Title: Ink
Series: Paper Gods #1
Author: Amanda Sun
Pages: 377
Published: June 25, 2013
Acquired: Netgalley: Thank you to Harlequin Teen and Amanda Sun
Goodreads Rating: 3.61
My Rating: 4.5
My Review:
The story starts off with the main protagonist Katie moving to Japan to live with her aunt after tragically losing her mom. Everything about this transition has been a difficult one. New country, new language, new customs and no mom. Katie is doing her best to fit in, but she views this move as only temporary as her grandparents are trying to obtain custody so we can move back to the states.
Everything starts to change for Katie when she accidentally overhears a fight between the school's heartthrob and known bad boy, Tomohiro and his current girlfriend. As they break up the girlfriend throws a sketch book that lands at Katie's feet. The sketch book is open to a picture of a pregnant girl. Katie is captivated by how amazing the picture is. And as she is admiring the picture, something happens that she did not see coming, the girl in the picture turns head and looks back at Katie. Is she hallucinating? She couldn't have actually have seen what she thought she did.
Despite all of her friends warnings Katie finds herself drawn to Tomohiro. She knows that must be more to his story than what everyone knows and she is determined to find out. But will Katie be prepared for what his secret is? What if what he is keeping secret might end of end up hurting her. Will she allow herself to fall for Tomohiro even though it might put her life in danger? You guys have to pick up the book when it comes out!
I have to admit that this book was difficult for me at first. I struggled with the Japanese culture and the few Japanese words that Amanda threw into the story. But quickly as the story unfolded I found myself actually loving the same things I struggled with in the beginning. I honestly have to admit that I was ignorant of Japanese culture and their traditions before reading this book. But Amanda does such a great job developing the story that I am eager to read more about this amazing culture.
I found myself really liking the main character Katie from the get go. She is strong and brave, and even though she is put into a completely new world, she does her best to assimilate to the culture and not be so much of an outsider.
My first impression of Tomohiro was that he was as complete Jerk. But as the story unveils I find myself feeling for him as much as I did Katie. He is mysterious and intriguing and strong and passionate.
I don't want to give anything away because I want you guys to be as surprised as I was, but the twist that Amanda created was just BRILLIANT! It was new and refreshing and made me want to read more about it. Yes, it took me about a day to get passed the first 25% of the book, but once I got through that I just flew through the book and couldn't put it down!
QUESTION OF THE DAY
Katie is thrown in to a completely different environment. New culture, new customs,
new food. How do you think you would handle moving to a country
that was completely different than your own?
Would you strive or do you think you would have a difficult time adjusting?
Would you strive or do you think you would have a difficult time adjusting?
Posts
The only problem I would have is probably the language barrier if there was one.
ReplyDeleteI would handle moving to a truly foreign country in exactly the way I handled it in my college years, when I (an American) studied abroad in Russia and the Czech Republic. I was a Russian language and literature student, so I had some rudimentary Russian skills at the time I lived there, but I had trouble speaking, and understanding native Russian speakers proved difficult, too (my university professors were Swedish and Chinese, so I could read and write better than I could speak or understand).
ReplyDeleteWhen I moved to the Czech Republic to finish my business degree, I did not speak any Czech. I did, however, enroll in a Czech language class for the semester I was at the university there.
I was not worried about any of these moves. I handled moving from the U.S.A. to the Far East (Russia, for five-weeks the summer of 1995), Siberia (August to August, 1995 to 1996) and the Czech Republic (Fall/Autumn 1997) by going over there without any expectations whatsoever. Well, that's not entirely true: I expected to be challenged and to have a grand time. And so I did. Everything was new and challenging and, while my first few months in Russia were especially difficult, full of hardships and tears, I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world.
The hardest thing about adjusting proved to be blending in by not staring with open-mouthed awe at the sights around me everyday. I was just so happy to be there. And I would be again were I to ever be fortunate enough to move again to foreign country. :)
Someday I hope to go to Iceland, Slovenia, Mongolia, Thailand, and a few other countries I can't think to name at the moment. I do not speak the language of any of these countries, and I doubt I will take a class in them before I go. I'll do what I did when I moved to Prague in the Czech Republic. If I'm moving there, I'll enroll in a class there. If I'm just visiting, I'll be open to the language and culture around me, absorbing as much as I can in the time I'll have there.
Adjusting is not so hard to do when you don't have any expectations. Without expectations, you are open to everything, as I was in my younger years. Most people are friendly, and if you are respectful and friendly in turn, even a language barrier cannot prevent understanding. There are other ways to communicate, after all. Smiles, charades, pointing to something you want to buy if shopping, etc, can all be used to "talk" to someone when language issues arise.
I hope one day to move back to Russia. By the time I do, it is likely I will have forgotten all of what I once knew, so I will be starting from scratch. I expect that it will be an exhilarating experience. Beyond this, I will have no further expectations. :)
I moved to Hawaii from the Philippines and somehow, I was able to adjust in a short amount of time. It's probably because I can adapt to things easily.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to think I would adapt mostly because I am open to learning more about a different country. As long as I have someone with me I'm comfortable with I can adapt. I just think that I would have a difficult time with a foreign language if anything.
ReplyDeleteI think I would have some trouble at first fitting into the new environment and culture at first. It would be rather of a shock and too radical. But if I really needed to adjust to that new type of living, I would try my best to be part of it, not forgetting my own culture, embracing the new one and trying to understand it better.
ReplyDeleteI think the most difficult part would be the language. But as people normally say, you need to go through things in order to fully understand them and learn from them.
XX Ner
I would be find with the new culture, but the language would be incredibly difficult for me to adjust to. I have tried quite unsuccessfully to learn 2 different languages, and I would worry that I would be constantly confused and lost!
ReplyDelete