By Samantha Diaz
Would you ever want to see your mom as a teenager? It may be mind-boggling to think about, but in Maurene Goo’s newest YA novel, Throwback, main character Samantha Kang is thrust into the ’90s meeting her mom as a teenager and helping her win homecoming queen.
Samantha Kang has a close relationship with her halmoni, but Sam doesn’t understand why her mom, Priscilla, is distant with Halmoni; they are mother and daughter after all. When Halmoni suffers a heart attack and, to prevent further injury, is induced into a coma, Sam becomes an emotional wreck. The sudden and unknown shock of her halmoni’s condition rightfully causes Sam to react negatively—and yet, Priscilla remains calm, something Sam cannot understand.
After a big argument between mother and daughter, Sam is stranded outside in the rain with no ride to school. That’s when she resorts to modern thinking and requests a rideshare to take her to school. Unbeknownst to Sam, she is taken to school—but in 1995! This is where she meets her mom, Priscilla, as a popular 17 year-old cheerleader. Despite their vast differences, Sam needs to befriend Priscilla in order to go back home to 2025.
The entire story is Sam on a mission to change the past to create a better future. As a fellow teenager, Sam is able to form a stronger connection with Priscilla and finally understands what makes Priscilla the woman Sam knows her to be. Although it’s an unlikely friendship, Sam and Priscilla are nearly inseparable as they formulate a campaign to win over the student population and get Priscilla the votes she needs to win homecoming queen. Along the way, the girls begin to value each other’s presence and gradually accept one another as true friends(“‘You know what? I’ve worked hard. I deserve this necklace.’ The number one job of girlfriends was to agree with statements like these.”).
Goo has a way of writing swoony stories that tug on the heartstrings and I’ve been a fan of her books since 2015’s I Believe in a Thing Called Love. However, Throwback is by far my favorite novel by Goo (but really, all her books are amazing); What makes me say that is how Throwback parallels my own life. First off, Samantha and I share the same name. If that’s not a connection, I don’t know what is. Second, we both have mothers with whom we have had to plead to understand who we are—the constant arguments and disagreements prove that. Third, Sam and I both went to the same school as our moms, and both of them graduated in the nineties. The references such as “pagers” and “microfiche machine” really brought back memories as I chatted with my mom about Throwback. Last, the generational experience. Sam and I are second generation while our moms are both first generation. Although I come from a Mexican culture, Sam’s and Priscilla’s thoughts and experiences mirror mine and my own mom’s.
If there is one thing to take away from Throwback, it is the generational story that illustrates the cultural shift from generation to generation. As Sam learns more about Priscilla, she begins to understand the weight that a first generation Korean American kid faces. Sam shares, “In my entire seventeen years of living with my mother, I had never heard her talk about the pressures she dealt with as the kid of immigrants.” It took a trip to the past to fully comprehend their vast differences.
Readers who grew up first or second generation will appreciate Throwback. We might never fully comprehend our parent’s generation, but by chance, Sam is given the gift of watching firsthand her mom as a teenager interact with halmoni. After some reflection, Sam learns that her and her mom’s high school lives carry different weight – “The armor she needed–it was for a battle that didn’t exist for me.” This is true for all of us second generation kids. The upbringing our parents had does not always reflect that of our own.
Now, I cannot finish discussing Throwback without mentioning Sam and her love interest in the book –Jamie Mendoza, who makes his appearance in 1995 as a new student. Wherever Sam goes, Jamie happens to be there, a sweet meet-cute situation where the love interests coincidentally run into each other throughout the story. In this case, Sam befriends Jamie through their shared experience as the “new” kid in school. They quickly become friends and soon share some interesting secrets.
Not to spoil anything, but there is one plot twist that will knock your socks off. Let me preface that when I reached that point in the story my jaw dropped. I needed a minute to recompose and wrap my head around the sudden shift in the plot. Goo has mastered a jerking twist that readers might not see coming, and one that you surely do not want to miss.
It is no secret that Goo is a talented storyteller. Throwback will pull a reader in for many reasons. Whether it’s for the romance, laughs, nineties references, or visiting the LA setting, this is one story that should be on everyone’s shelves. Take a look at a Gen Z perspective of what life was like in the nineties and how sometimes it takes an unexpected trip to the past to fully understand our parents.
Throwback is available from Bookshop, Garden District Book Shop, Green Bean Books, Kinokuniya, Old Town Books, and The Ripped Bodice.
Samantha Desirae Diaz is a writer who explores true crime, paranormal, and romance stories. Born and raised in Chino, CA, she earned her B.A. in screenwriting from California State University, Northridge, and her M.F.A. in creative writing from Chapman University.