What a fantastic read! I loved the character of Mercy, her determination, her voice and her empowerment. While faced with disorder, she finds hope and life and she empowers others to look beyond the present to make their future brighter. Being a minority, her outlook on life takes strength. This strength she finds from within her and I loved how she moves forward in life, taking one step at a time. The minute I met Mercy, I knew she was a force to be reckoned with. She didn’t want a traditional Chinese life; she wanted to make a life of her own. She was set on going to a girl’s school and her determination to get a scholarship had me laughing and hooting as she put people in their place.  When she was accepted, unfortunately she had to leave her family for this was the cost she would have to pay for her education.   Mercy was now at a place where she would get a proper education but in reality, she would learn more about life than she would at home.

 

I loved the author’s writing as Mercy is drawn into a world unfamiliar to her. I felt like a part of Mercy and her travels as she tries to adjust to her strange environment.  The girls and the staff are inquisitive about Mercy and her heritage.   Mercy must lie and she is quite the talented liar, quick on her feet with a great imagination. Sharp and witty, she satisfies her audience and she leaves me hungry for more of her wit. She thinks she has the girls fooled by her wisdom but the headmistress has her eyes on Mercy.   Mercy can’t stop thinking about Tom, she wonders if Tom carries the same feeling for her now that she has left him to go to school. Her determination to become someone stronger than a traditional Chinese woman has her thinking perhaps Tom would rather have a traditional girl than Mercy. Mercy can’t stop thinking about him and she feels she must do something to validate her feelings.  Mercy gets a powerful push as the novel continues and the school comes under major distress. This was an incredible historical fiction novel and one that I highly recommend.

A fabulous read that is centered around fifteen year old Mercy Wong, as she begins to live portions of her dream life, the life she has been hoping and praying for. Unfortunately, while fulfilling her dreams of an education at St. Clare's School for Girls, Mercy will also face a world of nightmares. A story that is both hopeless and hopeful all at once, Outrun the Moon is a phenomenal tale of what one strong young woman is willing to endure and sacrifice for the sake of a family she loves. Mercy may be very different from the other girls at St. Clare's but she has guts and a kind soul and is willing to accept the differences of others. When a deadly, devastating earthquake rocks San Francisco in 1906, Mercy takes the lead and sets an amazing example for the rest of the school girls of St. Clare's. Mercy is a fierce and independent protagonist and a wonderful YA role model. I would love to read further adventures of this plucky, courageous heroine. Outrun the Moon was extremely well written and edited. Stacey Lee's storytelling ability is top notch. 

 

 

**I won an ARC through a Goodreads giveaway and I sincerely thank Penguin for another great book. 

 

 

 

 

 

Please note that I gave this book 4.5 stars, but due to Goodreads not allowing half stars, I rounded the book up to 5 stars.

I have never read a novel by Stacey Lee before, but I am going to definitely check out her other books when I get some time. "Outrun the Moon" was a great look back at a tragic event in the city of San Francisco's past (1906 Earthquake) told from the first person point of view by 15 year old Mercy Wong.

I can honestly say that I am totally ignorant about all of the former laws and policies previously enacted in the United States passed in order to segregate Chinese and American born Chinese people in our country's past. I am actually a little ashamed of myself for not looking deeper into that especially since everything that Ms. Lee provided context about just caused me to want to read more and more and more.

I visited San Francisco a few years back for a friend's wedding and the city spoke to me like no other place has since. There are just some places that touch you and make you feel like you came home. I recall being fascinated by everything and I did a Big Bus tour around the city that briefly touched upon the Earthquake of 1906. But even with that context, I still had no idea of the devastation that people were forced to deal with for several days after the first quake.

"Outrun the Moon" takes place a few days before the San Francisco earthquake. Mercy Wong is determined to be enrolled at the St. Clare School for Girls in order to further her education. Mercy believes that if she is able to attend this school she will be able to use what she learns there in order to set up her own successful business. Living in San Francisco's Chinatown with her mother, father, and younger brother Jack, Mercy dreams of being able to make enough money for all of them to live in Nob Hill one day. Using "bribery" Mercy is able to get her foot in the door at St. Clare's, but finds that it may be harder than she thinks to be able to get what she really wants.

Mercy was a wonderful character. She is a 15 year old girl who is doing what she can in order to make sure that her family can be better off. Being the oldest and a girl you get to see how hard she is fighting to be taken on her own merits and not to be treated like a Chinese girl who is not as good as the white people she sees living in better off circumstances around her. Mercy's constant parroting of lines from a business book written by a businesswoman definitely made me smile after a while. I used to do that too when I was younger. Read something that stuck with me and would just repeat it back to friends and family. Thank goodness no one smothered me.

