Outside Reading - Week 4 - Post #1

Happy Birthday or Whatever by Annie Choi
QUOTE: “Sometimes I think that my mother and I are very close to finding a common ground, to finding an area of interest that we can explore together and bond over and discuss without bickering or nagging each other. But then I realize this is impossible, that if we didn’t give each other a hard time, we probably wouldn’t get along” (138). –Annie Choi in Happy Birthday or Whatever. I believe this quote is very important to the book. It first caught my attention because I saw how it really described the weird relationship of Annie and her mom and summarized it into a couple of sentences. The relationship of Annie and her mom is probably one of the main ideas, or key elements, of the story. Many of the chapters are based solely on this relationship. Although they fight and bicker for the majority of the time, one can tell that they truly love one another and just want what’s best for the other. This book describes true Korean family love, and that particular quote pinpoints that love.