S.A.S.S. 7

Sigh. This one's another mixed feelings book. I want to like Nori, the lead character, because she has moments of amusing sass, but she spends almost the entire book trying to be something she's not. She's spent her whole life trying to be what her parents wanted, only to feel abandoned by them both because they're separating. (And not communicating it to her very well.) She's been forced by them to be more American, so she has no connection to her Japanese side, despite her parents being directly from Japan. It's something that's been othered for her. She feels different because of it, instead of being encouraged by her parents to celebrate it, which is something I think she should have addressed with them in the book, but never does.

So she's in for some culture shock when she's off to Japan for study abroad. Then she meets a hot German guy and when he thinks she's one of the school's Japanese students, she lets him, even getting help from one of the actual Japanese students, another attractive boy who she doesn't think actually likes her and sees her more as a rescue project.

There's also a bitchy, boy-crazy, Japanese girl, a blonde roommate that turns out to be a lot more deep than Nori thought, and an amusing redheaded Australian girl that I liked a lot.

The highlight of the book is Nori's stay-with-an-actual-Japanese-family week. She's off to Kyoto to live with her great aunt and uncle for the week, and it's got the best sightseeing scenes and characterization, despite the Mr. Miyagi-esque moments with her great uncle.

She comes back ready to apologize to those that need apologies and come clean with the German guy, who does not take things well, because he's been an asshole all along. I was amused when he won the scholarship prize at the end, only to have it taken away because he plagiarized. Nori's not-so-simple-after-all blonde roommate wins it.

It's a decent book, but I wish there was more to it than another post-divorce angst fest and more boy drama. They could have fleshed out the other parts better. Nori's parents were practically invisible and the friend characters all fell short of ones in previous books.

Next stop: Sweden.