A Step from Heaven?

A Step from Heaven by An Na

Why did I read it?

This was one of the books for my Diversity in Children's Literature class, and it also won the 2002 Michael L. Printz Award.

What happened?

Young Ju doesn't know what Mi Gook means, but she is pretty sure it means heaven. Her friend tells her that she won't be coming back once she goes there, and every time her struggling Apa (father) and Uhmma (mother) say the word, they associate it with a better place, and happiness. It can even make her Apa stop hitting her Uhmma. But, it turns out that Mi Gook isn't heaven at all. Its really a place called Ah-me-ri-ka.

Its a place where Young has to have her hair in curls, her mother and father still struggle, they live in a small house, and Halmoni (grandma) isn't around anymore because she is still in Korea.

As Young Ju starts going to school and church, she begins to find a balance between her Korean heritage, and her new American home. If only her family didn't make it such a confusing balancing act...

What did I like or not like?

This novel has a very interesting writing style. In an interview, the author mentions that she wanted to realistically portray childhood experiences, and she thought that was better portrayed in small instances and memories instead of a coherent narrative.

She writes, "Memory doesn't come as a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end, but rather lives in moments that focus on a smell or a touch or a feeling." This made the novel almost read like poetry, and was very cool.

In addition to this fascinating writing style, this novel does a great job portraying the struggle that Young Ju has between staying true to her heritage, and living in her new home. It also realistically portrays the struggle of loving her family, while they are often very difficult to love.

While this isn't a necessarily enjoyable novel to read, it is a powerful story, and I'm glad I read it.