I've never wanted to hug a fictional character so much :( The tension between rage and fear, the familial claustrophobia, swearing to never become like them. Taking up the space behind my eyes that is not otherwise occupied by the tight, prickly feeling of wanting to cry.' There are lines like this where I had to put the book down and take a moment: 'Rage like air, present but invisible, permeating everything.

Parts of Wen and Henry's lives, sadly, remind me of things experienced by people I know. Although my childhood was nowhere near as extreme as Wen's, Rebecca Lim's writing is incredibly authentic and powerful. tension between school and home, stigma and shame, navigating a 'bicultural' identity). As a second-gen Chinese Australian, there's a lot here that hits close to home (e.g. 'Anger has tides and temperatures and speeds that can suck you down, or spit you out, depending on the day, the hour, the moment - changing you forever.' For allowing our ‘permitted’ boundaries – hers and mine – to get so small. 'The way we are is more than a little bit my mother’s fault. My 2021 favourite list is getting longer! I freaking love this book so much! And I thought I was struggling! Let's own up and live our lives to the fullest. Kudos to such amazing children who learns better from education cheers to such teachers who help children actually face life thanks to mothers who make their daughters stronger and stand up for themselves. We all experience it in one way or the other. This kind of situation described in the book is way too common than we can imagine. But yes, more power to such women who are struggling because of such difficult people in their lives. I really, really hate this guy as a father and a husband. Tiger Daughter is a novel that will grab holdĪll these issues are represented in the book. Get herself and Henry through the storm that follows. Will take all of Wen’s resilience and resourcefulness to Mum and dad are also struggling immigrants - bothĭream of escape from their unhappy circumstances,Īnd form a plan to sit an entrance exam to a selective Whose move to the lucky country has proven to be not Wen Zhou is the only child of Chinese immigrants That my life won’t even start,Īnd that I’ll be stuck like this forever. What I feel most days is that nothing is ever Shortlisted, Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Awards Shortlisted: Victorian Premier's Literary Awards NSW Premier's Literary Awards Prime Minister's Literary Awards Queensland Literary Awards Winner, CBCA Book of the Year: Older Readers Winner, People's Choice Award, Victorian Premier's Literary Awards

The tiger's daughter book