Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Part of Your World: A Twisted Tale

Another Little Mermaid book? You bet. For some reason, I’ve been on a kick for retellings of The Little Mermaid. Part of Your World by Liz Braswell did not disappoint. Just like Hexed, it was fun to read a familiar story with a huge twist.


It’s been five years since the infamous sea witch defeated the little mermaid and took King Triton’s life in the process. Ariel is now the voiceless queen of Atlantica, while Ursula runs Prince Eric’s kingdom on land. But when Ariel discovers that her father might still be alive, she finds herself returning to a world — and a prince — she never imagined she would see again.

I’ve always been on the side of villains so it was interesting to see this version of what happens if they win. Ursula as Vanessa was one of my favorite villains and I’m not sure if that’s because of her incredible voice — Ariel’s voice — or because she really looks like me.

One of the reasons retellings like this are so fun to read is because we already know the plot of the story. We know Ariel, Eric, Ursula and Triton. We know their relationships, their struggles, their desires. But when you twist just one outcome, everything changes. Suddenly, you’re looking at these characters through a completely different lens.

For example, Eric isn’t just the charming prince anymore. He’s a man living under a villain’s control. His mentality has shifted and in many ways he’s lost himself.

And then there’s Ariel, who might be the most interesting character in this version. She’s not the naive teenager who dreams of being “part of your world.” She’s older, a queen still without her voice and haunted by her youthful mistake.

Throughout the story, you see the shell around both characters begin to crack. Slowly, they revert back to the bubbly, hopeful characters that felt so familiar in the classic movie.

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Crying in H Mart: A Story of Grief, Love and Food

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner is one of those books that stays with you long after you finish. I picked it up thinking it would be a thoughtful memoir, but I wasn’t prepared for how deeply it relates to me. I could relate to her story so much that it was so moving to read her story so recent to the death in mine.

A book cover with text and string of white yarn

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With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food.

It was her mother's diagnosis of terminal cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language and history her mother had given her.

 

Now, as I said before, my story can closely relate to hers. I just lost my grandpa to a battle with cancer about a month ago. When Michelle wrote about the progress of her mother’s death, it was so real. It was just as I had experienced my grandpa’s. I think it was fate for me to read this book when I did. I have had it on my reading list since my junior year of high school and it was now that I decided to read it.

For Michelle, it wasn't just so much about losing her mother as it was about her heritage. She lost a part of herself but also started to realize how distant she was to the culture that had raised her. This memoir was really scattered throughout various parts of her life. 

Overall, this memoir was written very well. It was not the best memoir I have ever read, but it was for sure the first one I could relate to the closest. Our culture is a part of us, no matter how big or small that culture may be. It is important for us to remember our roots and to thrive with respect to them.

 

Part of Your World: A Twisted Tale

Another Little Mermaid book? You bet. For some reason, I’ve been on a kick for retellings of The Little Mermaid. Part of Your World by Li...