WORD LISTS

"The Silence that Binds Us" by Joanna Ho, Chapter 61–Epilogue

Mon Sep 25 10:53:08 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
de facto
The magazine room has become our de facto command center for all things related to "the Resistance” as Marc started calling it.
clinical
Katherine Lo, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, is probably not answering phones at this hour, but I call and leave her a message before I lose my nerve.
squelch
My brain falls through my stomach and squelches near my lunch.
thespian
He should probably give up football and become a thespian. He’s really good at this innocent-boy act.
hypocritical
It feels a little hypocritical for me to question her like this when I’ve been twisted up and going along too.
relentless
I’m inside the locomotive
watching helplessly
unable to stop this relentless path of
heartbreak and pain.
gale
Then the train rushes past, speeding so quickly it creates a tunnel of wind that batters my body and whips my hair into a frenzy around my face. I scream. The gale catches my scream and scatters it into silence.
convulse
I fall to my knees and collapse over the shoebox, soaking it with tears and convulsing with uncontrollable grief.
rivulet
They flow from my eyes and split into rivulets that trickle down my face and drip off my cheeks.
warble
After the last warbling note of Danny’s singing, I turn off the phone and hug it to my chest.
indulgent
It’s hard to believe I was ever that small, that my mom ever smiled indulgently at me and tickled my nose.
epiphany
As I watch the woman cradle her now-sleeping fuzzball, I have a small epiphany.
sparse
Her small duffel seems hurriedly and sparsely packed, but she has the essentials. She has what she needs for her child.
vulnerable
I don’t think we’ve ever cried together for Danny. We’ve each been floating alone, suffering alone. I think we’ve tried to be strong for each other, but maybe we would be stronger if we could be vulnerable together.
smug
“You heard her, Yam. She said you were right too. That means we were also right, got it?"
I rub my hands together smugly.
dainty
Celeste slips around to the side of the building, and I hear her dainty feet fly down the hall as soon as she is out of sight.
reverberate
The room's acoustics catch our chatter and throw it against the walls; it reverberates and amps up the energy.
formidable
"Welcome to Sequoia Park High School, where many a formidable presenter has fallen to the unpredictable technological difficulty.”
blatant
I shouldn't have thought blatant racism could pass.
acoustics
But the room’s acoustics send Josh’s quiet words all the way to the back of the room, and I can’t help listening in.
dwindle
Stacks of the special-edition school magazines are dwindling quickly as students snatch them up.
flummox
Ms. Whittaker is talking rapidly to a group of administrators who seem flummoxed by the whole situation. She’s waving her hands while others shake their heads. I bet they’re trying to figure out how to stop this mess and get everyone back to class.
throng
People keep trying to stop, hug, and talk to me, and I feel rude pushing through so quickly, but I need to see my parents.
Before I get through the throng, I see Ms. Daniels is talking to my mom and dad.
fodder
“This will be more fodder for your āyí from Sac to tell you not to hang out with me,” I say, laughing.
engrossed
I survey the quad, where some students are still dancing but many others are engrossed in the magazine.
comprehensive
“So you’re saying most students from the Grove are being bussed to neighboring cities because there isn’t a comprehensive public high school in your own town?”
dole out
Ms. Whittaker probably doesn’t want the bad press that would follow if she doled out punishments now.
euphemism
“I'm hoping you'll be willing to spare a few moments to talk to me. I know it's a lot to ask."
“A lot to ask” is quite the euphemism, buddy.
tapioca
Tapioca pearls expand in my tummy, and I feel uncomfortably bloated but so satisfied.
erratic
My heart beats through my chest, and I’m sure he can hear it thumping erratically.
morbid
Today, we are going to sweep his grave in honor of Qīngmíng Jié, literally the Pure Brightness Festival. It's also sometimes called Tomb Sweeping Day, which sounds kind of morbid, so I don't love that name.
incense
I dig out the tiny incense burner we bought in Chinatown last week and find the red-and-gold incense sticks.
ingot
While I wait for my parents to finish up, I start folding paper money into Chinese ingots.
methodical
I make sure every crease of the red-and-gold-foiled paper is sharp, and I fall into a methodical rhythm as I fold.
flair
“I remember teaching him to tie his shoes when he was small. He had a hard time remembering how to do it. Then suddenly one day he was big and had figured out his own way. He always did that...added his own Danny flair to everything.”

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