My Rating: 4 stars
I'm between 3.5 and 4 stars on this one so I'll round up.
This was a compelling story about a Chinese immigrant family and the struggles they go through to create a life for themselves in a new country where, despite their best efforts, they never truly feel that they belong. Sylvie Lee is the beautiful and successful older daughter who was sent off to live with her grandmother and her cousin's family in the Netherlands when she was only a few months old -- despite being reunited with her parents when she turned nine, the time away unfortunately had a lasting effect on Sylvie's relationship with her parents – especially with her mother. Amy Lee is the baby of the family – only 2 years old when Sylvie returned to her parents, Amy's timid and shy nature contrasted sharply with Sylvie's bold and fearless personality, yet the two sisters developed an unbreakable bond. To Amy, Sylvie was her fiercest protector, a sister she adored and looked up to and, in some ways, became more of a mother to her than their own parents, who were constantly absent due to work. One day, after flying back to the Netherlands to pay their dying grandmother one final visit, Sylvie vanishes without a trace. Distraught, yet determined to find her sister, Amy flies to the Netherlands and retraces Sylvie's steps -- she soon discovers that there was another side to her sister she never knew about. At the same time, the awkwardness of her cousin's family leads Amy to believe that they might be hiding something, perhaps having to do with Sylvie. In her desperation to find her sister and convinced that she is racing against time, Amy ramps up her search, which leads her to discover a devastating family secret – one that, when ultimately revealed, threatens to tear the family apart. What happened to Sylvie Lee? And what role, if any, did her family have in her disappearance?
The first half of the story definitely had me enthralled and kept me turning the pages, not wanting to put the book down for even a minute. Being a Chinese immigrant myself, I was definitely able to resonate with the various challenges that the Lee family went through as they tried to assimilate to life in the U.S. – the cultural divide between the parents and the children due to the drastically different environments in which they were raised, the impact of language and the communication barriers that can arise within the family as a result of differences in language, the never-ending struggle to prove yourself, to show that your parents' sacrifices were not in vain, the frustrations of constantly having to deal with the bias, prejudices, and preconceived stereotypes of a society that is less welcoming to those who are different from them, the sense that you will never truly "belong" no matter how successful you become or how well you are able to align yourself with your surroundings. This was the side of the story that drew me in the most and I felt it was very effective to have the narration alternate between Amy, Sylvie, and their mother, as we get to understand this family and each of the characters much more in depth.
With all that said though, the middle section was where things started to drag a little and while it did pick back up in the end, I had actually already figured out most of the story by then, so it unfortunately made the ending anti-climactic for me. I also felt that the parts of the story related to the "mystery" aspect, specifically dealing with Sylvia's disappearance, felt a bit detached and lacked the emotional pull I expected – when we do eventually find out "what happened" and "why," it felt rushed and the emotional aspect seemed like it was glossed over a bit...this was especially so during the "big reveal" scene at the very end. In a way, I felt like perhaps there was a bit too much going on plot-wise in the second half of the book, which caused the narrative to unravel a bit as the story headed toward its end. As a mystery/thriller novel, I felt this didn't work too well, as the suspense part was a bit weak in my opinion – I never really got the "edge-of-your-seat" / "hold-on-for-the-ride" feel from this one. The cultural elements were well-done though and I feel like those elements, along with the writing, were what made this story well-worth reading, plus the fact that I was able to get a good feel for the characters and connect with them.
Overall, this was a thought-provoking read and even though I wasn't too keen on the mystery / suspense aspect, I felt it did a good job exploring the challenges of being both an immigrant and a woman of color in today's world. This is my first time reading Jean Kwok's work and of course it won't be my last – I've had both of her previous novels on my TBR for quite some time already and I definitely intend to get to them at some point. After I finished this book, I did some follow up research and found out that Kwok's inspiration for the story came from her own family background as well as the tragedy her family experienced losing her older brother Kwan in a plane crash 10 years ago. Channeling the pain and grief from that experience, plus her own story of immigrating from Hong Kong to the U.S. as a child and later moving to the Netherlands, Kwok was able to deliver a poignant, culturally resonant story, one that I definitely recommend!
Received ARC from William Morrow (HarperCollins) via Edelweiss.
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