I received an e-galley of The Silence That Binds Us by Joanna Ho from HCC Frenzy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved it. Add it to the best books of 2022. Be ready to have your heart broken. Be ready to heal. Be ready with a box of tissues. The Silence That Binds Us is a story about May, a young Taiwanese American teenager who struggles with living up to her mother's expectations. She seeks solace and companionship from her older brother who seems to be perfect - until that illusion is broken with Danny's death by suicide. The grief that follows pushes May and her parents to the edge - and when the family is only starting to recover, hurtful and racist accusations that her Asian parents drove Danny to his suicide are made. While May is enraged and wishes to respond, her parents would rather keep their heads down and not draw more attention. May and her parents struggle with how one deals with such hateful and racist words and actions in the community. And as May continues to deal with grief, she also begins a journey of understanding the racism that has always been present in her community - even when it did not personally and directly affect her.

I loved it. As much as it also tugged at my heart and enveloped me in the grief - Joanna Ho is an incredible writer - it also made me reflect on so much. The relationship between May and her parents. Discussion about grief. The model minority myth and the history of the Asian community in America. Black and Asian solidarity against racism. An honest and brutal look at how communities of colour have and have not supported one another while fighting against the very same systems that strive to pit them against one another. The Silence That Binds Us is, without a doubt, a new favourite read of mine that I will be returning to time and time again.