Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Fold
    The Fold
    The Fold
    Audiobook5 hours

    The Fold

    Written by An Na

    Narrated by Ali Ahn

    3.5/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    An Na has earned critical raves for her young adult fiction. She has won the Michael L. Printz Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award. In The Fold, she examines the complications surrounding teenage plastic surgery. Joyce is thrilled when her aunt becomes suddenly wealthy. But when her aunt decides Joyce needs a makeover, Joyce must decide if she is ready to go under the knife to become the popular swan she's always wanted to be. "A lighthearted and thought-provoking look at a serious teen issue."-Kirkus Reviews
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateNov 7, 2008
    ISBN9781436186186
    Author

    An Na

    An Na was born in Korea and grew up in San Diego, California. A former middle school English and history teacher, she is the critically acclaimed author of The Fold, Wait for Me, the National Book Award finalist and Printz Award–winning novel A Step from Heaven, and The Place Between Breaths. She lives in Vermont.

    Related to The Fold

    Related audiobooks

    Children's Social Themes For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Fate Of The House

      Jun 6, 2018

      Today, the house on the hill wrestles for air. Pile upon piles of tree branches, bark and dry leaves clutter the driveway. At night it is dark, a ghost house. It wasn’t always like that. Squeezed between coloured Sydenham and Sparks Estate to the eas

      3 min read

    • Article

      An unexpected LESSON

      Mar 9, 2021

      An unexpected LESSON
      6 min read

    • Article

      Not Half Bad: Remembering My Friendship with John Goulet

      Jul 16, 2018

      1. He walked into the room, leaning hard on a cane, and hung his leather jacket on the back of his chair. He was big at the middle; buttons on his sweater vest hung tough across his belly, and he wore a T-shirt under his vest, which I thought was fun

      9 min read

    • Article

      I Do So, Like Durian

      Jun 10, 2021

      The 504-streetcar grated against the curve of the tracks as it entered the station. It pulled to a stop directly in front of Holly. The doors opened with such a clunk that she stepped back, treading on the toes of the person behind her. She was block

      11 min read

    • Article

      Cricket League

      Jan 1, 2022

      It was an unusual birthday. Colorful banners blanketed the backyard. Kids chased each other through the grass. Adults talked. It all went downhill from there. My little sister was turning five. On her birthday cake, painted in frosting, was a fat, pi

      7 min read

    • Article

      About Ed

      Jun 14, 2022

      I walk into the orchid show with Ed. As soon as I see the tumultuous hall I know he won’t last long. Ed walks like an old man though he is forty. After ten minutes on his feet, he vomits on some purple phalaenopsis. I get him outside through a fire e

      18 min read

    • Article

      The Perfect Daughter

      Jul 10, 2021

      Standing in a handstand, Jane arched her back and lowered her feet towards the head. Scorpion pose. She saw herself in the mirror, balancing in this challenging position. It was close to perfection… And she felt sick at the sight of it. From the loud

      8 min read

    • Article

      The Guardian Angel Of Laughlin Drive

      Nov 1, 2022

      A longer version of this essay won a Ten Spurs Award from the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference in 2021 and will be published in this year’s Ten Spurs Journal. The Texas Observer is helping sponsor the Mayborn’s writing contests this year. Joe l

      4 min read

    • Article

      Taking Care

      Mar 24, 2022

      Taking Care
      15 min read

    • Article

      Nits and CANDLES

      Sep 17, 2020

      Nits and CANDLES
      4 min read

    • Article

      Interlude

      Mar 28, 2022

      Interlude
      10 min read

    • Article

      Is There Anybody There?

      Oct 1, 2021

      Is There Anybody There?
      4 min read

    • Article

      Rediscover THIS DAY

      Apr 1, 2021

      Rediscover THIS DAY
      4 min read

    • Article

      Cricket Ceague

      Apr 1, 2019

      Penelope Berkeley, age 9 Mars Hill, NC Night had fallen, and Luna awoke from where she had been sleeping in a cornfield. She moved steadily through the stalks with barely a sound, keeping her eyes on the glittering glass rooftop of the greenhouse in

      7 min read

    • Article

      Fanning the FLAMES

      Jan 18, 2022

      Fanning the FLAMES
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Elders

      Oct 16, 2021

      The Elders
      6 min read

    • Article

      Human Contact

      Aug 10, 2022

      Beer tasted like wet money—or maybe just bad beer did. Viola had never tried any other kind. She preferred white wine, but there was no white wine at this party. “Drink it like medicine,” the guy manning the keg said. “It’ll loosen you up.” He wore a

      18 min read

    • Article

      Excerpt

      May 21, 2019

      In the yellow corridor they marched the women single file. Jodi, feeling the worry of the eight at her back, wondered what significance to attach to her position as first behind the sergeant. Not much at Jaxton was left to chance. Oldest, she thought

