Amy Zhang - The Cartographers

Amy Zhang - The Cartographers 

3⭐

Genre: YA, Contemporary, Fiction, Romance, Asian Literature, Mental Health, Philosophy 

Pages: 288

Format: Paperback Proof 

Publisher:  Harper360YA, Greenwillow, Harper Collins

Date Published: 16th March 2023

 Huge thank you to Harper360YA & Harper360  for sending me a proof copy of this book to read and review. 

Book Blurb: 

Struggling to balance the expectations of her immigrant mother with her deep ambivalence about her own place in the world, seventeen-year-old Ocean Wu takes her savings and goes off the grid. A haunting and romantic novel about family, friendship, philosophy, and love.

Ocean Wu has always felt enormous pressure to succeed. After struggling with depression during her senior year in high school, Ocean moves to New York City, where she has been accepted at a prestigious university. But Ocean feels so emotionally raw and unmoored (and uncertain about what is real and what is not), that she decides to defer and live off her savings until she can get herself together. She also decides not to tell her mother (whom she loves very much but doesn’t want to disappoint) that she is deferring—at least until she absolutely must.

In New York, Ocean moves into an apartment with Georgie and Tashya, two strangers who soon become friends, and gets a job tutoring. She also meets a boy—Constantine Brave (a name that makes her laugh)—late one night on the subway. Constant is a fellow student and a graffiti artist, and Constant and Ocean soon start corresponding via Google Docs—they discuss physics, philosophy, art, literature, and love. But everything falls apart when Ocean goes home for Thanksgiving, Constant reveals his true character, Georgie and Tashya break up, and the police get involved.

Ocean, Constant, Georgie, and Tashya are all cartographers—mapping out their futures, their dreams, and their paths toward adulthood in this stunning and heartbreaking novel about finding the strength to control your own destiny.

My Review: 

I found this book to be a bit too much for me. Mainly it was too philosophical. Secondly, characters, apart from Ocean, are left unexplored, especially Constantine’s character. Lastly, from the blurb, it seemed to be marketed as more of a romance book, where two main characters are trying to find themselves as they navigate coming of age. However, it wasn’t the case. I struggled to read this book, even though some of the themes discussed are very important and interesting. It just didn’t keep me engaged.

The story follows Ocean, who instead of going to University in New York, decides to take a gap year to reinvent and find herself. She struggles with depression and mental health, as well as suicidal thoughts. She hopes that a year out will make her feel better and would get rid of the pressures that her family and society put on her, including going to university, getting good grades, getting a good job, etc. She shares an apartment with two completely different people, who no matter the differences become her great friends and supporters. One day, however, Ocean meets a stranger called Constantine and suddenly falls for him. Their conversations, deeply philosophical, carry on through Google Documents sheet, as Ocean falls more and more for Constant. She becomes obsessed with his replies, analysing and interpreting every word over and over again, whilst also starting to detach from reality and her friends...

It was too philosophical for a YA book. Also, those philosophical conversations between Ocean and Constant were rather long and quite boring, making the book drag and making the reading experience quite slow. At some points, I even had to skim through the Google Document exchanges between Ocean and Constant, as otherwise, I would’ve DNF’ed the book.

From what I realised about Constant, he is a horrible character and person. She strung Ocean along and played with her feelings, whilst at the same time wanting her friendship. He knew about her struggles and didn’t offer to help, but instead played her along for his own good.

What I liked about this book was that mental health was openly discussed and the author didn’t shy away from discussing what causes mental health for young adults. Including the discussion on the pressures that young adults go through, from society, parents, friends and from other things like social media. Ocean’s story displayed the raw reality of mental health and depression, which is also important to read and raise awareness about. I also liked the portrayal of super high expectations that immigrant families put on their children, as I could relate to that from my childhood and teen years.

Overall: This book didn’t engage me. It had some interesting and important themes and topics discussed but overall, it was really hard to get into and parts of it were just too philosophical for me.

About the Author:

Amy Zhang was born in China and moved to the United States when she was a young girl. She grew up in Wisconsin and recently graduated from college. She is the author of Falling into Place and This is Where the World Ends, and she currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/authors/amy-zhang-201410134056830