MY OTHER HEART

The summer before college proves life-changing for two best friends.

The novel opens with catastrophe: In 1998, Mimi Truang is at the Philadelphia International Airport returning home to Vietnam when her toddler disappears. Instead of helping, immigration authorities detain and then sedate her as they send her back to Ho Chi Minh City. In the misery of the ensuing 17 years, she maintains hope she’ll find Ngan. The story then leaps forward to 2015, to Kit Herzog and Sabrina Chen, best friends who couldn’t be more different: Kit, the adopted Asian daughter of anxious white parents, is selfish and spoiled, while Sabrina, the obedient child of Chinese immigrant Lee Lee, lives happily as Kit’s sidekick. On a whim, Kit spends the summer in Japan while Sabrina stays in Philadelphia, working for college money and volunteering at an Asian legal aid clinic run by the impressive Eva Kim. In Tokyo, staying at a diplomatic residence with a family friend, Kit promptly falls for the diplomat’s son. While Kit posts enviable pics, Sabrina is having an awakening under the tutelage of Eva, while also falling hard for Kit’s ex, Dave Harrison. Much of the novel explores the micro- and macroaggressions Asian women experience in America. Although Kit’s money and mixed-race appearance largely shield her, Sabrina understands all too well what it’s like to be an immigrant’s kid. Kit and Sabrina’s searches for identity in the affluent white suburbs are meaningful explorations, but are hampered by the fact that these two Gen Z girls don’t really sound or act like teenagers. When Mimi returns to the U.S. with a list of girls who could be her daughter, though, the novel quickly transforms from a coming-of-age tale to something quite harrowing.

The whirlwind of drama in the last act compensates for the uneven portrait of teen life.