When I finished this book, it was my fourth five-star read in a row! That’s never happened before. The Language of Seabirds, Robin Hood Book 10, The Last Ronin, and now The Silence That Binds Us. Of all those books, this is by far the longest, and I was sad when it had to end. All of these books I didn’t want to end. But anyway, now for something specific about TSTBU.
The Silence That Binds Us is about a Chinese-American girl named Maybelline Chen and a horrible tragedy that befalls her family. Her older brother Danny, about to go off to college, rejected from the ones he wanted to go to and seeming burnt out and depressed…steps in front of a moving train. The family is wrecked.
And before the family even has time to fully process their grief, some schmuck named Nathan McIntyre, a socialite who has his hands in a lot of businesses, slams Meimei’s family as the reason for Danny’s death, because apparently Asian-American parents push their children too much to be the best of the best and mentally abuse them when they’re not. Horrified by the accusations, Mei finds a new purpose; to rewrite the narrative going around about her and her community because of this. But the racist keyboard warriors and the fact Mei’s parents have jobs that could be in jeopardy make her cause something that could ruin her family even more. She has a choice – will she rise, despite the risks, or keep herself in comfortable line?
Everything in this book feels true-of-heart. The agony, the disbelief, the hearts shattered to pieces, all of that radiates off this book so honestly, I could hear the shrieks and sobs. And the conflict about racism and the commentary from both sides? These people and these situations exist. The stereotype is poisonous and unfair, yet it’s blatantly alive because some people always need someone else to blame. Someone else they can blame without getting into trouble with the high greedy elites. And even if some Asian parents expect a lot from their children, the same goes for every race and ethnicity, really.
The book juggles both a fight-back narrative and a broken-family narrative, yet they blend together perfectly without getting in each other’s way. It takes its time to make it feel like nothing important was left out. I felt right there with Mei every step of the way. There are several moments with Meimei where we’re processing her grief, reminiscing about Danny, angry about Nate McIntyre’s bastardization of her family, and it never feels fake or overstepped.
The Silence That Binds Us asks each and every one of us this question: “If you wanted to speak out, what do you have to lose? And now that you’ve thought about that, do you really feel free?” This is especially an important topic today, where cancel culture is rampant and pressure campaigns can ruin people’s lives just for speaking out against something that’s completely justified to call out. And it’s especially important in a world where things are so much more expensive, and it’s harder to raise and take care of our families. Losing a job and losing credibility are even bigger deals than they were before, and when you have a kid who you still have to pay for, almost old enough for college…The world right now feels like we were suddenly thrust into an alternate one we were never ready for, millions suddenly struggling to save and having to downgrade their lives. It’s a powerful weapon, preventing lots of people from standing up and fighting for fear of losing more.
The Silence That Binds Us is a phenomenal book, and I hope to read a lot more like it in the near future. I can gladly add this to The Hate U Give, Anger is a Gift and This Book Won’t Burn, in my collection of teenage revolution gold mines.
My grade: 5 stars out of 5
William J. McGinn 
Leave a comment