      7 min read

    • Article

      Coffee Break

      Aug 8, 2022

      Coffee Break
      6 min read

    • Article

      Ann Beattie

      Sep 15, 2017

      I’d started to visit Olivia more often because it was obvious she was lonely. The ALS lady who’d been moved to Hopkins had been Aunt Olivia’s closest friend, leaving aside Merton Hillstead, who actually went home. Even the friendly paperboy who somet

      23 min read

    • Article

      Moving On

      Dec 22, 2019

      Moving On
      4 min read

    • Article

      Somehow

      Mar 15, 2018

      Somehow
      4 min read

    • Article

      A Temporary Arrangement

      Oct 2, 2023

      A Temporary Arrangement
      19 min read

    • Article

      Karen’s CHOICE

      Jul 7, 2021

      Karen’s CHOICE
      6 min read

    • Article

      Metaphors

      Mar 10, 2023

      I’m knitting on my front porch when a car roars to a stop in front of my house. It’s a red Mustang convertible, top down on this warm Thursday afternoon in June. Two girls sit in the front, two in the back. They smile and wave at me. I smile back tho

      8 min read

    • Article

      Lemon Trees

      Apr 10, 2024

      When her son walked into their townhouse, Zach’s darkb-rown curls shielded his eyes. It wasn’t the first time Stephanie thought the deflection looked intentional, but she hadn’t yet found evidence that her son’s aloofness hid anything significant. Sh

      16 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Fold

    3.5/5

    57 ratings7 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      As junior year ends, Joyce is determined to have a transformative summer so she can catch the eye of hot John Ford Kang for senior year. She's never been able to step out of the shadow of her older and prettier sister Helen. When Gomo, a revered elder friend of the family, offers Joyce a gift of eyelid surgery, Joyce knows this is an incredible opportunity for her transformation. But the idea of pain and the recovery time has her on the fence while she seeks answers. Self-image, self-acceptance and assessing the social standards of beauty are all themes here, and although the story felt a little lightweight to me, it can be a positive tool for teen readers grappling with their own self-images. The concept of eyelid surgery may be new to readers, and Joyce's visit to the surgeon is informative, raising questions about the procedures we go through to improve appearances, whether it's braces, acne medicine, or plastic surgery.
    • 4/5
      Quiet and lovely- I never really understood the desire for "The Fold Surgery" before I read this book. An Na's story of a girl who is given the opportunity to change a major part of herself could have been written about _any_ girl in the world, but it is about a Korean teenager, Joyce Park.
      Joyce's older sister, Helen, was the shining star of their high school(in looks, popularity, and intelligence- the HS Troika!), and Joyce wants nothing more than to be noticed for herself, not as Helen's little sister. Her plan for a summer makeover is incited by her crush on another one of her HS's "Beautiful Ones," John Ford Kang; she wants to be the kind of girl HE notices. Well, he notices her, all right- he just thinks she's someone else completely.
      I remember that same sort of desperate longing to be just like everyone else in High School. I even tried changing my makeup and hair and clothes; after getting mocked for trying to fit in, I gave up.
      Joyce doesn't give up- Fate has dropped an Opportunity in her path. Her Aunt offers her a gift of Blepharoplasty- to have her undergo san-ga-pu-rhee (the Korean word for blepharoplasty) in order to create a more "open" or "Western" eye- "The Fold" of the title.
      Will Joyce undergo the painful surgery to change the way she is perceived by others, or will she continue on the infinitely more painful path of creating inner beauty?
    • 2/5
      oyce is Korean teenager living in California who hasn't ever particularly cared how she looked

      "While Gina [Joyce's best friend:] and Joyce were similarly dressed in jeans and T-shirts, Gina knew how to go that extra step, with a nice belt here and a silver necklace there, so that Gina looked put together whereas Joyce felt like she barely hung together.


      But then her aunt gives her what could be the opportunity of a lifetime: the fold surgery--a surgery to make her Asian eyes appear more Western. After living in the shadow of her perfect, beautiful older sister Helen for so long and having a crush on John Ford Kang the half Asian boy who seems to only date blondes, nothing could be better. Right?

      Well, that's what Gina says Joyce isn't so sure.

      My take; Between reading the summary on the front flap of the book and the Amazon summary, I'm not really sure what else is actually in the book. Between the two of them it's a bit of a 'Joyce thinks A so she does B and C happens and then D and then there's E but what about F and oh, yeah G'. Of course, there are some other things but I feel like the summaries give you the basic plot points and only the secondary characters stories are left out, if that makes sense.

      But that might also be because I don't have a very high opinion of this book. I wasn't overjoyed about reading it in the first place but I did like the first 15 or so pages. After that, however, I felt like information was left out, just little things that would have made the entire story less confusing. I would be reading and have assumed one thing based on how something was or was not said or presented and then something would be said to the contrary. Some of it was based on my assumptions, but some of it just didn't seem to make sense.

      I'm not talking about the Korean phrases used, either. Those were fine, it was little things in the story that didn't add up to me. I also don't really feel like there was any character development. I know what this story was supposed to be accomplishing (Joyce growing up, learning to accept herself, deciding whether or not that was with cosmetic enhancement) but I felt like the story just sort of happened with some things thrown in for effect or to just be there and then the ending was stuck in and that was that. When there were changes in the characters they didn't seem to be precipitated by anything, it just happened (noticing a theme here?).

