An Ocean Apart, a World Away Reading Response #1

Name: Alexandra H. Title: An Ocean Apart, a World Away Author: Lensey Namioka Total Pages This Week: 50 Date: 2-24-08 Time: Approximately 1 hour Pages: 1-50
Response:
So far in this book, Yanyan (the best friend of Ailin, the main character in the first book) has convinced her parents to go to Shanghai and see Ailin off on a boat trip to America. One of her older brothers, his friend and her have set of on their journey to Shanghai. They encounter some difficulties, fights, and a much older Ailin. They learn about the many culture differences between America and China. Then, Yanyan starts to become Baoushu (her brother's friend) friend. Her parents want her to get married off to a good family, however, with unbound feet, that is very difficult. Her parents see how she is with Baoushu and they think that she should get married to him. She is not complaining though becuase it's much better than getting paired up with a person she doesn't know by a match maker. Yanyan also tries to figure out what her future will be like, and really wants to become a doctor.


My favorite character in this book is Yanyan because she is very nice and very interested in cultures and things around her. She notices a lot of details and go through some hard things, like having her oldest brother not "accept" her. She is not the best student in her class either, but she is still very pleased by her life. She finds something that she likes about most things and has a very positive attitude. I also like her middle brother because he takes on a roll to keep his sister safe. He is also one of the only people who "accept" her for who she is. He is also one of the only people in their family that doesn't judge her and appreciates her for wanting to be independent when she get older.

I think one of the reasons to why I like this book is that it is a lot like the previous book. It shows a lot about differences in cultures. It is also a good book because it shows how a normal girl does things that she thinks is right and not just what her parents want her to do. If you do read this book though, it would be better to read the first one before this one because this is a sequel.