Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim (hereafter ISOCAK) is an excellent representation of youth in the big city in today’s world, coming head-to-head with understanding identity, culture, respect, race and racism, and what it means to be a good person and a good friend. Alejandra Kim is one of the most interesting and complex characters I’ve seen in a young adult fiction. Her cultural background and current upbringing have left her feeling like there’s no real place where she belongs. She’s not Korean enough, not Latinx enough, not American enough, to check the boxes that people expect her to check. This novel is her journey to self-discovery where she learns to break the mould and cast off expectations of who she should be, to become who she really is.

Not only is her high school life, particularly her final year, filled with the typical teen dramas that one would expect in that last year before college, but she’s also strikingly aware off the performance of diversity, the realities of privilege, and the struggle with stereotypes that pervades her elite, majority-white school in NYC. Ale has a number of faces she wears, when she’s at home in Queens with her parents, with her childhood best friend, at her school with her upper class friends. She herself is not without her own prejudices, and thus is perfectly imperfect as a character. She has her own issues to grapple with before she can make change in the world around her. This story is her journey through these issues, with confronting her past, and with discovering her future to fully understand her place in this world.

This book is engaging, topical, and brings to light issues and conversations about race and diversity that are key to drive change and make a difference. I think young readers will appreciate Ale’s sense of human, but also her brutal honesty as she navigates a world that doesn’t necessarily favour (or perhaps over idolizes) her culture. I personally loved reading Ale’s story and watching her blossom and refine into a driving force for real change and impact in the world. I think she’ll be a truly inspiring character for many a reader.

This was definitely a book I needed. I put off reviewing it for so long because it hit so closely, so apologies that this isn't the best written review. I'm Mexican/Korean in the US (mixed, so a little different than diasporic Koreans in LatAm, but we share soooo much.) and being Asian Latinx is almost never written about, especially in fiction - we're 1% of 1% of the population last I heard. So immediately I knew I had to read this. It was fun, and definitely something I will continually suggest to others.

Alejandra Kim feels like an imposter everywhere she goes. She looks Korean (because she is ethnically), but her parents immigrated to the U.S. from Argentina, making her feel more Latina. But in her neighborhood, where plenty of Latinos live, they don’t consider her one of them. With other Koreans, she’s not Korean enough. At her expensive private school (which she attends on scholarship), Ale sticks out compared to all the white kids and teachers.

That’s all hard enough, but life this year has been particularly difficult because her father died after he fell (or did he jump?) onto the subway tracks. Ale and her mom just scrape by, with her mom working a lot, and when her mom is home, she doesn’t want to talk about her dad.

Ale’s school is super “woke,” and her best friend particularly likes to fight for the rights of marginalized people. When a teacher makes an insensitive comment to Ale, she’s not happy about it, but she’d rather ignore it and just go about her business. But when her friend takes the microaggression public, Ale is suddenly in the spotlight, where she’d rather not be.

Dealing with grief over her father’s death, the ways people are reacting to her at school, applying to colleges, and looking afresh at her relationships makes for a really stressful time for Ale. She thought she knew what she wanted, but maybe it’s not going to be the best fit for her. When it comes down to it, Ale will have to figure out her place in the world.

I’ve read a number of books about multiethnic/multiracial teens who feel they aren’t fully “one or the other.” But Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim does a particularly good job of expressing the conflicting feelings and challenges that come with the territory of not only being multiethnic but going through a time of life where you’re just trying to find yourself.

I also got a bit of a kick out of the very liberal school and all the bending over backward so many people there did to show they’re tolerant and sensitive to the needs of any possibly marginalized group. While I believe it’s vital to listen to others’ stories and use DEI practices, there comes a point that some “woke” behavior becomes absolutely over the top. I thought it was interesting to see a person of color, in the writer and her main character, respond to some of that “over-wokeness.”

An excellent book.

It’s an interesting book, something you would see in a coming of age book. The part I loved the most was FMC insecurity because I could relate.

Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim is such a wonderful novel. It is so relatable and well written. I have put it on my end of year best of list. Alejandra is such a great character. I look forward to reading more from Park!

This book was amazing. I loved the real teen issues and voices in the novel and the way that it was not wrapped up neatly with a bow in the end, but left room for you to consider what might happen with the characters. I feel like this book will resonate will with kids in our library community and I am excited to add it to my reader's advisory arsenal.

cute and very fun! exactly what you'd expect from a YA coming of age novel! i love the intersectionality of Alejandra's character.

