_Hello Kitty Must Die_ by Angela S Choi
So, the cliche saying of “Don’t judge a book by its cover” could also apply to book titles. However, when I was searching for something new to read on my iPad Kindle, I came across this title a few times. I could relate because the sickening expansion of Hello Kitty around the world makes me a bit nauseous. Thus in my quest to force myself to read contemporary literature now and then, I decided to download it.
Hello Kitty has very little to do with the story except that it is a reference to the Asian peeps of the world. From a Chinese-American viewpoint, Choi writes about a successful Chinese-American woman, Fiona, who struggles to make her Chinese and American identities and cultures work together, but finds release for her frustrations in this endeavour with her friend Sean. Sean is a serial killer who never admits directly to his love of murder, but Fiona knows (in fact helps choose the victims) and eventually begins to pick up his habit in her own way.
It was an interesting storyline and a pretty quick read overall. I was a bit surprised at the amount of cynicism and generally pessimistic attitude of the characters. Perhaps it is a sign of the times since it is contemporary fiction, perhaps it is the general way of thinking nowadays, whatever it is, I am not there yet and really don’t want to be ever. Still, it is always good to experience everything and I am very glad that I was spontaneous in this book choice. π
More to come…
-T
(I will probably be taking a break from pleasure reading for a bit as I must return to academic reading… π )
