I Am Not Jessica Chen

While the premise of the book is rooted in the body swap trope, the swap itself takes place because of the protagonist’s deep dissatisfaction with her own life and her desire to be someone else altogether. Liang uses Jenna’s search for contentment through the body swap to explore what it means to navigate constant comparison and expectation.

Jenna’s discontentment is rooted in her tendency to compare herself to others constantly, leading her to feel she has continually failed to meet expectations. She sees people around her whom she deems “objectively better” than her, including her cousin Jessica, and feels discouraged and unworthy. Some of this lack of self-worth is fueled by Jenna’s family and cultural background as well. As the daughter of immigrants who have high expectations for her, Jenna feels an inescapable pressure to achieve perfection in everything she does. The weight of this expectation is complicated by having Jessica exist as a perfect comparison point: Her cousin is able to achieve everything Jenna dreams of, seemingly effortlessly. With Jessica in her life, Jenna cannot escape a constant comparison that is perpetuated by both herself and her own family.

However, as Jenna soon discovers, she is not the only one struggling to navigate comparisons and expectations.