I’ll be honest—this is a difficult review to write. That’s partly due to the heavy topics found in this novel, but also because of the difficult time I had with reading this novel. On one hand, this book joins the incredibly poignant conversation about political correctness, racism, and identity in American society. On the other hand, the structure of the novel was incredibly clunky, and the story was poorly written. So where does this leave this book? In a strange sort of limbo.

This book deals with heavy topics with a heavy-handed approach. It covers everything from racism, to suicide, to identity. However, these topics appeared to take turns on the page, and Alejandra’s character spent a good chunk of the novel avoiding engaging with or challenging these topics in her life. Instead, it felt like Alejandra was aware of these topics were happening around her, and she still shied away from engaging with them until the very end.

The plot also felt unfocused throughout the book. There were multiple sub-plots going on, such as: dealing with grief over a death in the family; a sprinkle of romance between Alejandra and Billy; Alejandra dealing with college admissions and racism at her college prep school. Which is fine! The more subplots involved mean more opportunities for the main character to grow and change. Right? Right? Unfortunately, that was not the case here. For a good half of the novel, Alejandra felt like a passive character as the plot events happened to her. It was only once Dr. C came onto the page that Alejandra began to show some signs of change; but, even then, much of that change seemed to happen off-page, as events were summarized to the reader. And that heavy-handed used of summary was a huge disservice to this story. Rather than seeing Alejandra thinks things through or embrace the conflict happening, we heard about it in quick summary and moved onto the next plot point. With the main character feeling disengaged from her own story, I, in turn, felt disengaged and disconnected from the story in front of me.

Any time I read a book, the writing style tends to be a make-or-break element for me. Unfortunately, in the case of this book, it was a break moment. There were inconsistent elements to the writing style—such as fourth wall breaking, which only lasted the first three-four chapters—but the roughest part was the telling and not showing. When I pick up a book, I want to immerse myself in the world it has to offer. Instead, the writing on page felt clunky and overly preachy. Often, it felt more like a monologue than prose that could pull a reader into its pages. Overall, the story felt more akin to middle grade quality and did not feel up to par with other young adult novels on the market.

I absolutely believe that we need more books in the young adult genre tackling these prominent and important issues found in American society. Even now, we’re amid a cultural shift, and it’s more important than ever to have this conversation, even at a fictional level. However, this novel was too ambitious in regard to the content it wanted to engage with, and the story lost sight of itself.

TW: death of a parent (off-page), suicide (off-page), racism, racial slurs

Thank you to Crown Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me access to the free advanced digital copy of this book.

I think going in I wanted to enjoy this book, but I've realized that at my rip age of being over 30, sometimes these high school stories just don't resonate with me like they once did. It wasn't a terrible book, but it just wasn't for me during the time that I read it.

This is the story of Alejandra Kim, a young woman of Korean and Latine descent who lives in Queens while attending a prestigious Manhattan prep school on scholarship. This major clash of cultures leaves Ale feeling lost at sea, searching for a place where she truly belongs, the hopes of going to college like a distant island on the horizon. I liked this story a lot and I appreciate that it talked about some real and heavy topics in an honest and respectful way. However there were some moments where the writing itself was quite distracting and took me out of the story (“freshperson?” come on, just say “ninth grade”). Inclusivity and forward social progress is very important in life and in media, but at times it felt like the author was doing the exact thing that Alejandra would chastise other characters for in the book.

Aside from that I liked Alejandra as a character; I found her relatable and she showed a lot of growth and self reflection, albeit that was prompted by other people in her life. As a person of global majority, a child of immigrants, and someone who grew up in New York City I really saw a lot of myself and my own life experiences in Ale; in her joy, her frustration, and the way her relationships brought out her different facets. Ale’s story is a universal one that’s been told time and time again and this particular iteration is the one needed for readers in this day and age.

Trigger warnings for this book include, but are not limited to: death, suicide, and racism. Remember to practice self care before, during, and after reading.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s for sending me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim is currently available in libraries and for purchase at major book retailers.

Absolute joy to read.

This is an excellent book for teens. Park executed this story perfectly. I hope all teens are fortunate enough to have someone place this book in their hands.

