Going into Susie Luo's debut novel Paper Names, I knew to expect an immigrant story, as I gathered as much from reading the summary and a couple reviews beforehand. However, what I wasn't expecting was an immigrant story that would be so different from what I've read in the past.
To start off, the structure of the story was quite unique. Told from the perspectives of three main characters — Tony, Tammy, and Oliver — the narrative alternated not just between the characters, but also between multiple timelines in a non-linear, non-chronological fashion. In addition, the narrative also switched back and forth between first and third person depending on which character's perspective the story was being told from (all of Tammy's chapters were in first person). Normally, this type of structure would be difficult to follow, but it actually worked well in this instance, as I found the story flowed pretty seamlessly from one perspective to another.
As the Chinese daughter of immigrant parents, I thought I would resonate with Tammy's perspective the most, but I actually found that I also related quite a bit to Tony's story as well. In fact, this was one of the areas that made this particular immigrant story different from others — through Tony, we got to hear the immigrant parents' perspective and how the decision to leave their country for a foreign one impacted them. I appreciated the way this structure gave a fuller, more well-rounded picture of the immigrant struggle, which also made the story more powerful, in my opinion. For me, Tony's story arc was the most moving, but more importantly, it gave me better perspective on my own parents' struggles back in the day and how the decision to immigrate ended up shaping their lives. The chapters told from Oliver's perspective were well-done too, but unsurprisingly, his story arc was one I couldn't relate as much to.
There is so much more I could say about this story, but I think it would have more of an impact experiencing it for one's self. One thing to note though is that this was a contemplative, reflective story where there was not much action save for a few pivotal scenes — one that unfolded slowly, with particular focus on the characters' thoughts and feelings. I mention this because a quiet story such as this one, coupled with an unconventional structure and a timeline that jumps around, might not work for everyone, so a heads up just in case. Overall, this was a solid debut and I look forward to reading more from Luo in the future.
Received ARC from Hanover Square Press via Book Browse First Impressions program.
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