There were parts of me that did get a little bit frustrated with Mercy. I think it was because I wanted her to be cautious and be safe a lot of times during the story, but the character at that point was over everything and said screw it, I am going to do what I am going to do, and damn the consequences.

Other characters included in this book are Mercy's mother, father, her younger brother Jack, her longtime childhood friend Tom, and the girls that she meets at St. Clare's. There are a lot more characters introduced to you as soon as the action moves to St. Clare's but the big stand outs for me were Harry, Francesca, and Elodie. I would seriously love to see a sequel showing how did all of these girls turn out one day.

Though we don't get much insight into Mercy's family life besides crumbs left here and there, I felt their presence through the whole book. I will be honest though that the character of Tom did not do a thing for me. I loved Mercy's relationship/friendship with Francesca more. Those two together were fantastic.

The writing was really good. I know some words here and there from other friends so I already knew what "gwai lo" meant. Ms. Lee has Mercy explain things so I don't think any reader would get lost. Mercy's voice is very distinct the whole way through and read like a 15 year old girl.

The flow though was way too slow at the first half of the book, and the beginning of the book felt like it started mid-story to me. It read like the reader should already know what Mercy was up to. Nothing got explained there for a few chapters later for you to get why Mercy was out looking for a certain herb.

The world building was fantastic to me because this book took real life events and sections of a city and breathed life into the book.

The ending came a bit too fast for me. There was kind of a little cheat I would say surrounding some of the characters. I think that Ms. Lee wanted to make sure that whatever reader came along was not totally thrown into a pit of despair.

I was dying to get my hands on Outrun the Moon as soon as I heard about it. I was on a quest and entered every giveaway I could find. While I'm not lucky enough to have a copy grace my broke-ass's shelf, my hold from the library came through.

I broke my rule about following review copies with deadlines. I skipped ahead to Outrun the Moon. In my defense, it would've been unfair since I'd be thinking about this book while trying to just get the others done already!

I don't know where to start. I don't know how to start. It's fucking FLAWLESS.



Hell, I feel inadequate trying to write this review.



There is absolutely nothing bad to say. Nothing. No minor complaints or nit-picks or pet-peeves. It's all fucking amazing: characters, setting, plot, writing. You name it, Outrun the Moon does it perfectly.




I'm trying not to fangirl everywhere and make it a gif review. It's hard because Outrun the Moon is so fucking good you guys.




It's about friendships and bigotry, opportunity and oppression and community and segregation wrapped in such lovely writing, profound messages and lessons that causes ALL the feels.

The characters are so well done. Mercy and her classmates grew, had depth and impacted the story greatly. They're all real people and dynamic. Their gender and race effects who they are and how they act. Even with the larger cast, they’re all distinct. I never had a problem keeping track. I don’t even really want to call them background characters because they were so good and important.

There's a bit of romance but 1.) it doesn't overwhelm or take focus, 2.) They’re actually friends and act like it, 3.) They were actually compatible, 4.) They did what was best for them even if it meant being apart and they were happy for each other. That's so mature and dammit, I know there are teens who do this that don't get representation and those who need to see this kind of love.

Even after all that rambling, I don't think ya'll understand how much I LOVE this book. I have notes and highlights several times during almost every chapter and beyond to the Author's Note, Author's Second Note and Acknowledgements. Her list of people that helped and gave her the "stamp of approval" for what she wrote, how she portrayed the people and time...Stacy Lee is fucking phenomenal.



It makes me want to cry, both in gratitude and wonder. I don't cry a lot and when I do it's usually from being overwhelmed or a panic attack but this? There were tears. When I thought it was safe, more came.

Her Acknowledgements being with this quote from Jean Massieu, a pioneer deaf educator: "Gratitude is the memory of the heart." Our success is determined not by external forces, but how we react to them. And didn't Ma always tell her more hapless clients that you can't prevent the birds of misfortune from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from making nests in your hair?"



Eighth:

"Some parents bring their children up and, I suppose, others let them down. At least we can choose our friends."

~Chapter 35, pg. 4.

Ninth:

'For every rule, there is a rule breaker.' Her gaze flits to me. 'And a ruler breaker.'

-Chapter 38, pg 11.

Tenth:

"A part of me understands the need to keep order, but another part worries that we are being led to fear the wrong things.

It's just like Chinatown and all the laws passed to contain us. We were never the enemy. The enemy was our country's own fear. "

~Chapter 42, pg. 4.

Bonus! From the Author's Second Note:

However, history is a general overview, and overlooks the story, the possibility of the individual. If we are confined by the strict margins of what is "known" to be true, we would never explore the power of what could be true. We would deny our ability to create our own stories, to make our own magic. And what is life, without that?"

Have you read Outrun the Moon yet? If not, will you? Which quote is your favorite?