Asha Lemmie

Beautiful story about a young girl from a mixed relationship (Japanese and Black American) who is sent to live with her grandmother. The grandmother is embarrassed by the child, Nori. She beats her, and forces her to bleach her skin. She also keeps her hidden in the house. This all changes when her half-brother, Akira, comes to the grandparents home. He is an accomplished musician, and his music and his kindness entrance Nori. As the heir to the family, he is able to change Nori's fate. But, she is still an outcast in the eyes of her grandparents.
This is a story of resilience and love.… (mais)

This book was such a frustrating read for me. How it is rated so high I cannot even fathom; to date it is the only book that I have rated one star, and I am usually generous with my ratings.

I was initially drawn to the book because it has a lovely cover and I am a cover snob. Even my coworker and fellow cover snob agreed, there is something about the dark blue and the pink that is really quite pleasing. However, upon reading the book, it became clear that I had been bamboozled, and for once my method of choosing books by their covers failed (who could've seen that coming?).

Unlike the cover, there was nothing pleasing about the plot or the writing, which is why I have rated it so low. I took off a few stars for plot, another star for the poor writing, and finally I dropped it down to one star today because months after reading I am somehow still thinking about how mad I am at this book. The plot was entirely too predictable, all of the characters were flat, and the ending was equal parts dull and nonsensical. At the heart of it all it attempted to reconcile poor Nori with her supposed place in society, but it read more as tragedy porn.… (mais)