Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

This book is messing with my head.   It's exactly the type of book I normally don't like, and I do.  

There are some slightly problematic issues with this book, some dealing with how Park's mom is treated.   I don't even have as much of a problem with the broken English - some people come over, have it when they speak, and just continue to have broken English - but the joke that it sounds like she just came from Korea and will forever brushes aside some of the racist undertones and treats them as a joke rather than something serious.   

Then again, when Park's friend says Eleanor has jungle fever, Park replies that it's the wrong kind of racism and they Park talks about how jungle fever isn't used for Asians and even when used correctly, it's not complimentary. 

What I'm trying to say is this book isn't perfect, but I also feel that the topic of racism is covered at various points, and so it's not completely oblivious.   Some of the saving graces come from the fact that both Park, and Mindy - his mother - aren't cardboard cutout characters.   They're fully realized, even when it's revealed that Park is, gasp, better at math than Eleanor.   (And I was really hoping they wouldn't tap into this stereotype.   At least the martial arts skills were explained by Park's father being obsessed with the martial arts.   And a whole lot of training - they don't just appear out of nowhere.   And why Eleanor didn't need help with literature, I don't know but math it was.   It also isn't the biggest thing about Park, even academically.   I'd say that he's in at least a couple honors classes with Eleanor, and might be in the regular classes for everything else, so, yeah.   Eleanor herself is in some honors classes, and gets straight As so she might be smarter than him all around.  Or nerdier, or more into school, or whatever.)

Anyway, yeah, loving this.   And it's surprising the hell out of me how I'm inhaling this.   Just turned on  GotG, though, so gonna watch that and maybe read during my least favorite scenes.