Title: Parachutes

Author: Kelly Yang

Type: Fiction

Pages: 496

Published: 2020

Claire Wang of Shanghai and Dani De La Cruz of California both go to a private high school near Los Angeles. Claire’s parents’ decision to send her to American Prep reflects the cultural phenomenon for which the book is titled, in which wealthy Chinese students immigrate to attend American high schools in the hopes of better education.

Dani is a gifted debater who dreams of attending Yale. She’s also a scholarship student who spends her afternoons cleaning houses, some of which belong to her rich classmates. Like Claire’s parents, Dani’s single mom is mostly absent from her daughter’s life, because she works so hard to support them; her decision to welcome Claire into a. pare bedroom at their house is motivated by the extra cash her boarding fees will yield.

The author  relates the girls’  which stems primarily from how radically different their lives have been, in chapters that alternate between their points of view. But Parachutes goes much deeper than a predictable story of rich girl versus poor girl.

Yang,  shares in a revealing and powerful author’s note that Parachutes is somehow basef on some of her own personal experiences in college, which includes issues of sexual assault and abuse, discrimination, parental infidelity and emotional neglect into an elaborate and twisting narrative.

The book is impressive despite these weighty subjects. For many readers, finishing Parachutes will feel like saying goodbye to two beloved friends who’ve helped each other  survive the emotional battlefield that is high school.

The book’s title refers to a slang term for international students like Claire, the idea of the parachute also functions as a metaphor for the economic, gender and racial privileges that create differences and inequalities in the lives of some of Yang’s characters. Many readers will likely find this seamlessly integrated introduction to the concept of intersectionality eye-opening.