Jade Chang

I loved this book. It was a rollercoaster of emotions and Chang uses multiple perspectives in a really effective way, giving each character a distinct voice without causing any disconnect. The continuously changing backdrop, the many layered narrative, and the movement between present and past captured an essence that is hard to describe but kept me glued to the book and invested in the Wangs. This is a star of a debut novel.

Charles Wang was rich, having built a cosmetic empire in American despite arriving as an immigrant with (virtually) nothing. The operative word there is “was”. Charles has lost everything: the factories, the bank accounts, the many cars, and the Bel Air mansion. But he’s still got his three children, his second wife (but first love) Barbra, and a dream. His dream is to reclaim the Wang ancestral properties in China, for which he carries the deeds like a talisman. He just has to gather show more up his children from their boarding schools and colleges, drive them across the country to New York State to his eldest daughter’s house, and then he’ll put his plan in motion to make his comeback, this time in China. It’s going to be a road trip like no other.

Well, actually, it’s a bit like some other road trips, but that’s no bad thing. Jade Chang admirably keeps the pace of this gently comic novel moving by scrolling through the principal characters’ perspectives chapter by chapter. We see Siana, the oldest Wang daughter ensconced in her rural New York hideout (a recent personal and PR disaster has temporarily sidelined her artistic career). Then there is Andrew, at college in Phoenix but longing to be on stage embarking on his chosen career as a standup comedian. And finally, amongst the Wang children, is Grace, a style-smart teenager who is not quite as sure of herself as her demeanour and style blog suggest. Also available for perspectival chapters are the step-mother, Barbra, whom Charles first knew in Taiwan before he came to America, and also, perhaps oddly, the elderly Mercedes they are driving. Hijinks, some of them hilarious, ensue.

Although this reads very smoothly, far moreso than might be expected of a first novel, there are a few jarring notes. For example, one chapter breaks form to become a mini-lecture on the causes of the financial collapse of 2008. Siana’s relationships with her ex-fiancé, Grayson, and her current lover, Leo, are just implausible. And their is a noticeable tone-deafness when it comes to property and its obligations. Charles longs for the vast estate he believes his family once ruled in China. But if his distain for peasants and other chattel is representative, then his family is one reason why communism would have found such fertile ground in China.

Nevertheless, this is an easy read that skips along and is, at moments, pleasantly amusing. Though possibly worth the ride primarily for the spunkiness of the youngest daughter, Grace. show less

Charles Wang comes to America with very little and builds quite a lot, then manages to lose it all. So, he takes what little he has left and drives across the country from his foreclosed home in LA to his oldest daughter’s place in upstate NY, picking up his other two children along the way.

This is a delightful book about people. The way they interact as family members and as individuals, how they find and form bonds with each other, how they make meaning in their lives. And if that is not show more enough, Chang also tackles the immigrant experience, the art world, the Great Recession, the great American road trip, and more. She is compassionate to her characters– willing to poke fun at their foibles and failures, but never unkind. show less

The overwhelming feeling I had while reading this book was relief. I know that sounds strange to say about a novel but its the best and only way to describe what I felt as I was reading.

This was the first time that I read Asian American characters who were three-dimensional and not defined by their Asian American-ness. The Asian American characters that I have read in the past are characters in novels where being Asian American defines what the book is about and defines who the character is show more - books like Native Speaker or The Joy Luck Club. Or they are playing minor roles. Or their Asian American-ness is downplayed or not mentioned at all. Native Speaker and The Joy Luck Club are fantastic novels that were really important for me to read, especially at the time that I read them but Jade Chang's characters were people whom I could actually relate to. Being Asian American was an aspect of their lives that was a part of who they were but it wasn't the ONLY thing about them. Each of the characters, especially each of the Wang children, had their own unique personalities, ambitions, problems and their own prisms with which to view the world and their current situation. Their Asian heritage wasn't completely ignored, nor was it the only thing that characterized them. That is why it was such a relief to read about their lives. They were allowed to be real humans with real flaws and not just boxed into a specific role based on their race and I guess the relief aspect comes in because as a reader, I'm often trying to place myself in the shoes of the characters I read about and its never a comfortable fit - they're always off, usually by a lot. This was the first time that the shoes fit better than they ever had before and what other feeling does one have when that happens but relief? Thank you, Jade Chang! show less