In Full Bloom

So, I specifically set out to read books that fellow Asians had written and came across In Full Bloom.  I related to the protagonist so much that I finished it in 2 or 3 days.  I had to find out what happened to her so that I could get a glimpse of what might happen in my own future.

The jist of it is that Ginger Lee is a 27-year-old American-Korean woman working as an entry level assistant at a fashion magazine.  Suddenly, Ginger's mom comes to New York with a mission to get Ginger hitched.  Of course, chaos ensues.  In the process of meeting various men, Ginger discovers a lot about herself.  Her excuse to her mother's plotting is that she is focusing on her career, to which her mom gives her a lot of advice that helps Ginger get promoted.  Ginger's mom leaves after 3 weeks, but things change drastically.  In between this main storyline, there are threads of an abandoned older brother, feeling and dealing with one's Korean-ness (or otherwise non-American identity), a closet gay, and fashion magazine drama and backstabbing.

When I first started reading the book, I was so enthusiastic that I found a protagonist I could so fully identify with that if there were to be a movie, I was determined to play Ginger.  But the more I read, the more I was embarrassed that this 20+ woman was not as dependent or confident as she thought she was.  She can hardly speak any Korean and is shunned at a party.  Worse is when she goes to a Korean church with her mom and cannot speak to a man who is trying to converse with her.  Am I as pathetic as she?!  Her taste in men is also atrocious.

The book was a good length but the ending seemed somewhat forced.  I would read it again because some of the sentiments her mom expressed were so wise and something I wish someone told me about growing up.  In the end, I feel more sorry for Ginger's mom than I do for Ginger.  But they are both good examples of what I do not want to end up as.