Girl Overboard (Justina Chen Headley)

[chomiji]

Syrah Cheng's father is the billionaire founder of a cellphone company. Her mother - his second wife - constantly finds fault with her. Her father's two older children (already adults, one with children of his own) belittle her. Her classmates ignore her or try to ingratiate themselves because of her money. All 15-year-old Syrah wants to do is become a pro snowboarder - but a recent heart-stopping accident has damaged her knee badly enough that she's pretty sure she'll never snowboard again competitively, even if her parents would let her.

You can ignore the cover blurbs about her love life: what Syrah really needs is not a boyfriend, but a reason to exist. And she finds it.

I often enjoy children's and YA fiction, but I was rather bored with the first part of this. Syrah doesn't feel at home with her private school classmates, but she's a lot more part of the mainstream than I was at that age. Also, she is very self-centered - which I'm sure I was at that point as well. But about halfway through the book, when Syrah starts looking beyond her own issues, the story takes off in a big way. When I finished the book, I turned back and re-read it from that point: it's a very satisfying story, in the end, and even the slightly overwrought language at the climax works as the voice of a bright young teen.

Girl Overboard (review)

The revelation of how much and exactly how Jared - Syrah's former boyfriend - had used her also really changed my view of this kid. The melodramatic accident and damage to her knee are, in the end, the least of Syrah's traumas: the constant lack of approval and affection that lead her to be so insecure that Jared could do what he did are the real injuries. What's interesting is to me how the characters that hurt Syrah the most - her nasty grown half-brother Wayne and disgusting Jared - are also tremendously needy. I appreciate that Headley has Syrah realize this, and that the author also refuses to take the slick, "good" path by having Syrah forgive them. Neither character is a good example of a human being, and there's no reason Syrah has to pretend that either one is. (Although Jared is young enough that we can hope he might grow out of some of this.)

I liked the variety of friendships Syrah gains and nurtures through the course of the story: her once-and-future best friend Adrian ("Age"), her new girlfriend Lillian, and her half-sister Grace, who proves that growth can happen at any age. I also liked how her seemingly "Mommy Dearest" mother gradually opens up just enough to let Syrah inside, without undergoing a completely unrealistic transformation. There's also a good number of wise older women in this, especially Syrah's nanny Bao-mu and the newly-discovered Canadian aunts. Finally, Syrah's acceptance all all of her own parts - including the hard-charging Cheng background that she's worked so hard to push away - is very satisfying.

This could have easily been a complete bromide - Syrah Becomes Happy by Looking Beyond Herself - and it's a testament to Headley that it isn't.

Other Reviews of This:
• by oyceter