A Cab Called Reliable

by Patti Kim

Ahn Joo Cho had emigrated with her family to Virginia when she was seven. Two years later, a cab called 'Reliable' takes away her mother and her infant brother forever. Grade by grade in school, Ahn Joo matures within an alien society, excelling at creative writing as her home life with her old-fashioned father deteriorates. Language heals her, saves her. As Ahn Joo enters womanhood, a heart-breaking secret finally sets her free to create her own heritage.

Genres: Fiction, Drama, Contemporary, American, Asian Literature, Asian American

156 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Patti Kim was born in Busan, Korea, and immigrated to the United States on Christmas of 1974 with her mother, father, and older sister. At the age of five, she thought she was a writer and scribbled gibberish all over the pages of her mother's Korean-English dictionary and got in big trouble for it. Her scribbling eventually paid off. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Maryland. She lives with her husband and two daughters who give her plenty to write about every day.

Reviews

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a story about a Korean-American girl who moved to America when she was 7 and the issues of identity, culture, and coming of age that she faces. Her mother takes her brother and leaves her with her abusive father when she is 9 and she can't understand why. As she matures she strives to find her place in the world and come to terms with who she is and the hand she's been dealt.

A part of me really wanted to like this story, the writing is good and many of the themes are universal, but I just felt bored reading it. It's a really short book and shouldn't take long at all to read but there's not much excitement, I didn't feel invested in the characters and I didn't really care what happened to them. I felt like I was reading a documentary on a Korean immigrant family. The thing that really did it in for me though was the author telling me flat out the reason why the protagonist's mother left. The main character spends all this time trying to figure out why her mother abandoned her - her entire identity seems to be founded in that question - only to find that there is a simple straightforward reason to why she left. For me this book lost most of its depth and became devoid of further contemplation after that.

Even though I'm being rather critical of it, I did still get some enjoyment from reading it. Like I said, a lot of the themes are easy to relate to and to a certain extent it's interesting to see how this girl and her father develop.

While I wouldn't recommend it to any serious reader, I'm sure younger people, especially girls, could find it enjoyable.

[Jordan Cummings · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book really disturbed me. The first chapter was intriguing to me because the main character, a young Korean-American girl, sees her mom leave her and her father with her brother. The mother leaves a note telling the girl that she would be back for her. In reality, the mom never comes back to get the girl. The father, who is sexually abusive, gave me the creeps. I did not enjoy his character at all, and hated the way he treated his daughter. The whole point of the story was for the girl to find out why her mom left. That mystery was one thing that kept me reading. However, when I found out why she left in the first place, I was completely disappointed. The whole book led up to find out, and it just was anti-climactic. The ending was also confusing. I feel like the author got lazy and just wanted to end the book quickly because that’s what it felt like: a quick and messy ending.

[Barry · Rating 1 out of 5]

"A Cab Called Reliable" is a fine and easy read. It's a pretty good introduction for people interested in expanding into books of cross- and intra-cultural experiences, particularly for Asian-Americans (Korean-Americans specifically in this book). Here, the novel takes is a coming-of-age approach and situates within larger cultural and identity struggles. It is definitely more sophisticated than something like "The Joy Luck Club" but falls short when compared to "A Gesture Life." I'd recommend this book for people who want to read 20 pages before they fall asleep (what I did) or to others looking to introduce discussions of culture or maybe even feminism. But, for someone looking to grapple with these large issues, I recommend going elsewhere.

[Markus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like the book, because Patti Kim's style of writing gives you the freedom to make your own thoughts about the plot and the characters.
The story itself is very impressive. I am glad to wirte my final exam about this book for the German highschool.

Greetings from Germany

[Jill Porco · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fabulous roman a clef from Patti Kim. It is a coming of age story of a Korean-American during the 1970s. Kim uses language well to convey the characters' moods and trains of thought. A slim book, but well worth the read.

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

A coming of age Asian American experience. But I did not get very into the novel partly because I felt like it never fully explained the reasons or motives behind the character's actions. I did not really connect with the protagonist, nor did I understand her volatile relationship with her father. It was ok.

[Fred Daly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this short novel quickly and liked it, though it's a little rough around the edges. It's about a Korean girl whose mother abandons the family two years after they move to the U. S. The novel covers several years in her life, normally not a great idea, but several moments are surprising, and I found myself caring about her and her father.

[Willow · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are so many questions she left unanswered and for that very reason I think it makes a great read.. Its a book I sometimes feel like ripping apart and then piecing it together with black and red tapes..
I am keeping the book though, for the unanswered questions in life.

[thuen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very poignant writing. But the story was too short and should have been developed further.

[Andy Plonka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memoir of a Korean American girl as she grows up in a household consisting of her father and herself.

[Kayla Rae · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this in the middle-readers section of a used book store and I don't know why. The levels of this story are beyond the comprehension of almost any elementary or middle school child.

[Tracey Hook · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read! A refreshing read for a reader of YA fiction.

