WORD LISTS

"The Silence that Binds Us" by Joanna Ho, Chapters 21–39

Mon Sep 25 10:52:44 EDT 2023
By Vocabulary.com (NY)Visual Thesaurus Moderator
Descended from Chinese immigrants who'd settled in California, high school junior Maybelline Chen struggles against both cultural and racist stereotypes, especially after her older brother commits suicide.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–20, Chapters 21–39, Chapters 40–60, Chapter 61–Epilogue
acute
My acute awareness of his absence makes him present everywhere I turn.
tirade
Marc’s voice cools Tiya’s protective wrath just as she is about to launch into another tirade.
taut
“She told me not to. She said she'd be right back,” says Tiya, her voice taut.
venture
A low whisper ripples through the room when Josh and his father, Nathaniel McIntyre, a big-shot venture capitalist, walk in.
abstract
I'm a bunch of mixed-up emotions thrown abstractly on canvas: a color block of embarrassment here, a stroke of gratitude there, a solid background of confusion behind everything else.
doozy
We started holding the Junior Jam to help us get prepared for the coming year. It can be a real doozy. I don’t need to tell you that the pressure to succeed at Sequoia Park High is unparalleled.
caricature
Celeste flips back one page and there’s a funny caricature of a man snoring.
facade
The fragile facade they've worked so hard to piece together has collapsed beneath the blame and accusations hurled their way.
desecrate
That man doesn’t get to talk about my parents like that. He doesn’t get to desecrate Danny’s memory.
wane
I write and write and write until the crackling red flames wane into pulsing embers.
chasm
Silence is the space
between my mom and me—
a chasm
over which we throw words
that make the distance
wider.
submissive
If Hollywood made a movie about her life, she’d be some submissive, silent babe in a qipao, too weak to hold her own chopsticks.
meager
Somehow Nǎi-Nai turned their meager ingredients into dumplings and sold them on the streets.
humble
She made enough to buy new shoes and her own food cart. Eventually, she was able to open a small dumpling shop. She and Yé-Ye built a humble life in Chinatown with their two boys: my dad and my uncle Joe.
burble
A small sulfur pond burbles in my stomach.
ensuing
The article outlines the purpose of the Junior Jam and its ensuing “discussion.”
expendable
Some Asian boy.
A wrapper
tossed on the floor,
a blemish
on the sidewalk.
Expendable.
absolve
As if rewriting
my family’s story
absolves you
of responsibility
in this narrative.
wayward
“Or what, obviously,” I say huffily as I dismantle the knot, shake out my hair, hook the wayward strand with my pinkie, and twist the mass back into place.
sacrilege
In fact, getting into an Ivy or Stanford or Berkeley and choosing to go elsewhere feels like sacrilege around here.
curt
“And no, he didn't steal anything," adds Marc curtly.
liberal
“That's what I said to Ayanna! It’s always the supposedly liberal places that are the most racist,” Tiya cuts in.
eyelet
She’s wearing a white Bohemian-style shirt with eyelets along its ruffled sleeves.
commend
Is she commending
 me for my courage?
wistfully
A smile plays wistfully at the right corner of her mouth.
congeal
All the food I’ve been stuffing into my mouth congeals into a heavy weight at the pit of my stomach.
infuse
My mom adds vegetables into the pot, and the cabbage shrinks into the hot water. It has become a fragrant soup, infused with flavor.
lilting
She speaks in Mandarin, its warm, lilting tones shedding her armor from the day.
tentatively
“May?” he asks tentatively. “I don’t know what’s going on in your head. I just wanted you to know I’m really sorry.”
legacy
Didn't he go to Yale? It's called legacy, Josh. You’re going to get in to at least one Ivy just because your dad went there.
pilfer
Soft ones
pilfered from my parents’ bed
were best.
delicacy
“Besides, instant noodles are a delicacy.”
gangly
She’s coming in for a hug. I try to position my arms to fit hers, but she switches positions last minute, so I readjust. Then she readjusts, so I readjust, back and forth, like two gangly middle schoolers trying to dance for the first time.
stocky
His gray T-shirt is ever so slightly stretched over his stocky frame—just enough to accentuate the muscles in his arms and chest, but not enough to be tight.
subtle
She’s Sharpied a few subtle designs along the bottom of the small front pocket.

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