Ratings21
Average rating3.9
Speak enters the world of Gossip Girl in this modern immigrant story from New York Times bestselling author Kelly Yang about two girls navigating wealth, power, friendship, and trauma.
They’re called parachutes: teenagers dropped off to live in private homes and study in the US while their wealthy parents remain in Asia. Claire Wang never thought she’d be one of them, until her parents pluck her from her privileged life in Shanghai and enroll her at a high school in California. Suddenly she finds herself living in a stranger’s house, with no one to tell her what to do for the first time in her life. She soon embraces her newfound freedom, especially when the hottest and most eligible parachute, Jay, asks her out.
Dani De La Cruz, Claire’s new host sister, couldn’t be less thrilled that her mom rented out a room to Claire. An academic and debate-team star, Dani is determined to earn her way into Yale, even if it means competing with privileged kids who are buying their way to the top. When her debate coach starts working with her privately, Dani’s game plan veers unexpectedly off course.
Desperately trying to avoid each other under the same roof, Dani and Claire find themselves on a collision course, intertwining in deeper and more complicated ways, as they grapple with life-altering experiences. Award-winning author Kelly Yang weaves together an unforgettable modern immigrant story about love, trauma, family, corruption, and the power of speaking out.
Reviews with the most likes.
tw: sexual assault, grooming, racism
Three stars because I found the writing to be blotchy at times, but if you have the chance to read this, please do. It talks about important topics that people are often to scared to discuss.
3.5 stars. This book covers a lot of important topics, but it was a struggle for me to get through. The characters and pacing were inconsistent, and some actions were downright bizarre.
Also, closeted gay people are still valid, thanks.
And for the love of god, someone teach the audiobook narrator how to pronounce Shanghai.
I loveee when books have 2 narrators and they're both so compelling that at the end of each chapter you're like “nooo” but then at the start of the next one you're like “oh good I missed you!” and I definitely felt that with Claire and Dani. I loved the way they gradually came to understand each other and to understand that their real enemies are the PATRIARCHY and RACISM. Super engaging contemporary fiction; indeed “Gossip Girl meets Speak” is a good comparison for this, and if you don't wanna read Gossip Girl meets Speak, well, I just don't know about you.