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Title: House Of Koi
Author: Lilian Li
Pages: 398
Genre: Contemporary fiction, Asian Literature, Young Adult
Publisher: New Degree Press
Year published: 2019
ISBN: 9781641373449
Blurb:
House Of Koi is about identity and learning that sometimes your future is waiting for you in your past.
The story follows Mila as she strives to reconcile the person she become to fit into her American international school with the young girl she used to be who spoke Mandarin and Malay with ease. Is it too late to embrace both parts of herself?
When Mila sis sent to the top of the mountain to live with her grandmother for a year when her parents go away for business, she cannot avoid her native tongue. To make matters worse, Mila must now attend a local private school, and navigate a world she seems to barely understand.
Everyone keeps telling her that she cannot forget her heritage, but tis only makes her hide even deeper within herself. Until she meets the fish boy from the bottom of the mountain. Together, they teach one another what the other is best at, but whenever Mila asks about the past, he refuses to answer. She resolves to find out what happened that caused her to not be able to look her grandmother in the eye.
This book offers a heart-warming story of Mila who's adjusting her usual busy and bustling city life in Georgetown to a quiet and serenity of Bukit Mertajam. Finding it hard to adjust to a not really a new surrounding and feeling out of place and the uneasiness that comes with those feelings are totally relatable. I personally love House of Koi and what it offers.
I could totally relate to Mila who was struggling to adjust to her new school that was so much different from her former school. Adding to her pain was her struggle to understand her own mother tongue languages, Malay and Chinese while everyone else is far greater than her. However, as much as I love the setting of the beginning of this book, I couldn't help but felt annoyed with Mila's antics in protesting against her parents for leaving her.
The author did a really good job in portraying Mila as both the villain and the hero of this book. I have to say, the Mila in the beginning, middle and the end were all different and her character development was *chef kiss. I hated how she refused to reconnect with her childhood home and constantly whine about something despite her being in middle-high school. But then, Sean came to save the day!
Sean - this character gave an extra chili oil into my mee tarik (probably not my best analogy). He added a much more flavor to this already flavorful story and it wasn't a bad thing! I love his character so much and I could say if Mila and Sean had a duel, I would probably root for him. Such a hard-working son and a good person overall.
Considering the whole story is about Mila finding her identity as a Malaysian Chinese, there were loads of dialogues written in pinyin and while I took one semester of Mandarin class during diploma, that doesn't mean I understand whatever being said. So, the English translation right after the pinyin or Malay (saya faham Bahasa Melayu tapi buku ni diterbitkan oleh rumah penerbitan luar negara jadi terjemahan Bahasa Inggeris tu sangat membantu) is a great move. Save a lot of my time from going back and forth to the footnote or translation page, if any that is.
Another plus of this book is the author's ability in portraying and bring the 'Malaysia' situation alive. The mentioned of several things just spark some memory to me and it was so nostalgic. So much memory of Malaysian (probably more for those in their 30s) being told in the book and I think many could relate to those things. All in all, I really enjoyed my time reading this book and it was such a fun read. Though written in English with occasional Malay and more pinyin, it was easy to understand and follow. And plus, the cover is so gorgeous! And who doesn't love a beautiful book cover?!
-thes
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