Customer Reviews

Finding My Voice

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this book when it first came out in 1994, and I still consider it a ground-breaking, moving story that echoed my own experiences as a Korean-American growing up in a largely non-Asian community. Through Ellen, Ms. Lee captured the experience of straddling two cultures, each of which have their own set of norms. I applaud her work in Finding My Voice, and I thank her for helping me find my voice. This book is outstanding, and I wish it weren't out of print.

Finding My Voice

Ellen Sung is a great student, but she lives in the shadow of her older sister Michelle, who is a straight A student, and got into Harvard. Ellen has a best friend named Jessie too. Jessie stands up for Ellen if she needs it. Then Ellen meets a boy named Tomper. They soon start to like each other and that makes a girl named Marsha Randel angry. Marsha also likes Tomper and gets a little jealous of Ellen. Marsha hates Ellen, and calls her rude names that have to do with Ellen's Heritage. Ellen is from Korea, although she was born in the United States. Brad a friend of Tomper; also starts to call Ellen rude names. When Tomper finds out what his friend is doing he decides that he doesn't want to be friends with him anymore. Things only get worse with Marsha and Brad's name calling too.

I liked this book because it seemed like I was there when Ellen was hit with the bottle. There was a ton of detail and it was an inspirational and heartwarming story. I think that the author made this book to tell anyone who reads it that if you don't stand up for yourself you will have a low selfesteam and you won't feel good about yourself. It also told me that you shouldn't make fun of someone just because they look different from you. I think that anyone, who likes a book about heritage or peoples feelings and about standing up for yourself, will really like this book. It may not have a lot of action in the beginning of the book but it is about a lot of the challenges that are most likely to happen to everyone in real life.

Ellen is a Korean girl who is in for her last year of high school. And she wants it to be a fun one. This is not easy to do, for she is under pressure from her parents who want all Ellen's grades A's or no fun. A friendly girl, yet she is teased by her Asian features, by popular kids in her school. In the end she gets together with a boy named Tomper, who she has secretly liked for a long time. There is also a sequel, Saying Goodbye about Ellen's life in college. Please read them both. They are too good to read only once

Like the author, I grew up in an all-white town and was always made to feel dumb for being Asian. I like this book because it explores the complexities of being a person of color, having immigrant parents, and so forth. It doesn't try to "teach" things, but one comes away with a better understanding of racism and why it's so insidious. I at first wasn't interested in the book because it looked like a "kid's" book, but I think adults can enjoy it, too

When people talk about ASIAN AMERICANS, usually the first thing that comes to mind is smart, works hard, quiet, etc. People don't really talk about RACISM. It's almost like you forget about AAs when you are talking about prejudice and how it affects people of color--and Asians are certainly people of color too! I was just reading something about how with the war in Afganistan that crimes of violence against AAs are growing in DIRECT response!!! This shows how misguided people are. If you read this book you get a great idea of what life is like for a teenage
Asian girl who looks like your typical smart, SAT-studying kid and then you see actually that she has a lot of problems that she hides from other people, and her encounters with racist people is a big one. When I went to school we had some Vietnamese boat people and we all ignored them, I think some people might have been mean to them. It (this book) really opened my eyes to what's going on.

This book describes the life of the senior student Ellen who has two strict parents. Her sister Michelle studies at Harvard and her parents want Ellen to study there too. For this reason, they are too strict sometimes and they don't let her do things that she really likes. Because she is Korean, her classmates call her names and that makes Ellen feel very uncomfortable. Always being compared with her sister, Ellen feels very upset and sad. Her best friend Jessie tries to make Ellen see life differently but because of the pressure she has from her parents, Ellen cares only about her grades.

When Tomper, the most popular boy in the school, starts to care about Ellen, Marcia, who also likes Tomper, tries to change the opinion that Tomper has about Ellen. When Tomper and Ellen are together, Marcia tries to create problems for the couple.

It is a very interesting book in my opinion and I recommend reading it. Even though, I am an E.S.L. student, it was very easy for me to read it without using a dictionary. You can guess most of the unknown words. It is an interesting and funny book. When I read it I didn't want to stop reading. I liked it very much and I believe you are going to like it too.

It was a cold spring night outside. The wind was blowing and it was making the house really cold. I got bored so I decided to ask myself some questions. There was one problem what I was going to ask the questions about. "Buzz," the light in my head turned on. I could ask them about Finding My Voice, the book I'm reading in all my classes, and I came up with these, how would you like to have someone that loves you not paying any attention to you at all , how would you like to be the only one in your class to pass a test , how would you feel when a boy was talking to you about the stars in the sky , and how would you feel if someone touched you that hasn't ever before? As you listen to these do you feel the feeling running through them? Well, I feel that is what the book does?
I believe this book is very outspoken. For example, in the book Ellen, the main character, tells us how she felt when a boy touched her. The boy that touched her was Tomper, a big jock. She said she felt funny, different, and could not believe it.
I also believe that this book is romantic. I think it was romantic when Tomper talks to Ellen about the stars and the Big Dipper. When I read this, I thought it was so cute how Tomper, the jock, could be so dromatice to Ellen, the smart and pretty girl at school.
One of the parts in the book I thought was sad was when Tomper wasn't paying any attention to Ellen, and he was just paying attention to Marsha, a prep. I just don't get it, if he doesn't like Marsha, then why doesn't he pay more attention to Ellen.

Finally, I think this book is very, very, very, very exciting because Ellen is the only one who passed her test in her class. The teacher asked them to look at the person to the left of you and study with them. The teacher called the name, Ellen.
Ellen came up to the teacher desk and said, "Yes."
Then the teacher said, " I'm going to put you with Mike Anderson because he's having so trouble. That is what helped her throw the test, knowing that she helped someone that needed her help in a class he didn't get at all.
I think you guys should all read this book because it takes you on adventures of all the feelings that we all share. Feelings like outspoken, romantic, kind of sad, or very, very, cery, very exciting . I think this book also goes into dreams, teenage life, and what people think of others. So please read this book because it is a really good book for everyone. Thank you for reading this and I hope you have a good long reading time to read this.

I think this book was very interesting and fun to read about. Not to mention that you would learn something from the book. So for as good and as well written from my opinion, I'd rate this book four stars out of five, because it captured my interest to keep reading and not stop!

I liked this book VERY much! The inspiration makes it willing to keep reading on and on, till you finish reading the book. I liked the book so much that I would say it was in the top five best books that I have ever read!

This book in a way is some what similar to a book that I read last month called CUTE is a four-letter-word. The comparison between the two books is that both Ellen and Clara were starting out by being made fun of and started getting out of the problem. Soon they found how to make things better, in which they did.

My favorite part in the book is when Ellen tries to figures out what she's going to do with her life in the future. She does this by going to the three choices for colleges after she would finish High School! On Spring break she goes to visit the colleges and has her interviews done. Afterwards, when school starts up again, she works her very best greatest to be able to get a great score to be at the best college ever!

What do you think will happen at the end? Will Ellen Sung end up getting good grades? Will she get into the college that she wants to be in? If she does got to college, then can she say farewell to her friends, and parents? Find out, by checking in out at your school's library or even go to the public library in your community! Hope you enjoyed reading this!

This book was dealing with the pressure some students face in high school, wanting to get into a good college to please their parents, and trying to look good in front of their peers at the same time. The character has some tough times, including having to deal with some racist kids, but she's a very dynamic character and by the end finds peace with herself, her parents, and her friends.

this is a great story. one of the best books that i have read in College. about a girl that encounters prejudices in school among teachers and peers.