nerd teacher [books] reviewed Tall Story by Candy Gourlay
Cute but frustrating.
3 stars
The story is pretty cute, and I rather like the split between Andi and Bernardo. It gives a good difference of perspective between the two siblings, especially in comparing their lives and priorities. I like being able to see how Bernardo's history and desire to move to the UK (to be with his mother) affects his views, but I also like seeing how important the Philippines are to him. Likewise, you can see Andi's concern with the Philippines but that she's not as connected to it.
I wish there was more depth placed on how the two siblings got to know each other; I wanted to see more of how their very different cultural backgrounds with few ties -- their mother and references to basketball -- influenced their relationship with each other. I would've loved to read more scenes about how they struggled to understand each other, with there being …
The story is pretty cute, and I rather like the split between Andi and Bernardo. It gives a good difference of perspective between the two siblings, especially in comparing their lives and priorities. I like being able to see how Bernardo's history and desire to move to the UK (to be with his mother) affects his views, but I also like seeing how important the Philippines are to him. Likewise, you can see Andi's concern with the Philippines but that she's not as connected to it.
I wish there was more depth placed on how the two siblings got to know each other; I wanted to see more of how their very different cultural backgrounds with few ties -- their mother and references to basketball -- influenced their relationship with each other. I would've loved to read more scenes about how they struggled to understand each other, with there being both language barriers (Andi's lack of Tagalog and Bernardo's limited English) and cultural barriers. There are some huge things that could've been discussed, but I do love that the siblings did learn to love each other. I just feel like there could've been more in exploring their relationships to each other and their family.
Other notes: There's some odd phrasing, which I wonder if it's due to dialect. Most places I've lived have never referred to a basket as a 'goal' because they tend to keep the Americanisms associated with the sport. 'Score some goals' is sort of an odd way to describe what people are doing, when the terminology would be more general: score some points. It's a small issue, but it was sort of jarring with the rest of the story. Andi, as a character, is so into basketball but says some really off things for a person who is such a huge fan of Michael Jordan.
Also a bit odd that, in a book written in 2010, they're both super into basketball stars whose careers ended much earlier: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1969-1989) and Michael Jordan (ranging between 1983 and 2003). Granted, I kind of love it because I adore both of them and grew up with them in a variety of ways, but I was shocked that no basketball players who were currently playing at the time were included for Andi's interests.