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When You Trap a Tiger, by Tae Keller
Sep. 18th, 2022 07:20 pmA middle grade book about a mixed race girl whose family moves back in with her Korean grandma whose health isn't doing well. I really loved it, and definitely cried at the end.
I don't love everything about it though. It's the kind of fantasy novel where it's never quite clear whether the magical elements are real, or if they're just a metaphor for the struggles the characters are experiencing. Look, the magic can be real AND an important thematic parallel, and that's what I want! Let the magic be magic! And it's so close to that, but not quite there. It frustrates me! I don't quite know how to articulate the reasons why I dislike this approach so much but it feels wrong to me.
But regardless of how real the magic is or isn't, this book is doing great things about complicated family dynamics, the ways in which it can be hard to talk to the people who you love, the ways in which untold family secrets can weigh a family down, and also about friendship and belonging and being othered for your race and for your weirdness, and what it's like to accept that you can change and still be yourself and that's ok. It's got a lot going on but it all ties together really well and I loved it. Though I also found it hard to read because it was STRESSFUL. I'm too much of a weenie for middle grade books sometimes!!
I don't love everything about it though. It's the kind of fantasy novel where it's never quite clear whether the magical elements are real, or if they're just a metaphor for the struggles the characters are experiencing. Look, the magic can be real AND an important thematic parallel, and that's what I want! Let the magic be magic! And it's so close to that, but not quite there. It frustrates me! I don't quite know how to articulate the reasons why I dislike this approach so much but it feels wrong to me.
But regardless of how real the magic is or isn't, this book is doing great things about complicated family dynamics, the ways in which it can be hard to talk to the people who you love, the ways in which untold family secrets can weigh a family down, and also about friendship and belonging and being othered for your race and for your weirdness, and what it's like to accept that you can change and still be yourself and that's ok. It's got a lot going on but it all ties together really well and I loved it. Though I also found it hard to read because it was STRESSFUL. I'm too much of a weenie for middle grade books sometimes!!
