The Red Car to Hollywood: Chapters 23–27

by Jennie Liu
The year is 1924, and 16-year-old Ruby Chan is struggling with the expectations placed on her as a young Chinese American woman. When her relationship with a young white man is revealed and Ruby's father decides to marry her to a Chinese man, Ruby decides to take her life into her own hands.

Here are links to our lists for the book:
Chapters 1–5, Chapters 6–12, Chapters 13–17, Chapters 18–22, Chapters 23–27, Chapters 28–34.
15 words 13 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. premiere
    the first public performance of a play or movie
    “She’s been running around busy with movie work, getting ready for the big fancy premiere on Thursday.”
  2. vindictive
    disposed to seek revenge or intended for revenge
    And yet there was still that uneasy, vindictive churning inside me.
  3. garish
    tastelessly showy
    I could picture it in my mind—the flock of white actresses and musicians with brown greasepaint and heavily lined eyes, the garish costumes, the hodgepodge of real and imagined cultures lumped together.
  4. hodgepodge
    a motley assortment of things
    I could picture it in my mind—the flock of white actresses and musicians with brown greasepaint and heavily lined eyes, the garish costumes, the hodgepodge of real and imagined cultures lumped together.
  5. depiction
    representation by drawing, painting, etc.
    As perplexing as the depictions must’ve been, I would’ve loved to see such a huge spectacle in person.
  6. matinee
    a theatrical performance held during the daytime
    Fifty cents would be a lot to pay for a matinee, but the Egyptian Theatre was new, a lavish movie palace, and it had an exclusive on the picture.
  7. decorum
    propriety in manners and conduct
    “You have no decorum! No shame!”
  8. wanton
    a lewd or immoral person
    “Instead, he dresses you like a—a wanton!”
  9. sordid
    unethical or dishonest
    “It’s a sordid life!” their ba growled.
  10. typecast
    select for the same kind of role repeatedly
    Dead tired, I imagined, of the arguments, of the disapproval, and of being typecast.
  11. paltry
    contemptibly small in amount or size
    The sales column for the last few months held paltry sums for curios and a few smaller pieces of furniture.
  12. fusty
    old-fashioned and out of date
    I hadn’t expected him to be so fusty.
  13. chignon
    a roll of hair worn at the nape of the neck
    Her hair was pulled back in a chignon, and she wore a smart tailored navy suit.
  14. painstaking
    characterized by extreme care and great effort
    I knew what it meant to her, the painstaking hours she’d labored over it.
  15. caricature
    a representation of a person exaggerated for comic effect
    They want the worst caricatures of us. Absolutely no room in either world to just be normal.
Created on Thu Feb 26 06:09:45 EST 2026 (updated Thu Feb 26 17:48:19 EST 2026)

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