Front Desk 1

I was going to wait and do these as a series, but Front Desk is so powerful that I'm going to need little breaks between each one. Or partially between. I'm a few chapters into the second one and I can tell something's about to go down that won't be good. 

Front Desk is story of 10-year-old Mia, a Chinese immigrant who came over with her parents. They take the job of running a little, 30-room motel. The only unbelievable part of this book is that a motel five miles from Disneyland only costs $20 a night. Is that even possible? The cheapest motel in my area is like fifty bucks a night and this is not five miles from Disneyland. 

Front Desk tells about the trials of immigrant life in the US. Not only do you see how the Tangs are taken advantage of and abused by their employer (who is a Taiwanese immigrant), but there are also numerous stories from others who pass through the motel as it becomes a haven for immigrants briefly escaping bad circumstances. 

Racism and prejudice are of course main topics. One of the most realistic things in the book that I have very rarely seen portrayed in other books is racism between people that are not white. Multiple Asian characters in the book show racism towards Black people. There are also levels of prejudice and abuse between the Asian characters, because frequently a bad employer is a fellow Asian immigrant. There are white characters who are racist, but by far the worst ones are not white. One of my very few criticisms is that I wish Mia had stood up for herself against her best friend Lupe. There are several times Lupe makes racist statements in the book and I don't remember Mia clearly standing up for herself once. She gets upset, but she never says "So you think it makes sense that Jason likes me because we're both Asian? Here's what's wrong with that." I really wish she had. 

Mia is a phenomenal character. I love her strength, resilience and resolve. I love how she helps people without really even a second thought that she might be overstepping. She's not afraid to call prejudice out when she sees it. Not even when it's cops. I also love how she stands up for her love of writing and English, even though her mother makes her feel awful about it. 

I don't want to go on too much. I just want you to go read this series. These are powerful books that are both light-hearted and heavy. They need to be read.