Everything I love about the YA Genre
If You Could See the Sun embodies everything I love about the YA genre. Snarky, witty, with loveble characters and insane teenage scheming that somehow just work out. Liang delivers a stunning debut, with a memorable, relatable protagonist in Alice Sun, plus a fantastic academic rival/love interest in Henry Li and their antics to keep Alice in school.
What makes this book for me was Alice Sun’s character. As a now-graduate student reading this book, Alice Sun embodies everything I was a highschool student, competing against classmates to get top grades, doing anything and everything for the most packed, well-polished package to bring to a college resume, but dialed to a 12. Seriously, this girl is insane, but simultaneously so relatable. Every thought she had, every action she took, was absolutely something I could picture myself or another friend doing to get just that extra edge. Perhaps this is cynicism on my part, but there’s this tone of optimism, the underlying tone of ‘if I can only get into the best university, my life will be set’ Alice has that so perfectly reflects how so many Asian Americans go through highschool that I’ve never quite seen reflected elsewhere and I really appreciate Liang for portraying that.
Plotwise, this book is half hilarious and half surprisingly depressing. Alice Sun, under threat of leaving her ultra-prestigious international highschool in Beijing, discovers that she can turn invisible, and immediately decides to monetize those powers to cover next year’s tuition. Problem is, she can’t actually control this power. Cue some of the funniest scenarios of her and Henry getting into shit while they wait for her powers to kick in so she can snoop on her classmates’ dirty secrets. Of course, under the glamor of fame and wealth, said classmates can have both dirty and just sad secrets.
I really like that Liang chooses to humanize (kind of) those classmates. A lot of books in this vein, rich kids are presented as villains, snobby and unsympathetic to the ‘poor’ main character. Alice’s classmates have a lot of heart, and while it’s clear they don’t really understand not having money, they’re sympathetic and, well, not utter assholes. Henry and Chanel are great sidekicks to Alice’s bullshit.
Overall, I rate this book a 4.5/5. I loved all the references to Chinese pop culture (the Xiao Zhan one got me laughing out loud), and Liang’s use of Chinese within the text! Alice’s mentality and hijinks were incredibly relatable and I think Liang really captured the high pressure many Asian American students find themselves in to get into top colleges in both a serious yet light-hearted way.
What makes this book for me was Alice Sun’s character. As a now-graduate student reading this book, Alice Sun embodies everything I was a highschool student, competing against classmates to get top grades, doing anything and everything for the most packed, well-polished package to bring to a college resume, but dialed to a 12. Seriously, this girl is insane, but simultaneously so relatable. Every thought she had, every action she took, was absolutely something I could picture myself or another friend doing to get just that extra edge. Perhaps this is cynicism on my part, but there’s this tone of optimism, the underlying tone of ‘if I can only get into the best university, my life will be set’ Alice has that so perfectly reflects how so many Asian Americans go through highschool that I’ve never quite seen reflected elsewhere and I really appreciate Liang for portraying that.
Plotwise, this book is half hilarious and half surprisingly depressing. Alice Sun, under threat of leaving her ultra-prestigious international highschool in Beijing, discovers that she can turn invisible, and immediately decides to monetize those powers to cover next year’s tuition. Problem is, she can’t actually control this power. Cue some of the funniest scenarios of her and Henry getting into shit while they wait for her powers to kick in so she can snoop on her classmates’ dirty secrets. Of course, under the glamor of fame and wealth, said classmates can have both dirty and just sad secrets.
I really like that Liang chooses to humanize (kind of) those classmates. A lot of books in this vein, rich kids are presented as villains, snobby and unsympathetic to the ‘poor’ main character. Alice’s classmates have a lot of heart, and while it’s clear they don’t really understand not having money, they’re sympathetic and, well, not utter assholes. Henry and Chanel are great sidekicks to Alice’s bullshit.
Overall, I rate this book a 4.5/5. I loved all the references to Chinese pop culture (the Xiao Zhan one got me laughing out loud), and Liang’s use of Chinese within the text! Alice’s mentality and hijinks were incredibly relatable and I think Liang really captured the high pressure many Asian American students find themselves in to get into top colleges in both a serious yet light-hearted way.