Not every Korean woman gets her eyes done, but it is true that eye surgery is the most popular plastic surgery among young Korean women. An Na’s descriptions are not from her own imagination. On her journey, Joyce grows and discovers herself and her love for her sister.Īn Na depicts current Korean and Korean-American culture with her rich detailed words through Joyce’s eyes. Joyce does not know what is really going on with Helen or what she is going through as a closeted lesbian. Joyce never gets to use the car and works at the restaurant all the time. She always gets to use the car and uses the excuse of a “meeting” to get out of work at their parents’ restaurant. Helen has good looks, a brain, and a promising future.
If she has bigger and rounder eyes like Americans, will she have more confidence to talk to JFK? Will she be happier? Will her life change? Life seems unfair for Joyce because her beautiful sister Helen has everything. When her Gomo (aunt) offers Joyce the possibility of plastic surgery, Joyce starts researching eye surgery. She hates her narrow and slanted Korean eyes that cannot get JFK’s attention. It’s all about the Korean eyes, Joyce thinks. Gathering her courage, she gets JFK’s signature, but not only does JFK not know who Joyce is, he confuses her with another Korean girl who is not pretty at all. Her heart beats fast in front of him because he is so cute. However, it’s not even easy for her to look at his eyes. On the last day of her junior year in high school, Joyce wishes to get JFK’s (John Ford Kang) signature in her year book.
Joyce is from a Korean immigrant family who owns a Korean restaurant.
An Na’s previous novels, A Step from Heaven (2001, the Printz Award Winner) and Wait for Me (2006), fall into the later category, but her third novel The Fold (2008) makes a shift from these common topics.
Books about Korean Americans often focus on the identity crisis between Korean and American identities or introduce struggling immigrant families.
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