Alejandra Kim doesn't fit in or belong anywhere. At home, she and her mom barely talk or only fight ever since her dad died last year. At her prep school, she hides her true self with a fake persona designed to help her succeed and secure her future. At work and with her neighborhood friends, she pretends yet again. Maybe she will find home at a prestigious university.
But everything comes apart - or maybe falls into place - when Alejandra decides to use her voice. She speaks up about her school's "diversity" discussions and "wokeness." And she shares her truth with her best friend and mom. I appreciate that she found her voice on her journey to expose and express her true self.
Although I value the diverse voice, I almost didn't finish this book. It felt a little preachy. And I don't know Spanish, so I couldn't read some of the text. I also don't care for the profanity.
I do like the universal theme of belonging, friendships, family, and truth that impact every human.

This was a great story for teenagers. This story cover so many topics that teenagers deal with on a daily basis. This is an entertaining and at times heartbreaking story.

Here is a list of some topics covered in this book…

Loss of a parent
Lower income
Suicide
Depression
Privilege
Cultural expectations
First generation American
Biracial race
Immigration
Mental health
Racial melancholia

All thoughts and opinions are my own, and I have not been influenced by anyone.

This is one great shout-out to everyone who typecasts, prejudges, becomes an apologist, and hems and haws through their prejudices and bigotry - STOP IT - JUST DON’T DO IT. OK, now about this book.

Told with humor, some laugh out loud, mostly subtle and some heartbreaking this story, stole my heart even though I admit to not understanding a lot of the current “woke” talk. So your friend dresses in rags and is kind to you and seems to really care about you and you are thinking that you are on some sort of equal footing only to find out that she lives in a gazillion dollar brownstone. Not only that, she is white and being American is taken for granted and you stand there with your heart and mind being shredded as once again you are reminded that your name and face equal exactly what? - and how does anyone ever understand how much it hurts. Being a double/triple/quadruple minority scholarship kid at an Uber white prep school is only one facet of Alejandra’s very messed up situation. Her father being found on the tracks might trump everything else but it is going to take more than a few pages to get to that.

A coming of age, fighting for identity story that is well worth reading and not to be taken lightly. If any of it makes you cringe and want to look away - good - maybe it will give you just a little more insight and humanity. Thank you Crown books and NetGalley for a copy.

This book gives us another view on the American culture and how maybe it's not as evolved as it likes thinking to be. The best thing about it is that it comes from a writer who has lived what the character lives. It's given me a lot of food for thought, and I would love to see it discussed in schools, multicultural ones or not.

3.5, rounded up.

Alejandra has lost her father, her relationship with her mother is unstable and she has trouble seeing her own identity, as she goes to a rich school of mostly white people. How does a minority feel about those "woke" people? Do they even consider the individual as they disseminate the political correctness like they're performing the entire time? So how real can relating with them be? All those situations are presented with care, as this could too easily become an argument against the social progress we've struggled to reach.

In the end, despite all I just wrote, this is a book about grief and growing up led by a funny main character who is not living the best of her years. I can't recommend it enough to teenagers and adults alike.

It's a quick read, I was very engrossed in it, but while it was beautiful to see Ale grow, she does come on too strong, so I can see some readers having trouble identifying with her from the beginning. The story itself, while it gives us a pretty message isn't so interesting, and it is heavy for a lot of it, despite the narrator doing their best to carry a lighter tone. It's a lot. I like that, but I wish we had some fun moments too.

In all, not the perfect story, but a thought-provoking read I do recommend.


Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

While I appreciate what the message in this book was, I may have been too old to truly appreciate it. I felt like there were too many "issues" crammed into one book. If there had been one or two core issues, I think the book would have had a better flow to it.

Thank you so much to the publisher and the #NetGalley for the ARC

This was a different kind of book than I expected but it gave a "wakeup call" to some who are obsessed with being "woke". Alejandra is Korean but her name is Spanish and her parents came from Argentina. She knows who she is, but she has to keep explaining herself to everyone else. The book is a cautionary tale about the dangers of stereotyping. "Ale" comes from a lower income family and she in an exclusive school on a scholarship and she tries to fit in with her wealthy friends. It is not until graduation that she discovers that the wealthy girl in charge of the school paper that everyone thought was a bit snobbish actually also came from the same background as Ale. I highly recommend this YA novel. I received this as an arc from NetGalley and am under no pressure for a positive review.