      It's quite possible that An Na's writing is just not for me and I'm just finding every possible thing to pick at with this book, but I wouldn't suggest it, sorry. 3/10

      (So maybe you shouldn't have stuck with me?...I didn't realise I was going to be so negative)
    • 3/5
      Joyce is a Korean-American who struggles with the typical issues of teens: insecurity, a huge crush on a seemingly unreachable guy, and sibling rivalry. Her aunt offers her the opportunity to have plastic surgery, giving her Asian eyes a fold that will widen them. This book is a good one for exploring the issues surrounding teenage plastic surgery.
    • 3/5
      Summary: The Fold by An Na is the story of Joyce Park and her struggle with self image, love, and family. The last day of her junior year Joyce finds the courage to ask her mega-crush, John Ford Kang, to sign her yearbook. He does sign, but he signs it too the wrong girl, causing Joyce to question herself and if she will ever be beautiful enough to be noticed by John Ford Kang. Already being the middle child with the sister, Helen, which she is always being compared too and never lives up to that expectation, and the boy, Joyce has trouble trying to keep her head above water at home. Just when her questioning begins, her plastic-surgery-crazed aunt hits the lottery and decides to help each member of the family better themselves. Offering Joyce the chance to get The Fold, a surgery to alter her Asian eyes, Joyce is then sent into a tailspin trying to decide if she wants the surgery or not. Helen can’t believe she would even consider it, her best friend Gina can’t believe she wouldn’t jump at the chance for free surgery, and Joyce hates pain. But the only thing she knows is that she wants John Ford Kang to notice her, to be her boyfriend, no matter what it takes to do so. The question becomes, would she consider surgery without knowing for sure that he will notice her? Or will she make him notice her for who she is?Review: It was a little hard to get into at first, but after the first couple of chapters it was a pretty good story. It’s something I wish I had read in high school, because almost every high school-er goes through the “would he notice me if I was prettier?” kind of situation. The stories all coincide with one another and eventually all make sense; there is the semi-shocking, but kind of obvious twist with her sister Helen, Gina’s part in everything, the boy next door (literally), the boy of her dreams (there was always that one guy), and the mean girl (we all knew those). And yes, every time they talked about John Ford Kang, they either said the entire name or called him JFK, neither of which I particularly cared for. The ending seemed a bit unsatisfying, at least to me, but overall the story was a good one to tell. Although I did never figure out exactly with “The Fold” was, or how it changed someone’s face, but that’s just me (and yes, I did check Wikipedia, but I still have no idea the difference)!
    • 3/5
      The Fold – An Na, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 2008.

      Joyce and Gina are best friends ending their junior year of high school. They are determined to make this summer one of transformation. They want to look better, prettier, to stand out and be noticed. When they go back to school in the fall, they want people to say Wow. Who wouldn’t want that?
      What steps are you willing to take to be “pretty”? Joyce’s Aunt Gomo offers her the chance of a lifetime. She will pay for Joyce to get her eyes done. Get her eyes done? Will that work? Is that all she needs to be beautiful? Joyce has a decision to make. Will the surgery get her what she wants?
      The Fold follows Joyce on her quest for popularity. She has to decide how far she wants to go to get what she wants.
      Although this story has a great premise, it is predictable and slow-moving. Joyce’s obsession with John Ford Kang is unrealistic based on what he writes in her yearbook. Her loathing of her sister Helen is selfish and has no basis. Knowing what we do about Gomo – leads us to the conclusion long before we get there.
    • 4/5
      Joyce Park has always been overshadowed by her beautiful, smart older sister Helen, but this is the summer that's going to change. Joyce has a plan. First, she's going to get her crush John Ford Kang to sign her yearbook. She'll be effortlessly gorgeous and witty and sign something intriguing in his. Then she'll spend the whole summer improving herself. She'll wash her face every day and figure out some way to slim down her fat knees. When they come back for their senior year, John will remember her and fall instantly in love.But things don't go the way Joyce plans. In fact, her plan fails miserably. And then something extraordinary happens. Joyce's aunt wins the lottery and buys gifts for all her family members. Joyce's gift is that her aunt will pay for her to get plastic surgery on her eyes to create the double folded eyelids, the "good eyes". Joyce had never considered the surgery before, but she finds herself drawn to it. Could it make her beautiful? Could it help her get John Ford Kang's attention? Could she finally feel confident about herself?I liked this story, although I think I liked some of the secondary characters more than the main character Joyce. Joyce really seemed to only care about how she looked and whether she could get John to notice her. She didn't really seem to have much else going on. I found Joyce's sister Helen, so distant and depressed since her best friend moved away, and Joyce's friend Gina, determined to get into an ivy league school even though her family has no way to pay for it, much more intriguing. That said, it was still an interesting book and kept me turning the pages. And it made me keep looking in the mirror at my own eyelids.