This book? Was so good.
Before we even get into the characters and plot, just the writing? How it was so unapologetically Chinese?
Sometimes, in order to appeal to western audiences, books that aren’t set in an English-speaking country will include a small dictionary in the back (which I hate) or explain what words mean throughout the text. But in If You Could See The Sun, none of the phrases used in the text are explained. If a reader doesn’t know what Baidu is, it’s up to them to look it up. And I love that for this book. I don’t think it should fall on authors to educate readers on real-life terminology.
This book focuses on Alice, who finds out her parents aren’t going to be able to afford tuition for her next semester of boarding school and immediately after finds out she can turn invisible sometimes. One of my immediate favorite things about this plot is how she goes to Henry, her academic rival, in the hopes that he will help her out.
Henry, who has a photo of the two of them sitting on his desk in his dorm.
My interest was immediately piqued.
The two of them decide they’re going to use Alice’s powers for their own benefit and create an app to discover secrets in return for money, which I think is the main reason why most people would be interested in picking up this book. While Alice questions how far she will go in order to earn the money she needs for another year at this boarding school, readers will be shocked at the requests that come through this app–and which ones get accepted.
I thought this story was definitely a very interesting read, and I really enjoyed seeing Alice struggle through figuring out her boundaries for this app. The ending was really nice and well rounded for what happened in this book as well, and I definitely recommend picking this book up if it sounds like something you would be interested in!
Before we even get into the characters and plot, just the writing? How it was so unapologetically Chinese?
Sometimes, in order to appeal to western audiences, books that aren’t set in an English-speaking country will include a small dictionary in the back (which I hate) or explain what words mean throughout the text. But in If You Could See The Sun, none of the phrases used in the text are explained. If a reader doesn’t know what Baidu is, it’s up to them to look it up. And I love that for this book. I don’t think it should fall on authors to educate readers on real-life terminology.
This book focuses on Alice, who finds out her parents aren’t going to be able to afford tuition for her next semester of boarding school and immediately after finds out she can turn invisible sometimes. One of my immediate favorite things about this plot is how she goes to Henry, her academic rival, in the hopes that he will help her out.
Henry, who has a photo of the two of them sitting on his desk in his dorm.
My interest was immediately piqued.
The two of them decide they’re going to use Alice’s powers for their own benefit and create an app to discover secrets in return for money, which I think is the main reason why most people would be interested in picking up this book. While Alice questions how far she will go in order to earn the money she needs for another year at this boarding school, readers will be shocked at the requests that come through this app–and which ones get accepted.
I thought this story was definitely a very interesting read, and I really enjoyed seeing Alice struggle through figuring out her boundaries for this app. The ending was really nice and well rounded for what happened in this book as well, and I definitely recommend picking this book up if it sounds like something you would be interested in!