Title: Bitter Melon
Author: Cara Chow [website]
Genre: Contemporary
Publisher: Egmont USA
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Parental Advisory: language, sexual innuendo
Teachable Moments: emotional abuse, independence, obedience, empowerment

“All night long, Mom tosses and turns violently in the bottom bunk.  My bed rocks back and forth with each turn.  Because I’ve upset her, she can’t sleep.  And if she can’t sleep, then she won’t let me sleep either.  She wants me to know how much I am making her suffer.  I’ve heard that sleep deprivation is a common form of torture for POWs, that the exhaustion can wear soldiers down and make them divulge any military secret.  I can see now why this might be true.”

Summary:
Frances has one job in life: to get into Berkeley and become a doctor so that her mother’s ambitions will be realized.  And Frances doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with that, until the day she accidentally steps into a speech class and begins to discover a talent her mother wouldn’t approve of.

Frances turns out to be a natural at debate and public speaking.  But to win in competition, she needs to say things she really believes — and to hide what she’s doing from her mother.  And once Frances steps out beyond her narrowly prescribed life, she begins to question many things about the way she is raised.  Why can’t she go to a dance with a boy who likes her?  Why can’t she get a job, or have any money of her own?  And most of all, why is her mother never happy with her?

Frances knows she should be obedient, and that her mother has sacrificed everything so she can succeed.  But when it’s time to take the biggest step of her life, will Frances have the courage to defy her mother?

Opinion:
Bitter Melon is one of those books that I find incredibly difficult to review.  Mainly, because despite the fact that I struggled with the story there was great power and value in Chow’s message.  I’ll start with saying that I felt like the whole story was a bit stereotypical — overbearing Asian mother dominates and manipulates timid daughter.  This, however, doesn’t take away from the thematic elements that were of greater significance.

The best part of Bitter Melon was Frances.  She was so eloquent and understated in how she endured her mother’s abuse then empowered herself to make a change in her life for the better.  A realistic portrayal, Frances’ evolution to a more independent and, I believe, stronger person was slow-building.  There was no magic wand or quick fix.  Even in the end there were doors left open for continued progress — one of the things I liked best about the book.

Chow wrote this book expertly.  From the dialogue to the descriptive elements I experienced the entire trip Frances took.  For an author to make me feel so much emotion from a story that seemed as though I’d read it before was a testament to skill.  Chow embraces the extremities of her characterizations with vigor.  Frances’ mother was in no uncertain terms a wretched and selfish woman.  Overbearing, rigid, demeaning as well as emotionally and physically abusive.  While, Frances was demure, obedient, patient and not short on desperation.  She wanted out of the life she had so badly yet knew that the only way to make a positive change was to defy her mother.  This was not an easy thing for her to do.  She’d been raised to act the dutiful daughter, it was practically impossible for her to be defiant so it was clear that when she finally started inching out of the prison her life had become she was stepping outside of her comfort zone and bringing us with her every step of the way.

One of the ways Frances took a risk was to develop a relationship with a young boy named Derek.  I found this romantic entanglement to have a bit of both the positive and negative.  Positive because in a story as heavy as this there was a definite need for a mood lightener.  Negative because I felt like it wasn’t light enough.  I’m not talking about having the romance be all schmoopy and birds singing around Frances as she prepared for prom. What I’m talking about is that there was already more than enough angst between Frances and her mother that to add more with the boyfriend seemed a bit like piling on.  I know, the purpose behind it all was to make him one of the catalysts for change but I honestly didn’t think she needed it.  She already had the teacher and speech class and discovering a talent she didn’t realize she had for that.  Her first real romantic relationship could have brought much needed moments of lightheartedness to the story.

Appealing to audiences young and old, Bitter Mellon is a fascinating look at a mother daughter relationships and how cultural influences affects them.  There is no question that it gives the reader plenty of food for thought.  A great discussion piece — be it for classrooms or book clubs – Bitter Melon is one that provides insight and understanding to a variety of interpersonal and cultural facets of life.