Customer Reviews

Girl Overboard

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

 

 

Summary: Syrah was injured in a snowboarding accident. Her dream is to become a Pro-Snowboarder. Her family is unsupportive. Her father, Ethan Cheung, made the cell phone of today. Her mother, Betty Cheung, is both a fashionista and do charity fundraising. All she want to do is be on the slopes with her best friend, Age,but he is too busy with his new boyfriend.
She soon befriends Lillan, an energetic and kid person. That spends most of her time at Seattle Children's Hospital. Lillan's sister, Amanda, has leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant or she'll die.
Syrah and Lillan organize a Charity Snowboarding Event to help spread awareness for bone marrow transplant and the fact that everyone should register for it
My Review: This book is just plain amazing. It hit my heart strings. For those that don't know this, I am a patient at Seattle Children's Hospital. I have a immunological problem,where I am always at the doctors. I have seen some of these kids that are too young to not be playing with their friends or at school. It literally breaks my heart. I also like the plot and the fact that this book tackles such deep issues. I recommend reading this as soon as possible.
Also, if you are over 16 and are able to donate bone marrow. Please register, you could save someone's life.

I know I am not the prime audience for which this book was written. I am many generations removed from the current youth this book was written for and about. Growing up before Title 9, I did not have the sport opportunities available to girls since that milestone legislation. Despite the lack of organized sports, I was a young female athlete, one who had set her sights on representing her country in the Olympics one day.

At that time, I chose the Olympics because it was one of the only avenues available for women athletes to perform on a high level, at least those were my dreams until I tore my ACL at age 13 and had my world tossed upside down. And so, when I meet Syrah Cheng, up and coming snowboarder, who is trying to come back from the same potentially career threatening injury, my heart is with her all the way.

I know the battles female athletes have fought and continue to fight even today and so does Justina Headley Chen, the author. Ms Headley, who says she conceived the novel as she was being trundled down a mountain by the ski patrol after having a similar accident may never have been an up and coming boarder but she knows well the struggles young girls face in our society. That is why she and several other talented YA authors have established "Readergirlz.com" a web community for "gutsy girls" wherever they may be and whatever their passions.

"Girl Overboards' Syrah Cheng has many battles to fight as she struggles to find her niche in the world. Issues of sexism, classism, and cultural identity are all handled with delicacy and power. There are no simple solutions here. Syrah may have been born into a family with many privileges but living in the spotlight of media and community scrutiny only magnifies the struggle to live up to the image of the "perfect daughter". This image includes the struggle of meeting the unhealthy demands our societiy places on the perfect, female body as well As a young female athlete trying to build a body that can meet the demands of the sport she loves, Syrah must also deal with the expectations of both her mother and potential snowboarding sponsors, an image that Syrah has subconsciously accepted until she recognizes it herself.

Which brings us to another wonderful element of the book, Syrah is also a budding illustrator and writer of Manga. In her Manga journal, Syrahs' alter ego Shiraz is able to fly high above the rest in her snowboarding exploits but also ends up teaching Syrah even more about herself.

Which brings me to my only regret about the book. It would be fantastic if future editions of the book could contain some panels representing the journal. Manga is a very hot ticket and would attract a whole other segment of readers. Perhaps there could even be a graphic novel/Manga spinoff or series based on the characters?

This is a compelling read which will speak to many girls and young women. If you have a "gutsy girl" in your life get the book for her today! She won't be sorry!

There are plenty of books - and movies too, for that matter - which focus on athletes training for the big game or competition, only to have accidents! injuries! obstacles! interfere in act three. Luckily, they tend to pull through and win the championship or gold medal, and everyone lives happily ever after. Right?

Thankfully, GIRL OVERBOARD by Justina Chen Headley is more thoughtful and less predictable than those stories. Instead of striving for the win, GIRL OVERBOARD encourages readers to strive for their personal truths.

For Syrah Cheng, recovering from a snowboarding accident and overcoming self-doubt is just as difficult as climbing back up that mountain. Syrah is the daughter of a self-made billionaire whose face is splashed on the covers of magazines and newspapers. Her mother is dutiful and strict, and her older half-siblings, with lives and careers of their own, are distant.

Syrah doesn't want to just be thought of as somebody's daughter - she wants to make a name for herself in her own way. While nursing her injured knee, Syrah begins visiting kids in the hospital whose injuries and illnesses are more life-threatening than hers.

When she was snowboarding, Syrah felt free and powerful. She now finds solace in scribbling in her manga journal, but it can't compare to actually hitting the slopes - or to confessing something that happened to her last year that she hasn't told a soul.

As the story continues, she learns something unexpected about her family which make her look at her parents differently, and she attempts to bond with her older brother and sister with varying levels of success. Finally, she thinks of a way to give back to the community while bringing attention to an important cause. A charity snowboarding event brings her back to the place where she has to confront what happened to her, both physically and emotionally.

