Customer Rating: 
Summary: An award-winning film waiting to be made
Comment: Grace Kwon, an 18-year-old Korean-American high school student, has some rather interesting companions. There's Grace Kwon, for instance: a 29-year-old woman. And don't forget six-year-old Grace Kwon. Rounding out this unlikely quartet is 70-year-old Grace Kwon. They find themselves thrown together in Grace (18)'s life for a few pivotal weeks in her life. Well, *their* life, really; the others are aspects-in-time of 18-year-old Grace. Imagine, if you will, The Sisterhood of the Time-Traveling Pants.
Needless to say, they discover Important Truths About Life together. And the story is so charmingly told that I didn't mind realizing this in advance; reading it, I allowed myself to be seduced by the narrative and let myself enjoy the hell out of it. I'm already sorry it's over and already waiting for Derek Kirk Kim's previous graphic novel to arrive.
I won't be at all surprised if Good As Lily gets turned into a movie. I'll just be delighted.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A high school charmer
Comment: Cory Doctorow wrote an excellent review of this book on Boing Boing today. In pursuit of more "serious" fare, I spent a pleasant half hour reading and re-reading this charming and challenging little book. It's aimed at young women, but even OFs like me can appreciate the humanity that Kim's writing brings alive. Hamm's illustrations enhance the effects.
Grace Kwon is a young Korean-American girl who, on her 18th birthday, finds herself in the company of her six-year-old self, her 29-year-old self and her 70-year-old self. The three women join her as she finishes her last semester of high school.
Doctorow found Grace "likable and flawed, insecure and brave, driven and oblivious all at once." The writing and graphics brought her alive for me, and reminded me of several of the young women I remember from my own last semester in high school.
The plot revolves around cost over-runs on the school play, a puppy love affair with the drama teacher, and friends who are both loyal and flawed. The high school battles rang true in my memory. Grace and her other selves overcome her flaws, but the results are sometimes unpleasant -- boy, that was the story of my high school years.
Our librarian told me that the book was very popular with high school students, but that adults like it too. I sure did.
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