This Place is Still Beautiful

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I really enjoyed this book as I could personally relate to it. From the racial slurs, to having a passive family that didn’t talk about serious issues, to wanting racism to go away, to feeling shame when I’d fallen to racist remarks, to wanting some form of justice or karma fall onto those that wronged me. It’s great to feel represented and this book highlighted not only a hate crime, but subtle racism or micro aggressions that people are ignorant to, or choose to gloss over, which can be offensive for some.

Didn’t read or watch any reviews on this book, so I was going off the cover, which was beautiful by the way. I wasn’t expecting the love stories for each sister, but I think it adds to the fact that even when falling victim to racism, life still goes on, even all the petty problems that any of us worry about interweaving throughout the day.

I understand the perspective of Annalie and the mum wanting to keep quiet and not deal with the issue - I’m used to this in the past with my own family. It highlighted for me that no matter how much you assimilate into a country, that there are still people out there that won’t like you just for being a particular race. Ignoring it and hoping it will go away, or even hoping it will never happen again, doesn’t really address the issue and discussion should be had. Everyone should feel safe, no matter where they live. With Margaret being a social justice warrior, it’s how I would defend myself these days. I’ve been in too many situations where keeping quiet and bottling these issues just leaves unresolved trauma. I guess I’m used to some Asian families sweeping issues under a rug and never facing a challenging or difficult discussion.

I did find it frustrating that Annalie took a long time to tell her loved ones of who committed the crime when she found out it was her boyfriend’s friends. Pretending everything is okay doesn’t make it okay. The fact that the culprits said because she didn’t look Asian (being half white) that they thought she wouldn’t get offended, touches on the ignorance that we still see today. Because they were targeting her sister who looked more Asian, didn’t make it okay in the slightest, even if a joke. Glad Annalie came to her senses in the end.

If the story continues, would love to know how Margaret and Rajiv go with their relationship, if their mum excepts Rajiv (since she has her own discriminatory tendencies), if we find out more about their dad that abandoned them, see if Annalie explores a relationship with Daniel, how they recover once the culprits are charged and just how life in general goes. I feel this was just a stand alone book so it may not ever happen.