PAnna Chui has a very busy life. Beside high school, she is taking care of her younger brother and sister. Why her parents are not doing that? Well, her dad is always working at his Chinese restaurant. He even sleeps there at night when it gets late. And her mom? Well her mom is staying in bed sleeping, all day long and doesn't want to get out. It seems like her mom is having a ''bad day'' for weeks on end.
And so Anna is taking care of the whole household, which is though beside school. She is also has to be the responsible one and taking in the part of her mom when there are school events or teacher talks with her little brother. Her mom doesn't seem to take notion of any of this. She just stays in bed and doesn't even want to open her eyes or talk.
Anna's life is even getting more busy when she starts helping out in her dad's restaurant, which is short on staff. There she meets the new delivery boy, Rory, and they start dating. She learns more about his background with depression, which reminds her of what is going on with her mom. Her mom is sometimes getting out of bed again, but it doesn't go well, which leads up to a serious incident in the restaurant, and her mother is immediately admitted to the psychiatric ward of a hospital
Will everything in Anna's life will ever be normal again?
This is very good and moving young adult novel about a teen who has to deal with her mother's mental illness. Further on it is a story about the Chinese immigrant experience in Australia, Cantonese culture, and more. I thought everything in this book, altough the topic is not the happiest one, was fantastic. It was written just beautifil and everything was in the right place at the right moment. It was very moving how Anna tried to take care of everything and how she was in fact the ''mom'' of the family, as she was way more acting like this then her mom. What happened to her mom was very sad. Her mom had a hard time adjusting to life in Australia, while she kept holding on to traditional Cantonese culture. The romance between Anna and Rory was just very sweet, and there is a lot of Chinese in the story that makes you hungry.
So overall, this is an amazing good book that I truly recommend reading!!
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