[Rebecca Stark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Cab Called Reliable is a beautifully written, lyrical tale about a Korean girl coming of age in America. It's painful at times, but worth sticking with the story.

[Matteo Celeste · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Un taxi chiamato fedeltà" di Patti Kim non è un capolavoro e presenta, secondo me, delle note di indubbia acerbezza: credo che questo si debba dire. Però. Però l'opera in questione, l'unica e, stando alla terza di copertina, l'ultima di Kim - «come se con essa avesse esaurito il fertilizzante interiore che le ha consentito di narrare una storia che rivela tanta parte di sé» -, è in grado di incuriosire per diversi aspetti, forieri di riflessioni per nulla banali: la narratrice è Ahn Joo Cho, una ragazzina che, mentre ritorna da scuola, vede salire in fretta e furia sua madre e suo fratello, Min Joo, su un taxi con la scritta FEDELTÀ sulla portiera.
È questo l'evento da cui si sviluppa il tutto e che ci consentirà, in primis, di entrare nella vita di questa ragazzina coreano-americana dalla situazione familiare - scopriremo - davvero "incasinata"; e per affrontare il trauma dell'abbandono della madre - e, da questo punto di vista, il trauma di Ahn Joo lo sentiremo eccome poiché ogni cosa che ci racconterà potrà essere ricondotta a uno stesso interrogativo originario che ancora attende una risposta: «Cara mamma, non ho ancora capito perché mi hai abbandonata. Devo continuare ad aspettarti?» - Ahn Joo diviene, nei confronti di tutti, partendo dal padre, una "ribelle".
La situazione familiare di Ahn Joo ci racconta allora di un nucleo familiare problematico in cui si sperimenta l'abbandono, certamente, ma anche la violenza, il rancore, le recriminazioni per una vita promessa - e che ha portato al trasferimento dalla Corea agli Stati Uniti - mostratasi una delusione, una difficoltà, in quanto migranti, di integrarsi (o, all'opposto, di farlo fin troppo bene, quasi arrivando a perdere la propria "coreanicità"). Ci racconta insomma anche di famiglie migranti. Anzi, forse è proprio questo il tema centrale del libro, che muove dall'evento traumatico vissuto da Ahn Joo.
E, a tal proposito, nello svolgimento della trama, noi non possiamo non accorgerci del tema delle discriminazioni grette a cui i migranti asiatici (e non è difficile immaginare estendibili ad altre etnie minoritarie, mutatis mutandis) sono soggetti. Uno stralcio del testo credo sia esemplificativo al riguardo: «Due di loro si erano appoggiati al furgoncino di mio padre, avevano guardato dentro e mi avevano chiesto l'ora. Perché mi guardi con quella faccia da cinese del cazzo? Non sai parlare la mia lingua? Sei cinese? No, non sono una cinese piatta come una tavola da surf, e nemmeno una giapponese, una taiwanese o una vietnamita. Sono una coreano-americana. Cominciarono a sogghignare, guardandomi, come per dire "E che differenza c'è?"». Ma il testo di Patti Kim ci ricorda che esiste anche una discriminazione tutta interna al gruppo etnico di appartenenza, come quella che sperimenta di fatto Ahn Joo allorquando la vicina - una vecchia nonna coreana - le chiede se uno dei suoi genitori è cinese perché «quegli occhi [- i suoi occhi -] non sono occhi coreani. E la forma del viso, i capelli, perfino il modo in cui sbatti le ciglia. Non è coreano».
Ecco, per questi temi - il racconto di un nucleo familiare di persone migranti che sperimenta una crisi e il "carsico" tema della discriminazione -, nonché per lo stile narrativo interessante, "Un taxi chiamato fedeltà", per quanto presenti tratti immaturi, a mio avviso, risulta comunque una lettura interessante per comprendere la prospettiva di una famiglia di migranti coreani alle prese con il contesto socio-culturale statunitense degli anni Settanta.

[Pandamunky · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was not fond of this book. It was disjointed and read like a journal skipping from one experience to the next. The relationships between Ahn Joo and her father and with Boris are disturbing.

*Spoiler*

Yes, the story come full circle. Ahn Joo's father pushes her away just like his father did with him. I see where the author is going with this; history repeats itself, but it was not executed well.

Due to poor execution, I would not recommend this novel.

[Anne Carroll]

Fine. I didn’t love it. There’s a lot I would like to see fleshed out. The local connection is nice, though. I wouldn’t teach this—I just think students would have too many questions about some of the gaps.

[Peter E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars if you have a Korean background.
Otherwise, probably a 1 to a 3.

[Jane Francis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had a preview of the first 6 or 7 pages and the story seemed interesting enough that I bought the book online; if I'd been able to thumb through in person, I wouldn't have gotten it. The writing is decent enough but the story went downhill for me by the 4th chapter. I'd probably give the author another chance with a different title, but this one was really disappointing.