SuitabookShadow girl
Liana Liu
- Reading
- If your reader is uneasy with suspense, check in after a nighttime scene and pause to discuss what Mei knows versus what she fears. You could also read together and pause whenever your reader wants to talk about the sounds.
- Themes
- Family strain: Mei’s home life involves difficulties with her mother and brother, while the Morison household also has problems. The book’s stance on this remains unclear.
- Fear and the supernatural: Mei does not believe in ghosts, yet nighttime noises make her fear that danger is present. The tension between Mei’s scepticism and fear is explicit, but the story’s explanation of the sounds is unknown.
- Developing feelings: Mei develops complicated feelings for Henry, Ella’s brother. An attraction is part of the plot, but its nature, importance and treatment are not established.
- Worth knowing
- Mei hears howling, thumping and cries at night and fears danger in the house. Family strain is also part of her circumstances; the intensity and eventual explanation of these elements remain unclear.