The Cartographers
Seventeen-year-old Ocean Sun, the daughter of a single mom who moved from China to the American Midwest while pregnant with Ocean, has always felt enormous pressure to succeed. After struggling with depression and attempting suicide during her senior year in high school, Ocean moves to New York City, where she has been accepted at a prestigious university, to start fresh. But because she feels so emotionally raw and unmoored (and uncertain about what is real and what is not), 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 random girls 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 start corresponding via a Google doc—they discuss physics, philosophy, art, literature, and love. Everything falls apart, though, when Ocean goes home for Thanksgiving, Constant reveals his true character, Georgie and Tashya break up, and the police get involved.
Seventeen-year-old Ocean Sun, the daughter of a single mom who moved from China to the American Midwest while pregnant with Ocean, has always felt enormous pressure to succeed. After struggling with depression and attempting suicide during her senior year in high school, Ocean moves to New York City, where she has been accepted at a prestigious university, to start fresh. But because she feels so emotionally raw and unmoored (and uncertain about what is real and what is not), 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 random girls 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 start corresponding via a Google doc—they discuss physics, philosophy, art, literature, and love. Everything falls apart, though, when Ocean goes home for Thanksgiving, Constant reveals his true character, Georgie and Tashya break up, and the police get involved.
Seventeen-year-old Ocean Sun, the daughter of a single mom who moved from China to the American Midwest while pregnant with Ocean, has always felt enormous pressure to succeed. After struggling with depression and attempting suicide during her senior year in high school, Ocean moves to New York City, where she has been accepted at a prestigious university, to start fresh. But because she feels so emotionally raw and unmoored (and uncertain about what is real and what is not), 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 random girls 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 start corresponding via a Google doc—they discuss physics, philosophy, art, literature, and love. Everything falls apart, though, when Ocean goes home for Thanksgiving, Constant reveals his true character, Georgie and Tashya break up, and the police get involved.
Amy Zhang
9780062383082
Paperback
Young Adult Fiction / Social Themes / Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance
Ages 14 And Up, Grades 9 And Up