GIRL OVERBOARD is an engrossing story not only about overcoming personal injuries, but accepting your family and yourself. Readers will hopefully walk away with the urge to give back to their own communities and to try something new that they've always wanted to do!

If you are looking for a rags-to-riches story, don't pick up GIRL OVERBOARD. On the other hand, if you are looking for a story about a rich girl struggling to be a normal, well-adjusted girl, than this one is for you.

Syrah Cheng is the daughter of privilege. Her father, Ethan Cheng, made the cell phone what it is today. Her mother, Betty Cheng, is the queen of charity fundraising, and demands only the best. Unfortunately, all the splendor and wealth surrounding Syrah leave her feeling uncomfortable and unloved.

Syrah's dream is to become a sponsored pro-snowboarder; however, a recent life-threatening accident has sidelined her with a bum knee. Her doctor says she is ready to resume normal activities and even some cautious snowboarding, but her globe-trotting parents have forbidden her participation in the only activity that makes her life worthwhile. She fills her days with school and manga drawings of a superheroine snowboarder named Shiraz.

Not being able to snowboard is only the beginning of trouble for Syrah. Her best friend, Age, has a new girlfriend who doesn't believe there is room in their relationship for Syrah. Bao-mu, Syrah's dedicated nanny, has announced that she is leaving to go help her granddaughter with her new baby. And to top it all off, Ethan Cheng has announced his retirement and his intention to move the family to Hong Kong.

There is never a dull moment in GIRL OVERBOARD. Syrah may seem about to give up on her dream, but she finds a way to combine her love of snowboarding with what she discovers are her many other assets, to help a new friend in need, and make her family proud of her. Author Justina Chen Headley shows her readers what truly lies beneath the glittery surface of a girl who has it all, but learns that family, friendship, and love can surprise us all.

Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"

If nothing else, the Chengs know how to save face. So to everyone else, Syrah Cheng's life looks like a dream come true. Her father is a billionaire, her mother is beautiful and always buying her fancy clothes (and custom-designed snowboarding gear). Between that and the mansion and private jet, it really seems like Syrah has it all. But . . .

The worst part of having it all is having to deal with it all--the good, the bad, and the just plain weird.

Syrah knows better than most that appearances can be deceiving. She almost never sees her parents, her half-siblings hate her, and it turns out real friends are not that easy to find when you can buy everything else. What Syrah doesn't know is how to change any of that, especially when she's been deceiving herself for so long.

Girl Overboard (2007) is Justina Chen Headley's second novel (following Nothing But the Truth (and a Few White Lies) from 2006). The writing here is snappy and really moves the text along, so much so that the story very quickly demanded my full attention to better catch the nuances of Syrah's narration. The writing here is also grittier than a lot of books I have read lately. Syrah's loneliness and depression are so tangible in the early stages of the book that, at times, reading it was painful.

After years of being a loner with a one-track mind for snowboarding, Syrah's snowboarding accident and resulting knee injury force her to look at her entire life in a new light. If one bad accident can leave Syrah terrified of her chilly home away from home, what else has Syrah misinterpreted? It turns out the answer is a lot.

This book deals with many themes in addition to snowboarding and overcoming a really scary injury (partly inspired by the author's own bogus wipeout). A first-generation American herself, Syrah's family still bears the scars of their past in China during the Cultural Revolution.The story also provides an interesting commentary on the cost of keeping up appearances and friendship. At its core though, Girl Overboard is about a girl who has found herself adrift and, while trying to get her own bearings, realizes she can help those around her at the same time.

In this novel Headley spends a lot of time in Syrah's head, partly because the book is narrated in the first person, but also because Syrah is a solitary creature--especially after her Accident. For this reason, Headley is really able to trace Syrah's growth as a character. At the beginning of the novel Syrah is lonely, sad, and desperate for a way out of her life. But as the story progresses, Syrah learns that before you can ask for help you have to think you deserve it. In fact, you have to think you deserve it all because if you don't who will?

In short, Girl Overboard is the latest example of what a CLW book should be not just because Syrah Cheng is an awesome, strong girl but because this book details how she became that girl.

You would think that having everything a girl could possibly want (and that money could buy) would make life positively wonderful 24/7 and render her absolutely without care. Well, when Syrah Cheng becomes a "girl overboard," her entire worldview takes a tumble, along with her, and the slippery slopes she skis on becomes the slippery slope of her whole life. She will rehab everything, from bones to her expectations, and cross the threshold into a brand new way of life.

Justina Chen Headley's GIRL OVERBOARD is a rich, compelling and sometimes unexpected story about a girl who takes life seriously. Her enthusiastic snowboarding already has caused one very serious accident and subsequent surgery, and her favorite sport is also leading her into emotional ruin. Her boyfriend, a fop who is trying hard to impress her dad more than her, breaks her heart; a series of half-siblings finds her utterly distasteful; and her best friend's boyfriend is getting in between her and the person who she most needs to talk to during these trying times. Family obligations pull her farther and farther away from her professional aspirations, as do the repercussions of the accident for which she thinks she can buy special crutches (but she can't).

