I listened to the audiobook, O Beautiful by Jung Yun on the CloudLibrary online catalog and was invested in the story from the first few lines. It’s about a woman named Elinor in her forties trying to reinvent herself after a modeling career from her youth. When she gets the opportunity to write an article on her hometown for a prestigious magazine, she discovers much more than she anticipated. As she explores how the Bakken oil boom has transformed the entire landscape of what she remembers of North Dakota, I was on the edge of my seat as she interviews those who are affected. I will never forget this book. Yun shows the complexity and greyness of capitalism, racism, sexism, and social class.
-Gia, Children’s Room
