The
Cook’s Family
By: Laurence Yep
So, in this story, Robin, goes to Chinatown in San Francisco
with her grandmother. Robin is half
American, half Chinese. While in
Chinatown they happen upon this Chinese restaurant where the head waiter asks
them to pretend to be the cook’s family so that he stops drinking and gets back
to cooking. They agree and they go back
a few times to keep pretending. Robin
tries to be a real Chinese daughter but her American-ness keeps getting in the
way. Her grandmother and the cook really
hit it off but then his real daughter shows up and the romance is no more. Meanwhile, at home, Robin is dealing with
constantly fighting parents. It ends
with the parents trying to work things out by going to counseling and it’s
generally a happy ending.
I’m not sure that I would recommend this book but I’m not
sure that I wouldn’t recommend it. The
book deals with being bi-racial and the tensions that can cause in families, it
brings in a bit of Chinese history, and brings up issues that Robin has with
her weight (she’s a dancer.) There was
nothing really captivating or extremely teachable in it. I would read it if you want to but there are
other, better books out there.
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