After reading A Step from Heaven by An Na, I was able to see what an immigrant from another culture might feel trying to fit in. Aside from the family violence, the fact that she was able to learn despite her language barrier and culture differences was amazing. I never thought very much about people that come to America looking for heaven and only find that life here may be harder than it was before back in their native country.
I think that there is Irony in the title of the book. If something were just a step from heaven, then one would think that it would have been much easier than life was for Young Ju and her family. While reading the book, I was thinking that her life as described was much farther away from Heaven that just one step.
I also found many symbols in the book. Beginning with Harry the bird. this bird that Young Ju and Joon try to nurse back to health. The bird dies and Joon says, "It never happens the way we want. Never." (p. 74) I think this statement is not just about the bird, but about the lives of the members of this family. America is not as any of them thought. Halmoni dies before they expect. The father becomes an alcoholic. It seems that everything has got to be very bad before it can be good.
I really liked the style of writing that An Na used. I especially liked the way the memories were written in the beginning of the book. It was very real. After reading once, I went back and reread those chapters again just because It was very well written.
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It's awesome how An Na is able to show Young Ju's growth through the use of language: very basic at the beginning, to reflect her childhood, then more complex as she grows older. Also interesting is that we're supposed to be reading this as though it's written in Korean, and only every so often do we get English.
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