Girls on the line

Format:

Book

Title:

Girls on the line

Author:

Liu, Jennie, 1971- author

ISBN:

9781512459388

9781728445977

Publication:

Minneapolis, MN : Carolrhoda Lab, [2018]

Physical Description:

226 pages ; 22 cm

Summary:

Told in two voices, Luli and Yun, raised in an orphanage to age sixteen, work together in a factory until Yun, pregnant, disappears and Luli must confront the dangers of the outside world to find her. Includes facts about China's One-Child Policy and its effects.

Gujiao, China, 2009. Luli has aged out of the orphanage, and her friend Yun helps her get work at a factory. Yun has new clothes, a cell phone, and a boyfriend. But word is Yung is a bride trafficker, romancing young women, kidnapping them, and selling them to bachelors in the countryside. When Yun discovers she's pregnant, she is fired from her job ... and disappears. Is there any way Luli can help her friend? -- adapted from jacket.

Subject(s):

Missing persons -- Juvenile fiction.

Factories -- Juvenile fiction.

Human trafficking -- Juvenile fiction.

Pregnancy -- Juvenile fiction.

Teenage pregnancy -- Juvenile fiction.

Orphans -- Juvenile fiction.

Missing persons -- Fiction.

Factories -- Fiction.

Pregnancy -- Fiction.

Orphans -- Fiction.

China -- Juvenile fiction.

China -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

China -- Juvenile fiction.

Genre:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Salem Main Library	TEEN Liu, J.	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

A powerful, dual-narrative coming-of-age story set in 2009 China.

Luli has just turned sixteen and finally aged out of the orphanage where she's spent the last eight years. Her friend Yun has promised to help her get work.

Yun loves the independence that her factory job brings her. For the first time in her life she has her own money and can get the things she wants: nice clothes, a cell phone . . . and Yong, her new boyfriend.

There are rumors about Yong, though. Some people say he's a bride trafficker: romancing young women only to kidnap them and sell them off to bachelors in the countryside. Yun doesn't believe it. But then she discovers she's pregnant--the same day she gets fired from her job. If she can't scrape together enough money to terminate the pregnancy, she'll face a huge fine for having an unauthorized child.

Luli wants to help her friend, but she's worried about what Yong might do . . . especially when Yun disappears.

"[E]xplores a moment of contemporary history and a culture that is underrepresented in YA realistic fiction."--starred, School Library Journal

"Both poignant and agonizing, Girls on the Line is a must read."--starred, Foreword Reviews

"An affecting and original thrill ride." Kirkus Reviews

Reviews (4)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 10 Up-The author explores China's One Child Policy and its complex repercussions in this compelling dual narrative. Luli and Yun grew up together in an orphanage and find themselves in the grind of factory work as they seek financial and social independence. Shy Luli observes as Yun pursues a relationship with Yong, who self-describes as a "bride collector." When Yun becomes pregnant and gets fired from the factory, her world closes in with the consequences of bearing a child out of wedlock in 2009 China. Yun is self-aware enough to know she cannot face her problem alone, but her survival-mode mentality leads her away from nurturing Luli. Yong's credibility crumbles, but Yun is so embedded in his world, she needs Luli and others to navigate each step of her journey. Liu shifts narration creatively along plot points and uses a matter-of-fact tone to immerse readers in the unfolding action. The characters are realistic products of their experiences-they are flawed, accessible, and multidimensional. This novel explores a moment of contemporary history and a culture that is underrepresented in YA realistic fiction. Fans of Audacity by Melanie Crowder or Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez will gobble this up. VERDICT Recommended purchase, especially for YA collections serving older teens or new adults.--Angela Wiley, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Horn Book Review

In 2009 Gujiao, China, teens Luli and Yun are girls on the line. They labor long, mind-numbing hours at an electronics factory while living with up to eight other people in a dormitory room. Though the young women were raised like sisters in the same grim orphanage, they couldnt be more different. Outgoing Yun loves the relative freedom that the job providesmaking her own money and going out to clubswhile shy Luli would rather save her money and sleep after her shift is over. When Yun discovers she is pregnant (with an unauthorized child) by her shady boyfriend Yong, who is a suspected bride trafficker, Luli is forced to set her timidity aside in order to stand up for her friend. As the girls navigate their severely limited options while trying to avoid being fired, fined, or kidnapped, readers are given a perceptive, sobering glimpse into Chinas oppressive economic bureaucracy. Lius candid prose and matter-of-fact tone, related in alternating first-person chapters, heighten the horror of the harrowing conditions many Chinese girls and women are subjected to on a daily basis. Liu elucidates in a closing authors note why these situations are largely a result of Chinas One-Child Policy. Pass this to readers of Patricia McCormicks Sold (rev. 9/06) and Peggy Kerns Little Peach. jennifer hubert swan January/February 2019 p 97(c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Review

It is 2009 in the city of Gujiao, China: 16-year-old Luli and 17-year-old Yun, best friends, have aged out of their orphanage and are now enjoying the exhilarating independence of factory work.Their wages and dorm life offer an exciting taste of freedom, as does Yun's handsome new boyfriend, Yong. Yun's jealous ex-boyfriend says that Yong is illegally trafficking brides to the countryside, but Yun refuses to believe it. When she becomes pregnant, however, Yun, Luli, and Yong each have their own agendas, and their decisions and deceits result in a compelling, action-packed chain of events. During this time, China's One-Child Policy made unmarried and multiple pregnancies illegal for most: Mothers would be fined for unauthorized pregnancies, and without an official permit would not even be allowed into a hospital to give birth. Told in the first person from the two girls' alternating points of view, readers will be drawn into their emotional lives through sharing both their quiet, day-to-day routines and the moments of high drama, all of which are direct results of policies that trapped ordinary citizens and forced them into making terrible decisions.An affecting and original thrill ride highlighting the bond between two friends put in a horrible situation by actual Chinese government policies. (author's note) (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Sixteen-year-old Luli has just aged out of the Chinese orphanage where she's been living for eight years since her grandfather died. Her fellow orphan and friend Yun, who left the orphanage a year earlier, gets Luli a job at the electronics factory where she works. In alternating chapters, the girls relate the dramatic story of Yun's unplanned pregnancy, her human trafficker boyfriend's plans to sell their baby, and Luli's loyalty to Yun despite Yun's growing coldness. Liu's debut novel, based on her immigrant parents' past and her own trips to China, is set in 2009 and offers an insider's view of the very real plight of young women affected by China's one-child policy. The unusual setting and focus provide a much-needed look at the people who produce the goods we rely on worldwide and the hardships they face. Liu provides an authentic voice and portrayal of young Chinese women in difficult situations. Readers will learn much from this absorbing and realistic tale.--Debbie Carton Copyright 2018 Booklist