B, Book, and Me by Kim Sagwa

B, Book, and Me Reviews

• 
  Perspective of a Writer

  Reading books that have been translated from other languages is a passion of mine. So when I saw this Korean book about bullying and friendship, topics I enjoy, I knew I had to try b, Book and Me. I was surprised at how grown up and yet distinctly youthful this book read.
  
  Did b, Book and Me translate well for this Asian Fangirl?
  I’ve read several translated books and am always surprised when it’s so clear that a translator has excelled at maintaining the atmosphere of the original work. b, Book and Me has a distinctly Asian narrative feel to it. Sure the characters are Korean, but it’s than that. There’s a stream of consciousness to the narrative that when done well I associate with Asian thinking. Asians don’t like to kiss and tell like Americans, they want you to read between the lines. It feels at once complex and reserved but bubbling with emotions suppressed. It’s a style for a discerning adult palate but can be appreciated by a teen with refined tastes too.
  
  Magical realism flavors the stream of consciousness narrative.
  We only know the world of b, Book and Me through the eyes of our narrators b and Rang. Deep in their consciousness we follow them as they ponder their different concerns. There’s a rhythmic nature to the prose that gives structure to what is normally a random and chaotic POV style. It works quite well and meshes with the magical realism with which the girls use to deal with the troubling things plaguing them. While I didn’t always understand what was happening I did feel how those horrors overwhelmed their emotional stability.
  
  Friendship overcomes social awkwardness and mental struggles.
  Rang already feels estranged from the very person who should love her, so to feel distant from her peers is no surprise. When we can’t relate we feel awkward. Rang has reasons, though, that things work with b. So when Rang is perplexed by what she did to alienate b we feel that same perplexity.
  
  When we transition to b’s POV I really started to understand this friendship and what Rang had done. b’s life is a lot complex then she’s let on to her peers and she’s struggling everyday over it. Seeing friendship from each girl’s POV was a surprisingly effective way to see how we can come to misunderstand each other due to not seeing the other person’s perspective.
  
  b, Book and Me shows us how bullying, friendship and life can be confusing and emotional.
  I quite enjoyed Rang and then b’s parts of the narrative. The bullying was quite mystifying to me at first. And b’s abrupt change toward Rang confused me at first. We had to spend time with b before we really understood the pressures she was under. While I understood events overall, I didn’t always understand events in the moment. Because it’s stream of consciousness we aren’t being told what’s happening, we’re being shown. Without any sort of intent or purpose behind events it can be confusing what’s happening. It read messily, like life.
  
  Touching on deep topics such as bullying can feel heavy handed and preachy.
  But due to this narrative style the story puts us in this emotional bubble that allows us to feel the reality of b and Rang’s experiences without the preaching. This is just their life and they are living it. We don’t need to judge, just feel for them. We also experience homelessness, societal pressures, sexual abuse and parental neglect. It’s raw and intense.
  
  Through the eyes of South Korean author, Kim Sagwa, b, Book and Me showcases the extreme bullying that happens everyday in Asia. Newly translated into English, we experience the friendship pains of three young adults as their lives are irrevocably changed by those who hate on others.
• 
  A. Ross

  Sagwa's first book in English (Mina) was about three teenagers and their hectic lives bouncing between cram school, partying, shopping, texting, etc all climaxing in a very dark portrait of the disorientation of being a modern day Korean teenager coming of age in a world of affluence. In this latest book, she returns to the theme of adolescent/teen mental health, although her three protagonists here are quite different, and the setting is a small town far from the maddening city crowds.
  
  Rang and "b" are girls (of unclear age, maybe 13 15?) who are bullied at school by a group of baseball playing boys. Teachers look the other way, and the two girls become friends when b rescues Rang one day. To be clear, this isn't abstract bullying, this is pushing down, punching, kicking, overt bullying that eventually turns into sexual assault. Rang and b each get their own sections to narrate, in hazy, drifting, dreamlike prose that gets way too abstract for my taste.The reader definitely gets the sense of powerlessness and dissociation, and there's a certain beauty to some of the imagery but this kind of hallucinatory writing is far from being my cup of tea, and I found myself skimming at times.
  
  The final section brings them together with another character seeking to escape reality by diving into books, and the three forge a kind of surreal alliance that finally butts up against reality in the final pages. For readers who are interested in a different cultural take on teen alienation and mental health, this is probably worth a look as it only takes about two hours to read. 
• 
  Soronia

  This was an intense read. I felt transported back to the hopelessness of my own childhood, which is not a thing children get credit for feeling: the slow hopelessness of not being grown up and the terrible powerlessness. But also the weird beauty of whatever you grasp onto that can save you. It's a really smart little book.
• 
  Bookworm13

  Strong flawless plot with characters that will linger long after the last page. Raw and emotional it's a story you won't want to end. Absolutely breath taking. Happy reading!