make my parents happy or do I make myself happy?" Frank's parents want him to date a Korean girl, but he doesn't understand why they can't be more open to him dating anyone who captures his heart. I also appreciated Frank's difficulty in establishing an identity for himself. Frank feels like he doesn't fit in anywhere because of his ethnicity, but this is actually a challenge that many teenagers face in capacities other than race. Frankly in Love was a fast and easy read with an interesting plot. My rating: 3.5 stars
For parents/teachers: From an educational standpoint, I'm honestly not sure what the intended audience was for this book. In terms of complexity, I think the book was fairly easy to understand. The vocabulary was simple, and the author included lots of apposition to explain the meaning of any unknown phrases. If we're talking text complexity, alone, I would say this book could be targeted at ages 13-15. The content, however, is another story. This book contains a fair amount of cursing (not something I find wildly inappropriate in literature), there is a lot of alcohol consumption (also not something I find inappropriate in literature), but the characters do use a lot of crude and sexually-charged jokes, which I do think could be off-putting for parents of young teens. The most confusing thing is that the main character, Frank Li, is a high school senior, so I don't think the younger crowd would have as much understanding for his social situation and coming-of-age experience. The challenges that aspiring college students face is vastly different from that of younger high school students. Now here's the issue: a high school senior probably won't find the book's reading content challenging enough, but a younger high school student might not appreciate Frank's self-realization as much. If I could pin this book on a specific group, I would say 8th (mature 8th)-10th graders might like it best.
Frankly in Love by David Yoon (#97 in 2019)
Frank Li is a high school senior, taker of AP courses, preparer of standardized tests, and the average teenager. But Frank has one problem -- he doesn't know where he fits in. Frank is Korean- American and feels as though he's caught between conforming to his parents' traditional views and being the person he wants to be. Everything becomes more complicated when Frank falls in love with a white girl at school. For most teenagers, this wouldn't be a problem. Frank knows, however, that his parents won't approve of a non-Korean girlfriend. When Frank realizes that his family friend, Joy Song, is in the same strict-Korean-parent-predicament problem, they create a plan to "fake date" one another so that they can sneak around with their real significant others. FRANKLY, with a plan like that, something is bound to go wrong...
For book lovers: Frank Li is adorable. He's a likable character with complex teenage emotions. Yoon developed Frank as a protagonist who not only catered to an under-represented community in literature (Korean-Americans), but effectively made that character relatable to teenagers of other ethnicities as well. I liked that Yoon included multiple love interests for Frank because I felt like that would be more realistic than having Frank, a typical teenager, crushing on only one girl. Frank also has conflicting views on his parents. Does he loyally accept their racially-based opinions because he's a "good son" or does he challenge their opinions because he is a more progressive thinker? Frank constantly battles with the common first-generation problem of "do I make my parents happy or do I make myself happy?" Frank's parents want him to date a Korean girl, but he doesn't understand why they can't be more open to him dating anyone who captures his heart. I also appreciated Frank's difficulty in establishing an identity for himself. Frank feels like he doesn't fit in anywhere because of his ethnicity, but this is actually a challenge that many teenagers face in capacities other than race. Frankly in Love was a fast and easy read with an interesting plot. My rating: 3.5 stars
For parents/teachers: From an educational standpoint, I'm honestly not sure what the intended audience was for this book. In terms of complexity, I think the book was fairly easy to understand. The vocabulary was simple, and the author included lots of apposition to explain the meaning of any unknown phrases. If we're talking text complexity, alone, I would say this book could be targeted at ages 13-15. The content, however, is another story. This book contains a fair amount of cursing (not something I find wildly inappropriate in literature), there is a lot of alcohol consumption (also not something I find inappropriate in literature), but the characters do use a lot of crude and sexually-charged jokes, which I do think could be off-putting for parents of young teens. The most confusing thing is that the main character, Frank Li, is a high school senior, so I don't think the younger crowd would have as much understanding for his social situation and coming-of-age experience. The challenges that aspiring college students face is vastly different from that of younger high school students. Now here's the issue: a high school senior probably won't find the book's reading content challenging enough, but a younger high school student might not appreciate Frank's self-realization as much. If I could pin this book on a specific group, I would say 8th (mature 8th)-10th graders might like it best.