Wild Kids: Two Novels About Growing Up Book

Actually two stories, collected into one book for the English version. The first (my little sister) reads like a journal, although a very sporadic and chaotic one. It started off slow but was definitely worth it in the end. The second (Wild child) was more entertaining from the start, discussing a runaway joining a local gang. Here I felt the ending left me hanging, but maybe it was just over my head.

I constantly find issues with English translations of Taiwanese novels. Especially the names. I understand it's a choice between translating the sounds or the characters, but why translate the characters for the son, while apparently translating the sounds for the father? Especially when the son's name (Little Horse) sounds so similar in English to a completely unrelated person in the story (Horsefly)? Again, maybe some of it was over my head, but it seemed confusing.