Saying Goodbye [Hardcover]

Marie Lee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 25, 1994

In this sequel to FINDING MY VOICE, Ellen Sung arrives at Harvard for her freshman year. There she begins to explore her independence by taking a creative writing course in addition to her pre-med classes, finding a new boyfriend, a Korean-Amer-ican, and becoming close friends with her African-American roommate.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8-12-Ellen Sung, a small-town Minnesota girl, is a Harvard freshman. Following in her sister Michelle's footsteps leads to enrollment in pre-Med, even though her own choice is writing. Life is complicated by her feelings for Jae, a Los Angeles resident and Korean like herself. Political confrontation and personal problems lead to difficult choices for Ellen, who must decide between loyalty to her black roommate and friend or to her Korean heritage, and who is "saying goodbye" to her innocent, sheltered childhood and meeting head-on the challenges of adulthood. Relationships between friends and siblings open the novel, but Lee soon delves into the issue of racism. The Los Angeles riots and East Coast store-owner/shooting incidents provide background and motives for the characters' behaviors. Finding one's cultural identity is part of Ellen's story, but socio-economic differences are also explored. Many readers will reflect on Ellen's experiences and learn from them.
Gail Richmond, San Diego Unified Schools, CA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

In a sequel to Finding My Voice, 1992, Lee subjugates story to issues: the tragic conflicts generated by racial prejudice and striving for racial solidarity and identity. Like older sister Michelle, Ellen (Myong-Ok, as her well-to-do Korean-born parents call her), is now a Harvard premed. New close friend and roommate Leecia assumes that Ellen will be as concerned with her Korean heritage as Leecia is with her African-American roots, but Ellen is more interested in studying creative writing with an eminent professor/author. Still, she takes up extracurricular tae kwon do and meets classmate Jae, who teaches her Korean and confides that his parents' grocery was destroyed in the L.A. riots. Eventually, newly sensitized by this and other events--and despite her real understanding of Leecia's point of view--Ellen plays a pivotal role in a demonstration against a virulently racist, anti-Korean rap musician whose appearance Leecia has arranged. The girls' friendship is virtually destroyed, though there's a partial reconciliation at the end. In essence, though lightly disguised as fiction, this is an essay on racism in all its diversity, if less than its full complexity. It's also a plausible (if overdetailed) picture of life on campus, with idealized but likable characters and lively dialogue that's a tad too accessible to be realistic (these kids sound more like high school students than Harvard undergrads). Still, a thoughtful, unsimplistic message in a form many YAs will find enjoyable. (Fiction. 12-17) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (April 25, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395670667
• ISBN-13: 978-0395670668
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #624,980 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Endless fight for one's identity., March 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Saying Goodbye (Hardcover)

I am really touched by this masterpiece of Marie, Lee. As far as I know, she is remarkably the only fiction writer in the States to struggle against racial conflicts involved in Koreans with a pen. The theme of her novels is basically finding one's identity. This is revealed in her first novel, 'Finding My Voice,' which also stirred me up body and soul. Her story telling is light and flimsy, I've gotta admit, but beneath it lies a firm belief in identity in ethnic background. In my case, I, as a student abroad, have gone through a great deal of troubles while living in Panama, as much as Ellen has. So I understand very well how she feels. I shared empathy with her. In place of my original Korean name, I was given a new American name for convenience sake, which gave me deep confusion about my self. The author describes well how Ellen encounters and accepts her mother country's culture, one event after another. The last part is quite impressing. Better read with your eyes! Another thing remarkable is the confrontation between Ellen and her roommate and once close friend, Leecia, developed by L.A. riot in 1992. Both are included in minority groups, in anguish about their ethnic identity. It's really a sad part to see them resent each other, though they have many things in common. I wonder what makes a person hate other people from a different background without specific reason. Anyway, this novel is really a good one to read. Recommendable, I shall say.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars To say goodbye, November 19, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Saying Goodbye (Hardcover)

Ellen is Korean. She has dark hair and eyes. She likes to write and get goods grades because she studies a lot.

Ellen moves into her dorm where she meets her roommate Leecia, whom she befriends quickly. She sings up to take tae-kwon-doe. Ellen gets herself a boyfriend who also goes to tae-kwon-doe. After the winter holidays she finds out that a rap guy is going to come to Harvard (her school) and some Koreans don't like it because of his lyrics. On the day of the rap guys arrival the Koreans put up protest and things turn ugly.

I really liked this book although a few part where a bit boring. I liked because it usually kept my attention and was well written. I felt like the writer gave good descriptions and it seemed to me like she had actually lived it. I would give this book eight out of ten stars. Which is a pretty good rating overall from me.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Is Awesome, August 7, 2001

By 

Darrell Fuschino (Staten Island, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saying Goodbye (Hardcover)

I think Marie G. Lee has lots of skill in writing, that is a fact if you read at least 1 of her books. I never liked writing up until now, and it is because of her, thanks Marie!