By Canwen Xu
An intricate, observant first-person narrative about social and family pressure to be prominent, layered with themes of identities and friendship, quietly evolves into a gripping thriller.
Elizabeth Zhang habitually rates everyone’s likability, popularity, attractiveness, brilliance, etc., in percentile. She knows she is unlikable (in the 10th percentile), but she also knows she is extraordinarily diligent and smart (in the 99th percentile). And she knows she deserves a success – getting into Harvard Law School. But when she finds her dream unreasonably crushed, and someone else – Laura Kim, who is ‘quite pretty, at least 80th percentile and maybe 90th on a good day’ and perfectly likable – gets it, Elizabeth’s insecurity and fixation on her long-held dream of success transforms into unhinged obsession with Laura, which chaotically leads to unexpected plans and consequences.
As Elizabeth’s masterplan to “replace” Laura escalates, it slowly burns herself down. This is one of those reads that makes you want to directly say to the main character “stop,” but Elizabeth’s unstoppability makes it a gripping and addictive read. I loved how the deadpan first-person narrative with dry humour subtly balances with the horror, as the story gets more and more spine-chilling and chaotic.
The emotional drive in Elizabeth is entangled with how she has burdened herself to be eminent, which shows what extreme pressure and self-criticism can lead to, adding a layer of social satire to this book. Elizabeth is advised that she has to be competent and interesting among Asian female candidates to get the success she wants, which kicks off her fixation on Laura, who is apparently more interesting than her for Harvard. Grief, frustration, and longing she carries underneath unravels, most visibly in the relationship with her best friend Eunjin. It delicately but strongly leads the emotional thread throughout the narrative alongside the suspense, which I found one of the finest parts of this book.
Darkly funny, satirical, and painful; who knew this Boring Asian Female would constantly surprise you?
Reviewed by Yuka