To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Book Review

A typical young adult romance, yet neat in its prose and subtle, giving the story uncommon depth.

By: Lincoln Son Currie

I started Jenny Han's To All the Boys I've Loved Before thinking it would be like Cheetos: enjoyable but cheesy and of low quality. You might come in with the same impression if you know this book via the Netflix adaptation of the same name. And at first glance, the book seems like most other novels in the young adult romance genre. 

Lara Jean Song Covey is a hopeless romantic going into her junior year of high school. She has never had a boyfriend and spends her days consuming romance novels and rom-coms rather than experiencing real love. She keeps her passion to herself, and when she has a crush, she writes a love letter to that person, then puts it in a box with no intention of ever sending it. The plot is catalyzed when the letters are mailed out to their intended recipients and thus begins the story.

Lara Jean's letter-writing disaster flings her into an odd partnership with Peter Kavinsky, the high school jock. Lara Jean and Peter enter into a contract in which they fake a relationship to make Peter's ex-girlfriend jealous. The rest of the story goes more or less like you think it will. 

When described in the abstract, there seems to be little outstanding about the novel. Han chocks the book full of stock characters. We have the goofy dad, the annoying little sister, the mature older sister, the jock, the popular girl, the boy next door, etc. But Han has a talent for characterization, and her writing reveals her to be a keen observer. For example, when Lara Jean and her sister Margot argue about Lara Jean's boyfriend, her dad "stands up and claps his hands together" and says it's time for ice cream. Lines like these are easy to miss, but I think they demonstrate Han's perception. Standing up and clapping your hands to announce ice cream to squash a sibling spat is such dad behavior. Han's talent is precision, and that shows through, even in a punchy genre not known for nuance.

Though some of the archetypes' characterizations amused me, the most impressive aspect of the novel was how Han dealt with the protagonist's race. Lara Jean is a girl with a Korean mother (who died when she was young) and a white father. She made the main character a half-Asian, but she did not make the story about being Asian or half-Asian. 

There are no tearful monologues from Lara Jean about what being Korean means to her. Lara Jean's race is a significant part of her identity, but that is not all or even most of who she is. We learn about Lara Jean's racial identity in minor ways, like her dad's botched attempt at making bossam or the mention of a Korean yogurt drink. Readers will understand where Lara Jean's family comes from but will not feel inundated with reminders of her race. 

The racial subtlety in the novel is a sign of progress in America. Han showed that there is an America in which Asian people can interact with the world around them without being constantly reminded of the color of their skin or their facial features. That the novel had so many realistic elements suggests that a certain level of racial progress for Asian Americans is perhaps not so far out of reach. 

The racial subtlety also allows Han to accomplish one of her intentions when writing the book: to expand the definition of the all-American girl. No longer is the definition strictly a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. Now a biracial Korean can be the all-American girl too. 

Lara Jean is the only three-dimensional character in the novel, and it is her uniqueness and authenticity that make her so engaging as a character. Everyone can relate to at least one aspect of her, whether it's her hopeless romanticism, her need for control, her neuroticism, or her closeness to family. Lara Jean's relatability shows the universality of the novel's central plot: a first love. 

Han's neat prose makes To All the Boys I've Loved Before a book you can finish in a weekend, but I recommend a careful read to appreciate all the aspects more fully. The novel is not cavernous but is deeper than it first appears, thanks to Han's subtlety. To All the Boys I've Loved Before succeeds in entertaining the reader while making meaningful commentary about the evolving definition of the all-American girl.

Cover art credit goes to: https://wallpapercave.com/w/wp5539126