- School & Library Binding: 160 pages
- Publisher: Econo-Clad Books, Div. of American Cos., Inc.; New title edition (Dec 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0613603664
- ISBN-13: 978-0613603669
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 14.2 x 2 cm
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'A dazzlingly written, heartbreaking story of a girl who defies tradition to ask for help to reclaim her life and that of her mother.'Readings Monthly, April 2002'I enjoyed reading this book because you get an inside look at a different culture and it can make you understand what others go through to fit in.'Jaffa, aged 14, Victoria REACT'Na's writing is remarkable this charming novel is wholly engaging.'ViewpointSpring 2002'a skilfully modulated work of fiction and an exceptional read'Sunday AgeMay 2002
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
Young Ju and her parents are going to live in America, where everyone can make lots of money. She thinks they are on their way to heaven. But when her mother and father have to work three jobs just to pay the rent and everyone speaks a new language and has new customs, Young Ju feels caught between two cultures. Her mother tells her she is a strong American girl with a future but her father is angry with her when she is not a respectful Korean daughter. This is a powerful and elegant novel about a girl's journey to adulthood and a family's struggle for a better life, which will resonate with migrants everywhere.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
Just to the edge, Young Ju. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Just to the edge, Young Ju. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
68 reviews
27 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Compassionate, ugly-beautiful book
10 Jan 2004
Format:Paperback
This book comes highly recommended. It received the Printz award for young adult literature, and is called a must-read by my writing instructor. On reading it, I can see why. On the surface, the book is about a child-immigrant's experience adapting to life in the United States. It is written more in the style of an adult novel than a YA novel. An Na rightly expects her readers to be able to handle more than a lot of books expect them too.
The voice An Na uses to tell her story is fascinating. It begins with Young Ju as a four-year old who speaks no English. Instead of using normal names for things like "toilet paper", she describes them with amazing childlike and unusual words. When she is in America, English dialogue is written how she hears it, not how it is spelled. Wonderful way to show how confusing a new language is. This book is full of touch and smell, as well as sight. She uses vivid descriptions --For just one example, the touch of her mother's rough hands feel like the lick of a cat's tongue.
The book covers Young Ju's life from Age 4 to college age, and the voice matures with her, from the child who still believes magical things, like planes fly to heaven, to a woman who is becoming independent and American despite her's fathers wish to keep her Korean-thinking and subservient.
This book is truly rich with experience. Nothing is flat. She uses many contrasts. We see her father reading the Korean newspaper avidly and then being stumped completely by a few immigration forms. And it goes on with wonderful details like that.
And as for her father, his portrayal is superb. He is a mean-spirited violent alcoholic. Yet he is their father, and at times there are very good times. At times, he worked for the family very hard. We know how he is struggling with a new culture. While there are no excuses for his behavior, we know he was not always like that. I have rarely seen a characterization that shows the destruction of a life as richly, unsentimentally and unsensationally as this.
And of course, the other treat of this book is seeing Young Ju change from a girl who watches things happen to a girl who makes things happen. A book well worth your time.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
A Powerful Description of the Immigrant Experience
24 Oct 2002
Format:Hardcover
When I heard author An Na speak at a school librarian's convention in Portland, Oregon, in October, 2002, I knew I had to read this book. What she said struck a chord with me, an immigrant who came to this country when I was 3 years old from Holland in 1953. I am also very close to a young man who was adopted from Korea when he was 2 years old.
While this powerful story is about a Korean girl adapting to her new life in America, many of the struggles she faces are similar to those that I went through, even though I was a white kid from an earlier generation.
I plan to share this emotionally gripping story with my adopted Korean friend, as I believe he will find some things to relate to as well.
Don't be put off by the awkward, slow start. That's part of the story's development. Highly recommended.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
A Mesmerizing, gut-wrenching, heart-warming ballet.
11 May 2002
Format:Hardcover
This virtually flawless book traces the steps of Yung Ju, a Korean girl who moves to America (or as she clalls it, "Mi Gook" )as a young child. She thinks she is going to heaven because of all the great things she's heard about it. She soon learns that it is not. Her family struggles to find a place to live, and to learn English. Yung Ju tries her best to do good in school. She makes friends with a girl, only to be forbidden from seeing her. It unfolds into haunting grace as Yung Ju grows and matures into a young woman and her father becomes more and more abusive and becoming an ever closer to becoming an alcoholic and her brother becomes a rebel and ditches school. Strangely graceful yet real and painful, A Step From Heaven dances with pain across the stage with exquisite voice.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