Ramona Thompson

Alejandra Kim is a teen girl who doesn't seem to fit in in any box. She is both Korean and Argentinian, and those two things don't make her fit in with both the Asian and Latinx community. And mostly, she feels like she doesn't fit in in her exclusive and prestigious school Quaker Oats in Manhattan, where the school population is mostly white, whealthy, from Manhattan and not from Jackson Heights, where she lives in a small rental apartment with her hardworking mom who is a nurse, and who doesn't want to talk about her Papi's recent death on the subway tracks of the 7 train. Alejandra dreams of being accepted at Whyder College in Maine, and she works hard at school to reach that. But it is difficult at a predominantly white school with friends who consider themselves ''woke'', while actually they aren't so woke as they think they are. After a racial micro-aggressive comment of a teacher, Alejandra's best friend Lauren shines the light on this incident in public in school to fight this type of comments about in this case, Alejandra's Asian looks and the teacher's weird remark that ''it won't be difficult for her to get into college''. Her friend is awarded for standing up against racism and being ''woke''. But Alejandra didn't ask for this kind of spotlight, altough she loathed the comment, because she is a scholarship student, she tries to lie low and not make waves. She goes along with the many daily mispronunciations of her name and assumptions about her background. Alejandra just doesn't know how to be herself and where she belongs, or when she will ever figure it out.

With a perfect blend of humour and seriousness, Patricia Park describes Alejandra's life caught in the middle of everything, while feeling like she doesn't belong to any of it. It shines a real and raw light of how the world treats you when you are a girl like Alejandra, who is one of the most amazing and original teen characters that I read about in YA fiction in a long time. Beside everything going on at her preppy high school, the grief of her father who commited suicide because of depression really was raw and real, and altough the sadness that you felt in the relationship with her mother, which was forever changed, and in the apartment where they live in Queens. It was written so real and beautiful that you could just imagine everything, and how difficult it is for Alejandra to live both her life at home and school which seem two different worlds. The feelings of Alejandra are really coming over from the pages to the reader, and this is why I love, love, love this outstanding, brilliant and original book, it truly has a wow! effect and after finishing it, it still was in my head for the next week to think it over. I loved Patricia Park previous book Re, Jane which is also an amazingly outstanding read, but this book even topped it!!!

Don't miss out on this beauty of a book!!

Patricia Park’s Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim is an engrossing young adult novel. It’s one of those books that pulls you in immediately and doesn’t let go.

Alejandra Kim has felt like an imposter since she first became a student at her preppy Quaker Oats school. She can’t forget she’s there due to a 90% scholarship, so she tries not to ruffle anyone’s feathers and reminds herself of her father’s words that she’s a guest there and to act accordingly.

Racist teacher comment? Laugh it off. Privileged wealthy classmates blowing gobs of money on lunch while she orders a six dollar tea? Brush it off. With the unexpected death of her father earlier that year, Alejandra has more to worry about than the short-term problems she finds at her high school, even if they cut deeper than she lets on.

Alejandra’s code switching as she moves between her worlds is portrayed with precision and accuracy that shows how those hurts build up. Every time a classmate calls her Ally, versus her family and friends calling her Ale, every moment she makes herself smaller, shoves her emotions deeper, every instance she douses her fire to make others more comfortable– it adds up, building, growing. She’s convinced she just has to endure it until she can make her escape to her dream college, far away from NYC, her mom, and the place her father died.

But the grass isn’t always greener, and doing what it takes to get into this school takes its own toll on Ale, her friends, and their relationships.

There is so much this novel does perfectly. The first person narrative voice captures Alejandra’s internal struggles. Her codeswitching, especially, is highlighted through her narrative lens. At school, she’s Ally, Laurel’s best friend who doesn’t cause trouble; at home, she’s Ale who feels guilty about impulsive words she said to her parents; at work, she’s Ale the cousin and Ale the worker and Ale who can read their upper-class clientele like a book; with her friend Billy, she’s Ale, childhood friend and crush who may have crushed his heart. With all these versions of Alejandra Kim floating around, Ale doesn’t know who she wants to be, let alone where she fits.

Imposter Syndrome encapsulates many themes, from universal teen stuff (realizing everyone is going through something) and mental health to BIPOC experiences such as belonging, immigrant experiences, code-switching, and constantly feeling like you aren’t enough in some way or another. At times, Ale feels as if she isn’t Latinx enough, or Korean enough, or even smart enough to be at her private high school. There is so much overlap between experiences. Park beautifully shows not only that overlap, but also areas where singular experiences occur.

This is one of those books that is just so good, all around, that even writing the review is hard. I just want to shove it in your hands and say, “read this! It’s amazing!”

These relatable characters in a vibrant setting deal with applicable issues teens — and everyone, honestly– are coming up amidst.

Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim is now available. Thank you to author Patricia Park, RandomHouse Children’s, and NetGalley for an advanced e-ARC such that I could share my honest opinions.