One day, Melody, a Korean-American who is about to start her junior year of high school in New York, and her mom unexpectedly move to South Korea to live with her dad.
Melody has to adjust to the differences in culture:
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Korea has a much cleaner and safer subway system.
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Korea has a different array of food, including much better dduboki (rice cakes).
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Korea has a lower drinking age.
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Korea has a more intense education system.
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Korea has “hanoks” (buildings that preserve its historical significance while having its building codes updated/ modernized).
At first, Melody really misses New York, but she learns that South Korea isn’t so bad after all. She grows a deeper understanding of where she came from, and she befriends some Koreans (even though she begins to grow distant with Sophia due to the long distance and time difference).
Throughout the story, there are some cliffhangers:
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Will Melody get the summer internship at the New York interior design firm? (She did!)
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Why does Melody’s mom have a rocky relationship with Melody’s aunt? (When they were in college in the US to study music, Melody’s mom became pregnant and dropped out to switch to a more stable career. Aunt Rebecca then flew back to South Korea by herself to pursue singing by herself, despite going against the wishes of her mom and sister. Melody and her mom’s move back to Korea helped patch up their relationship, and at the end, Melody’s mom even asked Rebecca to be her new jack-of-all-trades manager!)
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Will Melody end up with her love interest, Wonjae? (Yes; Saeha, a girl Wonjae was secretly texting at one point, was only someone that his dad was trying to set him up with who came on very strong to him but he wasn’t interested in.)
Melody’s feelings are very relatable:
“The truth is, I feel overwhelmed. Like I’m expected to just take all of this in stride as being normal. None of this is normal to me. I’m supposed to be in New York, breezing through my first week of school at Clinton High and eating pizza with Sophia after, not taking a car with rich new classmates to a fancy coffee shop, pretending like this has always been my life” (78).
Sometimes, things happen for a reason. For example, at first Melody really struggled with her Honors Korean class, and she cried when her teacher (Mrs. Lee) told her that she might need to retake the class. But the experience brought her closer to Wonjae, who tutored her.
“I smile again at our project, confident that we’ll get an A, but more because of everything that it’s brought me: palace days with my closest friends, tutoring sessions with Wonjae, a weekend getaway in a hanok, and most importantly, a deeper understanding of this culture. I should thank Mrs. Lee even though she made me cry” (332).
I learned about interior design, both when Melody was explaining to her parents why it was important to her, and also when she was getting interviewed for the internship:
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“I had furniture face each other to create a more welcoming space. I didn’t really feel like I could talk to you -- either of you -- when we first moved here. Everything felt off and distant. Interior design can help change all that and make physical places feel warmer and more inviting. I hung up artwork to inspire creativity and conversation. It’s more than just throwing nice furniture into a nice space; good design helps make a house feel like a home, to all of us, to people who didn’t live here before” (366).
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Natural light is important to consider: “It’s really one of the only things you can’t control or change. The sun rises where it rises and sets where it sets. Other things can be maneuvered, replaced, or renovated. And personally, natural light makes me feel more positive and adds a level of brightness to my day that no amount of artificial light can do” (368)
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In addition to “budget” and “space”, the client is also important: “I think the client is the most important aspect to consider before you start designing because he or she is the one who will be living in the space you create. My work on a space is not for me, so ultimately, though I have my own preferred aesthetic, it’s more important to consider my client’s desires and be able to align them with my expertise and the eye that I have for a room. For example, if my client says, ‘I hate oak floors,’ it wouldn’t be right to ignore their preference and do whatever I want to do just because I’m the expert, even if oak floors would be my preferred style for the room. Half of being an interior designer is nurturing a positive relationship with your client and understanding what they want. Or learning how to read what they want” (389).