None of these problems can go away unless Syrah exercises all of her muscles --- leg, heart and brain. For a 16-year-old whose life is running in the opposite direction from what she had thought, Syrah discovers that plans are not to be put in place but rather thrown over the edge of the mountain of one's imagined life with abandon.

There are so many subplots making up the adventures of Syrah Cheng in this book that they are far too numerous to list. And besides, who wants all the fun spoiled? Suffice it to say that Syrah's journey makes stops at all the regular signposts of teen angst: social life, relationships, family situations, work, sports, the impending future. But Headley's deep-reaching prose and emotional resonance make what could have been a general young adult novel into a really special literary service to three-dimensional teen girls everywhere --- by creating a world that looks like theirs and a heroine who, although her circumstances may be more financially rewarding than most high school girls, has a heart similar to theirs beating in her chest.

Does Syrah get what she wants? Headley puts so many obstacles in her way, there is seemingly no justice to it all. Yet, in the end, the lessons learned are many, and the "Ethan Cheng Way," her father's business model, holds more truths for her than she could have realized in the beginning. It is a wondrously complicated mix of family, friends and personal desires that drives GIRL OVERBOARD and makes it a book that not only excites but also educates.

--- Reviewed by Jana Siciliano

Poised at the Edge Book Review

GIRL OVERBOARD

Justina Chen Headley


The worst part of having it all is having to deal with it all--the good, the bad, and the just plain weird. So begins the story of Syrah Cheng. Everybody assumes that life is breeze for Syrah. Her father, Ethan Cheng is famous billionaire; she lives in a veritable palace, anything she wants is at her fingertips, right? But what people don't know is she hardly ever gets to see her globe-trotting parents, her half-siblings refuse to treat her like she's part of the family, her best friend's girlfriend is sabotaging their friendship, and she just got used and humiliated by an egotistical (quasi)-pro snowboarder, who referred to her (bank account) as his "free-pass to paradise."

Life is anything but rosy for Syrah. After a serious (and seriously foolish) accident leaves Syrah with a severe knee injury, she is no longer able to escape to the mountains and snowboard. Even worse, she has to forget her dream of going pro. But down-time, and a series of astonishing events, leads Syrah down a path of self-evaluation and personal growth.

I don't want to say much more about the plot, because I want everyone to read GIRL OVERBOARD, a story so rich in plot, theme, and content, that it left my head spinning. Justina Chen Headley gracefully weaves issues of race, socio-economic class, gender, feminism, body image, complex extended family, deep-dark secrets, jealousy, and enlightenment. How did she do it? This is a smart book to be treasured by girls, and women of all ages!

Review by Melissa Jauregui

Girl Overboard starts off interestingly and only picks up from there. I was immediately hooked and wanted to learn more about Syrah and her life. Syrah's journey to finding herself and accepting herself is very touching. I was rooting her on the whole way.

Headley delivers a great message through her novel. The message that you are perfect just the way you are and one person really can make a big difference.

I highly recommend this novel!

Syrah Cheng has it all- a lavish lifestyle, a big-name corporate dad, great friends, and a strong inclination and talent for snowboarding. Through her manga journal and narrative, Syrah shows that beneath the alluring exterior of her lavish life, it's not all it's cracked up to be- her half siblings hate her, the girlfriend of her best friend wants her to stay away from him, and her knee injury keeps her from going back on the slopes to snowboard. When she meets her new friend's little sister, who has leukemia, Syrah comes up with a big idea to help her out and just may be able to find her own self worth, and maybe become closer to her family as well.

While this may seem like a boring, predictable sports novel about snowboarding, it is not like that at all. Snowboarding is hardly even mentioned in the book; the focus is more on Syrah finding her way in the world, and new family she's found herself in. Filled with wit, vivid details and a powerful, engaging narrative, this is another great and original book from the author of "Nothing But The Truth (and a Few White Lies)".

2.5/5
I didn't particularly enjoy this book.
It's about Syrah, who hurt herself while snowboarding. She doesn't really feel at home with her family, and everything isn't perfect even if her family has lots of money. She's dealing with her family, and then she makes a new friend who volunteers at a hospital with all of the little kids. Plus, her friendship with Age isn't working because of his girlfriend, plus she has a boyfriend that doesn't really want her.
First, I didn't really like Syrah. She seemed to complain, or think, about things a lot without doing anything about them. Like with her mother, for example. Her says things that bother her, but she never does anything about it. This is one of the things that really bothered me. Some of it might be because I could relate to the not doing anything, but I didn't really sympathize with it.
There wasn't much romance, either, and it wasn't very exciting. I did kind of like the scenes in the hospital with the kids. Also, I don't really care for snowboarding, but it didn't take up as much of the book as I expected it would.
So, I didn't particularly care for this book. Mostly because of Syrah, I think, 'cause I just didn't really like her.