'The Way You Make Me Feel' follows a teen's journey from 'chill' to sincere
Maurene Goo is at it again.
As with her 2017 showstopper, 鈥淚 Believe in a Thing Called Love,鈥� Goo鈥檚 new novel, The Way You Make Me Feel, features a Southern Californian teenager with Korean heritage, living with her single dad.
That and the pop/rock title, however, are where the similarities end.
Where Desi Lee was a list-making overachiever, Clara Shin is a sardonic slacker for whom effort is the ultimate sin. She鈥檚 stubborn, easily bored, nourished by mayhem and 7-11 junk food. She and her crew of lazy, ultra-hip ne鈥檈r-do-wells love to prank Rose Carver, Clara鈥檚 longtime nemesis.
鈥淓verything about her rubbed me the wrong way: her inability to chill; her uptight, follow-the-rules compulsion; her stupid narc tendencies to get ahead in life,鈥� grouses Clara. 鈥淪o, whenever I could, I made life very untidy and chaotic for her. ... Like the time I coordinated a flash mob during her first dance competition. Or the time I added sugar to all the lettuce in the salad bar where she got her lunch every day. Any punishment handed to me was always worth it.鈥�
When a prom prank goes awry, Clara and Rose are held responsible. In lieu of suspension, they must work at Clara鈥檚 dad鈥檚 Korean-Brazilian food truck, the KoBra, to earn enough to pay for the damages.
Being crammed in a hot, greasy truck for minimum-wage food service is not their ideal summer. Plus, it means Clara can鈥檛 go to Tulum with her mom, a globetrotting social media influencer. (If you鈥檝e read Emma Chastain鈥檚 鈥淐onfessions of a High School Disaster,鈥� you鈥檒l recognize this particular strain of flighty, narcissistic women with dreamy lives and damaged daughters.)
With time, Clara and Rose warm to each other, and Clara begins to appreciate how it feels to actually put in effort. She and Rose befriend a fellow food trucker, the brilliant (and cute, obvs) Hamlet Wong, whose easy smiles and lack of pretense astonish Clara. Her new friends鈥� open-hearted forthrightness, and her increasing pride in her dad鈥檚 business, feel strangely right.
As with Jane and Katherine in 鈥�Dread Nation,鈥� Clara and Rose embark on an enemies-frenemies-friends arc. I鈥檓 pleased to see that plot device again; it鈥檚 always a good time to remind readers that different doesn鈥檛 mean evil.
The ineluctable clash between new and old friends forces Clara to decide which version of herself she wants to be 鈥� a rabble-rousing brat whose sarcasm masks vulnerability, or an authentic girl who risks embarrassment by actually investing her heart?
鈥淭he Way You Make Me Feel鈥� sparkles with Maurene Goo鈥檚 trademark wit and warmth. She has such a way of interweaving blossoms (鈥淧ity unfurled from Rose like ribbons鈥�) with sharp edges (鈥淢aking a fool of myself in front of cute dudes was literally the opposite of my brand鈥�).
She also writes the best single dads I鈥檝e ever read. They try, they fail, they dream big.
Clara鈥檚 dad struggles to redraw the line between parent and friend after the disastrous prom prank. He laments, 鈥淭here鈥檚 no good reason why you should get into so much trouble. The only reason is that I鈥檝e been slacking, trying not to be overbearing like my parents were. But it鈥檚 clearly backfired. I鈥檝e been getting my act together for the KoBra, but not with you.鈥�
What a coup: to write a father and daughter experiencing the same struggle, the same need to change, but keep it subtle. Goo鈥檚 writerly technique makes me feel, dare I say, gooey inside.
And yet, to me, her greatest achievement here is to pinpoint the classic instinct to be chill, instead of genuine. The moment this dawns on Clara is stunning.
鈥淎lthough we were sitting there eating a Transformers cake off of paper plates with colorful ponies on them, there was a conspicuous lack of irony in this moment,鈥� she thinks. 鈥�...I had become so used to a certain behavior with Patrick and Felix. Where everything was a joke, a mockery, a way to separate ourselves from feeling stuff for real.
鈥淚t was easier not to feel the real stuff 鈥� and Patrick the slacker was all about easy. Felix, he was so preoccupied with being cool all the time. And Rose and Hamlet? I watched them set up the Connect 4 we had purchased at the dollar store and immediately throw themselves into it, competitive and serious within seconds. They were the opposite of that. They were all in.鈥�
鈥淭he Way You Make Me Feel鈥� is an intensely LA story (which this former Angeleno adored): complaints about freeway traffic, streets lined with jacaranda, the Griffith Park observatory. It鈥檚 also the ultimate 2018 tale: food trucks, sriracha, Instagram Stories. Despite this image-conscious setting, Clara Shin learns to value authenticity and real confidence.
Now that鈥檚 #goals.
