Set in the 1980s, Bitter Melon follows Frances, a Chinese American girl who has always obeyed her mother.  Her grades, academic future, and her life are dedicated to caring for her mother, Grace.  Frances is hardworking and devoted.  She goes to an all-girls school to avoid distractions, aims for the very best grades and spends nearly every waking moment studying.

But when she ends up in speech class instead of the required calculus class needed for her Berkley dreams, she uncovers a hidden talent.  Growing in confidence, for the first time Frances is doing something she loves, and not because her mother told her to. Guided by Ms. Taylor, she excels and competes in speech competitions, even winning awards.  But the fear of her mother’s reaction convinces Frances to keep her new-found talent a secret.

As the college application process gets underway and the school year comes to a close, Frances will have to make a choice: be the obedient Chinese daughter she was raised to be, or follow her dreams. In the end, it all comes down to one thing: courage.

This book deserves four stars. It shows the strong, sometimes overbearing connections of family in the Chinese culture as well as the extremes and academic hardships these teenagers endure to please their parents.  As Americans, we take for granted our parents’ support for our dreams.  Most of us have dreams: to be a doctor, lawyer, artist, or engineer.  We can’t really understand why some people would live their lives for others. This book gives us a bittersweet explanation of exactly why these family bonds are so sacred.  Like melon, usually sweet, we see the bitter side of a family.