To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before is a short, sweet novel by author Jenny Han, revolving around the life of a young woman named Lara Jean—a sixteen year old half-Korean, half-Caucasian American.
Her life is turned upside down when a box of letters that she’s written to all of her previous crushes gets delivered—and each boy finds out exactly what Lara Jean thought of them. The most egregious of these mistakes is her letter to Josh, her next door neighbor and recent ex-boyfriend of her elder sister, Margot.
The reason I thought to write about this book is because I realized how rare it is for an author to delve into the difficulties of not being quite part of one culture or the other, without making it the main point of the book.
Lara Jean’s mother was Korean, but dies before the events of the books. Their father is left to try and raise the girls to have a bit of both slices of their family tree, and this struggle is exemplified in several parts of the book. I personally enjoyed that it wasn’t highlighted too often, which kept it from becoming a cliché.
The book is a good read if you like light romances, slice-of-life type of stories, and of course, the slow simmer of a mutually hateful relationship to one of budding love. Jenny Han weaves many of her own experiences through the eyes of Lara Jean, allowing the reader to glimpse into her own life. And, most excitingly, our protagonist is a relatable, grounded young woman thrust into a horrifyingly embarrassing situation—all she has to rely on is herself and a tentative ally. So go on and find it at your local library/bookstore/on Amazon! Happy reading.
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