Soy Sauce for Beginners

Kristin Chen's debut novel hits all the right notes out of the gate. I wish that "Crazy Rich Asians" had taken a page out of her book. Ms. Chen ensures that you get fully immersed in Singapore by following only one protagonist, Gretchen Lin. We do get some of the "crazy rich Asians" elements when Ms. Chen explains about how much some of her friends and family buy on designer wear or drop money at the latest nightclubs. However, these are more asides than major plot points and you don't find yourself getting bored or frustrated.

I loved that the character of Gretchen is struggling with what to do in her life after a surprising announcement from her husband. Fleeing San Francisco for Singapore we have Gretchen returning to work in her show more family's soy sauce factory. Ms. Lin then provides the readers with detailed explanations on how "real" soy sauce is prepared. Apparently the soy sauce I have dunked my sushi in all of these years is highly inferior stuff. It was quite interesting to hear how long it takes to make really good soy sauce and that you can actually cook meat with it as well, also drink it (which I would probably still never do).

Also though I found Gretchen to be aggravating at times when it came to her facing what was really going on in her life with her family, her family business, her husband she finally does end up coming to peace on what she needs to do.

Ms. Lin is able to immerse the reader in this novel in such a way that I felt as if I was along with Gretchen smelling soybeans, feeling the moist heat in Singapore, and the air in San Francisco.

My only minor quibble is that sometimes characters speak in Slingish, Chinese, Maylay, etc. I wish that it had been explained in some way. I was able to get the gist a few times but some of the sentences I had no idea what a person was trying to say.

I look forward to reading future books by Ms. Chen in the future. I 100% recommend this novel. show less

While better written than most of the Kindle ARC offerings, Soy Sauce for Beginners still lacked the heart to engage at least this reader. Although ostensibly about the main character's growth into someone who discards both her self-centeredness and desire to please others at her own expense, the narrative never convinces on either point.

This is due in no small part to the fact that the supporting characters are little more than props to advance the protagonist's journey, as opposed to individuals in their own rights. In some cases this is due to too little development: one plot point involves a family member who may have been wrongfully blamed for an event that hurt the family company's fortunes. He's next introduced as someone who show more can turn the backward company around, before disappearing and finally reemerging as a consummate villain at the novel's conclusion. None of these metamorphoses makes any more sense than the others.

Sometimes it's due to too much detail: much is made of how the alcoholic mother's drinking and thrice-weekly dialysis disrupts the family's life...for about three chapters. Then she's checked into an inpatient facility. What additional burdens with this create for the already stressed family?

None. The dialysis and alcoholism plotlines go away for good as if Chen's forgotten she ever wrote them into the book in the first place. And so on.

By and large, Soy Sauce for Beginners is the literary equivalent of an East Asian television series: good production values and plenty drama, but all of it acted out by two-dimensional characters. show less

Received for free via the Kindle First program last December, but didn't get around to reading until today. A relatively short read (accidentally binged it in one day whoops), I actually really liked it. I was expecting a fluffier chic-lit, but as someone who doesn't know what she wants to do in life (and with the 30s looming on the distant horizon), Gretchen's indecision on whether to finish her music degree or withdraw and helm the family company really resonated for me. And unlike a puff book, there isn't really a neat resolution at the end which is nice.

I also liked the food descriptions- somewhat reminded of [a:Kevin Kwan|634694|Kevin Kwan|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1412808034p2/634694.jpg]'s [b:Crazy Rich show more Asians|16085481|Crazy Rich Asians (Crazy Rich Asians #1)|Kevin Kwan|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1364852559s/16085481.jpg|21571970] which also takes place in Singapore, but in the world of old money (which is almost another planet entirely). show less

A reasonably paced novel of a young woman (Gretchen Lin, the protagonist) who returns to her family in Singapore--and by extension the family business she never intended to join--after her marriage in the US fails. The Lins are both super-traditional and their own animal, with an alcoholic mother in denial and nakedly ambitious cousins among the characters. When Gretchen's best friend from college moves to Singapore and also gets a job with the Lins, the stage is set for the power struggle to control the future of the soy sauce-making corporation. Some of the characters and the ultimate storyline about the company felt kind of predictable, but that at least made this a fast read.

In Soy Sauce for Beginners, the protagonist Gretchen has returned from living in San Francisco, after the failure of her marriage, to her native home in Singapore. She gets involved in the family business, which creates artisanal soy sauces. I honestly had no idea that there was such a thing, and found all references to this craft intriguing. However, this novel seems to struggle between being literary fiction with substance, or being entertaining chick-lit. The latter seems to have won out for the most part. I think the author Kirstin Chen has potential in whatever direction she chooses to go in the event that she writes/publishes further, although I hope she goes for substance.

A lovely first line promises good things in this book: “These are some of my favorite smells: toasting bagel, freshly cut figs, the bergamot in good Earl Grey tea, a jaw of whole soybeans slowly turning beneath a tropical sun.”

Unfortunately, the rest of the book didn't live up to the beginning. I really enjoyed learning more about making high-quality, small batch soy sauce, and I wanted to be able to taste it. The soft drink/soy sauce combo sounded intriguing.

But the story itself? Not for me. Gretchen, who told her story in first person point of view, was not very likable. She rode rough-shod over her friends and family, leaving a trail of trampled people, while considering herself a victim.

The story wasn't very interesting, mostly show more just what Gretchen does and thinks, which is all a bit boring. Some of the other characters were much more engaging. I did finish the book but, with the exception of knowing more about soy sauce, the story will have left my mind in a few days.

Because the book I was reading was an advance reader's copy given to me for review, the quote may have changed in the final edition. show less

The most interesting thing, to me, about this novel is that it's chick-lit set in Singapore. I really liked the setting and learning all about soy sauce. But I didn't much care for the main character, a spoiled, self-absorbed 30-year-old from a wealthy family who returns from San Francisco to get over a break-up, work in her family's high-quality soy sauce factory, and embrace her Singaporean roots.