Wait for Me

Supposedly Mina has everything going for her. She is an honor student on the verge of attending her senior year of college after which she plans on attending to Harvard; but is she? These are the things that she allows her mother to believe the summer before her senior year. She and her little sister Suna work days at their parents dry cleaners and Mina spends the evenings going to a college prep course at the local library. Trapped by the lies that she has told her mother, Mina has been siphoning money from her family's dry cleaners so that she can run away to a new life since she knows that Harvard is not in her future. I squealed and had a few tears in my eyes after reading this beautiful and thoughtful story of two sisters struggling to find themselves and their way in less than ideal family circumstances. The narrative alternates between Mina and and Suna in the first and third person respectively. Mina, being more caught up in the day to day weight of being her mother's favored child and in being her sister's protector, has the more active voice. Suna, who is always trying to escape the world and often unplugs her hearing aid to dodge her mother's harsh nagging and criticism, is a distant observer and her brief chapters provide a fleeting emotional overview of the sisters' lives and their limited world. Even though the narratives and voices are so different the story unfolds seamlessly, and without being consciously aware of it I received information about the sisters and their family history which affects the volatile dynamics between Umma, the girls' mother, with Apa (their father) and her daughters as well. With the exception of Mina, and Suna to a lesser extent, the development of the other characters can be a little thin, but I was okay with that because of the almost dream like quality of the style and writing of the book, and the fact that neither Mina or Suna closely examine the lives of others. Their narrative gives enough hints of the other characters that you can just begin to sketch out what their lives and motivations might be. They are all the background here since Suna cares solely for Mina, and Mina cares solely for her sister and running away from the lies she has told and the mess she has created. Umma and her friend Mrs. Kim have a friendship that is fraught with competitiveness over their children- how smart they are and who will make it into a better school (in this case Harvard vs. Stanford) even as Umma humbles herself to looks to take help and advice from Mrs. Kim. Mrs. Kim's son, Jonathan, is a whip smart teenager taking advantage of the power position that he has over Mina. There is just barely enough insight into his actions to keep him from being one note. Mina doesn't really know enough or think enough about Jonathan to understand him, so neither does the reader. A lot of what Mina does is questionable, I really felt for her and the considerable pressure that she was under that influenced her to ma

After reading An Na's first novel, A Step From Heaven, I felt such a deep connection with everything the author wrote about that I spent weeks searching for another one of her books. I was not disappointed, as Wait for Me was beautifully written, with complex characters and a wonderfully compelling plot. Admittedly, I did find it a bit short, but somehow that only added to its artistry.

I ordered this book for a class of mine not really too enthusiastic about it yet when I read it I couldn't put it down. I read this book in one night and really enjoyed it. I would definately recommend this book to all young adults.