Get Happy by Mary Amato

Get Happy by Mary Amato -- Sixteen-year-old Min wants a ukulele for her birthday, but she gets a sweater instead. She also gets a mysterious package from the father she doesn't remember, who left when she was two. This sets in motion a chain of events that leads to her learning more about her father, and in the meantime, she also gets a job, meets an intriguing boy, writes some songs, and engages in a bit of cyberbullying. Eventually, she confronts her father and her mother about what really happened when she was a toddler.

You know how, sometimes, you start out disliking a character, but grow to like them over the course of the story? The reverse happened to me with this book. I liked angsty song-writing Min with her wacky best friend and disastrous beauty product experiments, but I did not like deceptive cyberbullying Min spewing vitriol over everyone in her path. I guess my main problem here is that I don't think the resolution of the book was satisfactory. Yes, Min improves slightly after her meltdown at the book's climax, but the reader never gets to see her work through the issues with her parents -- nor does she seem remorseful for how she has treated other people in her life. Maybe I am too far from being a teenager to really appreciate this book, but it left a sour taste in my mouth.

However, I did read it all in one evening, so it was compelling and well-written enough to keep me reading. I think that, if the author had given us a bit more resolution, a little bit more dialogue, I would have been a lot happier with it.

(Reviewed from a copy borrowed through my library system.)