conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me a description for a book titled Kay's Lucky Coin Variety about Mary, Mary's, English with the genre: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: In this book set in 1980s Toronto, Mary's family's life revolves around their small convenience store. In her final year of high school, Mary tracks the comings and goings of the prostitutes on the corner who buy cigarettes and condoms, harbors a crush on her English teacher, and spends time with her friends. When university starts, Mary balances extra part-time work with her studies and relationships. But when she tries to juggle romantic relationships with her former English teacher and a nice Korean boy her family adores, things spiral out of control and turn violent. Mary tries to balance her Korean and Canadian cultures. Her parents have high expectations, but they are not nearly as strict and demanding as those often depicted in narratives about bicultural families. Mary's descriptions of her life tend toward the matter-of-fact, downplaying some of the novel's darker elements. Her family's resilience keeps the story ultimately hopeful despite several tragic elements. The pace and plotting pick up in the second half as Mary enters university and starts striking out on her own and making mistakes. The drama of her two relationships is particularly gripping as it grows creepier. VERDICT A strong balance of character and plot make this a compelling addition for coming-of-age collections.Jennifer Rothschild, Arlington Public Library, VA
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Reverse the sentences.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Jennifer Rothschild, Arlington Public Library, VA. VERDICT A strong balance of character and plot make this a compelling addition for coming-of-age collections. The drama of her two relationships is particularly gripping as it grows creepier. The pace and plotting pick up in the second half as Mary enters university and starts striking out on her own and making mistakes. Her family's resilience keeps the story ultimately hopeful despite several tragic elements. Mary's descriptions of her life tend toward the matter-of-fact, downplaying some of the novel's darker elements. Her parents have high expectations, but they are not nearly as strict and demanding as those often depicted in narratives about bicultural families. Mary tries to balance her Korean and Canadian cultures. But when she tries to juggle romantic relationships with her former English teacher and a nice Korean boy her family adores, things spiral out of control and turn violent. When university starts, Mary balances extra part-time work with her studies and relationships. In her final year of high school, Mary tracks the comings and goings of the prostitutes on the corner who buy cigarettes and condoms, harbors a crush on her English teacher, and spends time with her friends.In this book set in 1980s Toronto, Mary's family's life revolves around their small convenience store
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me the first five paragraphs for this book.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Kay's Lucky Coin Variety
  I sighed. "It's the only thing I'm good at." If I'd never had a crush on Mr. Allen, I might not have discovered I could write. I felt foolish now realizing just how infatuated I'd been with him. Had our paths never crossed, I might be studying law, living my mother's dream. "It's fate," I said. "Blame it on the stars."
  I thought of my mother and her mother and all the other mothers before them. It now seemed too easy, too convenient to blame them for our present circumstances. "I know. We could never agree on anything." Unlike my mother with her ideas of reincarnation, I regarded life as a one-way trip. I had one chance at an extraordinary life, a life where I could choose to become the person I wanted to be.
  I didn't know what to say. The idea that the dreams I had for myself weren't any different from my mother's seemed absurd.
  I knew what he was thinking. Unlike him with his church and his prayers, I had nowhere to turn. But it was fine, I reasoned. It had always been our family way to deny anything truly uncomfortable, to not express our emotions. We didn't apologize, we didn't forgive. We just forgot and carried on.
  The front door opened again and our dad walked in. "The sun's out," he said. "Good for business." He smiled and fixed himself a coffee to go. He and Josh were headed to a wholesaler.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me five more paragraphs.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: This was her first visit with us since attending my mother's funeral three years earlier. Unlike my mother's friends or my emohs in Korea, she'd prayed to her Christian God and was confident her sister's soul was resting peacefully in heaven.
  Had she been at my graduation, my mother would have said in her usual weary way, "If you only knew just how many packs of cigarettes, bags of milk, and thousands of newspapers we had to sell to get you here today." Her eyes would have panned the campus grounds, and taken in the hundreds of graduates and their families assembled on the lawns outside Convocation Hall. She would have wondered how many other families were immigrants, and had worked as hard as she and my dad had to get their children to graduation day. She would have also been fiercely proud that Josh was here now, studying business at the university.
  Inside, I found myself squeezed into a seat between two graduates I'd never seen before. I told myself to breathe deeply.
  Every so often after my mother's death, a shadow would fall over everything. The first few times it happened, I panicked, an almost paralyzing despair overcoming me. I ended up turning to a therapist I'd found through the university's psych services. Her name was Priya and she was Indian. Her background helped her understand my own immigrant experiences. She helped me understand that everything I felt was related to my mother and Joon-Ho, and went as far back as the night of Leon's attack. She told me to be gentle with myself.
  We even talked about Delia, and my inability to save her. "Is that why you tried so hard to save Joon-Ho?" she asked.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me the last five paragraphs.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: I shielded my eyes from the sun to look up at two white gulls flying high above us. I smiled and patted his shoulder. "We'd better get back to the store," I said. "Josh will need a break."
  A huge hug and thanks to Lee Gowan for introducing me to my incredible editor, Phyllis Bruce, who saw potential in a story that was merely a whisper at the time. Many thanks to my agent, Jackie Kaiser, for her ongoing support and guidance.
  Finally, to my parents, my brothers, John and Martin, my husband, Patrick, and daughter, Claire, thanks for your endless encouragement over the many years it took to complete this novel. You have my love always.
  ANN Y. K. CHOI was born in Chung-Ju, South Korea, and immigrated with her family to Canada in the 1970s. She holds an Honours BA from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. In 2012, she graduated from the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies' Creative Writing Program, winning the Marina Nemat Award for top final manuscript. A high school teacher, she lives in Toronto with her husband and their daughter.
  For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-800-268-3216 or CustomerService@simonandschuster.ca.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the first sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: I smiled and patted his shoulder. "We'd better get back to the store," I said. "Josh will need a break."
  A huge hug and thanks to Lee Gowan for introducing me to my incredible editor, Phyllis Bruce, who saw potential in a story that was merely a whisper at the time. Many thanks to my agent, Jackie Kaiser, for her ongoing support and guidance.
  Finally, to my parents, my brothers, John and Martin, my husband, Patrick, and daughter, Claire, thanks for your endless encouragement over the many years it took to complete this novel. You have my love always.
  ANN Y. K. CHOI was born in Chung-Ju, South Korea, and immigrated with her family to Canada in the 1970s. She holds an Honours BA from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. In 2012, she graduated from the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies' Creative Writing Program, winning the Marina Nemat Award for top final manuscript. A high school teacher, she lives in Toronto with her husband and their daughter.
  For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-800-268-3216 or CustomerService@simonandschuster.ca.