Review: A Map for the Missing (by Belinda Huijuan Tang)

My Rating:  4.5 stars

Belinda Huijuan Tang's debut novel A Map for the Missing is a moving story about family, forgiveness, identity, loss, and the weight of cultural expectations versus personal ambition.  

When we first meet Tang Yitian in 1993, he is a mathematics professor at an American university in California, where he has lived with his wife Mali for nearly a decade.  One day, he receives a phone call from his mother, who still lives in their ancestral family village in China, informing him that his father has mysteriously disappeared. Yitian is estranged from his father and as a result, he has not set foot in the village in 15 years — yet Yitian agrees to return to his child home home to help look for him.  When he arrives in China however, he feels like a fish out of water and has no choice but to seek out the help of his childhood friend (and his first love), Tian Hanwen, who is now a housewife to a mid-level bureaucrat. Together, they begin the search for Yitian's father, but along the way, they end up discovering truths about themselves and their families that change long-held perspectives about their lives.  Through a narrative that switches back and forth between the 1970s and 1990s, we eventually learn the characters' backstories and the link between their pasts that impact their lives in present day.

It's been awhile since I've come across a book that resonated with me on so many levels. Throughout the story, both Yitian and Hanwen struggle between pursuing their dreams and forging their own path in life versus following cultural expectations of filial piety that require them to fulfill their obligations to their families. This is a struggle that I'm intimately familiar with, which is why reading this book was quite an emotional experience for me.  Reading about Yitian's feelings of inadequacy in not being able to reconcile his ambitions and the trajectory of his life with his responsibilities toward his parents (regardless of how they treated him), I found myself nodding along in understanding and sympathy.  I was also able to relate to his experience returning to his hometown after so many years away, and the unexpected culture shock that made it difficult for him to navigate a world that used to be familiar to him.  This was actually one area that I felt the author did an especially great job with:  conveying the unending struggle that immigrants like us have with reconciling the meaning of "home" and feeling like a "perpetual foreigner" in both worlds.  

There's actually quite a bit to unpack with this novel — the themes of loss and forgiveness, reconciling past and present lives with future, social mores versus personal values, the price of ambition and trying to forge a better life for oneself versus the obligations of family and cultural inheritance — it's impossible to cover all aspects in such a short review.  With that said, I appreciate Tang's realistic yet deeply nuanced portrayal that quite honestly continues to give me much food for thought even now, several days after having finished the book.  

This was an absolutely worthwhile read — one I definitely recommend.  Of course, given the cultural elements, the experience reading this will probably be different for each person, but with the variety of themes it covers, I don't think it will be difficult to find something relatable in the story.

Received ARC from Penguin Press via NetGalley.  

Review: Back Talk (by Danielle Lazarin)

My Rating: 3 stars

In general, I’ve never really been a fan of the short story genre.  When reading fiction, I prefer either novellas or full-length novels because an important part of the reading experience for me is being able to connect with the characters I’m reading about in some way, which I personally find very difficult (sometimes even nearly impossible) to do with short stories due to the little amount of time I get to spend with each character.  Because of this, I usually go into short story collections with a slightly lowered set of expectations and rely more on the plot to drive each of the stories forward – a compensation of sorts for the already anticipated lack of character development.   In this regard, short story collections that have multiple linked stories and/or the same characters appearing in more than one story usually work better for me and this is often what I look for when I approach short stories, though of course I know that this type of format is more of an exception than the norm.

This particular short story collection was one that I had high hopes for due to all the hype surrounding it and also all the highly-rated reviews (not just on Goodreads but elsewhere as well).  Unfortunately though, turns out this collection was not for me, as I struggled through most of it and had a really hard time connecting with the stories as well as the book as a whole.  The biggest issue for me was the lack of a coherent plot and/or purpose to each of the stories, which made them seem all over the place to me and also hard to follow.  Perhaps I am too used to all narratives (whether short stories or full length novels) having a discernible beginning, middle, and ending (or at least some type of closure to the story) and being driven either by characters or plot or both, so that the narrative is accessible to the average reader.  The stories in this particular collection were written in a way that didn’t follow any of these patterns  -- some didn’t have a beginning or ending and some – a few particularly short ones that were only 1 to 2 pages long – didn’t have all 3 (beginning, middle, ending), which honestly made no sense to me.  I’m not sure if I’m explaining this correctly but the closest analogy I could think of is one related to movies (which I guess is appropriate given it’s Oscars weekend as I write this) – basically it felt like one of those segments we sometimes see in the awards shows where they mash together a hodgepodge of scenes from a dozen or so different movies into one extended video clip, with the goal of relaying a particular message / theme / idea.   It seemed to me that the main goal of each story was to relay  particular aspects of womanhood – of what it meant to be a female in modern times – by capturing specific, isolated moments in various women’s lives and exploring their emotions, feelings, thoughts through it.  Of course, there is nothing wrong with this approach and judging from the reviews, many of the readers out there were able to properly appreciate this method of storytelling so this is likely one of those “it’s not the book, it’s me” instances.  I’m also the type of reader who doesn’t like to be left hanging when I read books (which is one reason why I rarely DNF a book once I’ve started it) – so with every story in this collection having an “ending” that just drops off abruptly (and several times unexpectedly), it was a bit unsatisfying and I found myself wishing there was more to each story than the snippet that was given.

Despite the obvious issues I had with the format of this collection, I couldn’t bring myself to rate this lower than 3 stars because there were definitely other things that I liked and overall, I do feel that this collection was above average in terms of the writing.   There was a bold honesty to the writing that was refreshing and a few of the stories I truly did enjoy reading.  I think if this author were to write a novella or full length novel, I would most definitely read it, as I liked the prose itself and the style, it’s just that the short story format in this instance didn’t work for me.  Again, as I always say in these instances where I’m clearly the outlier with certain books, I suggest also checking out other reviews for a more well-rounded perspective before deciding whether to give this one a try.

Received ARC from Penguin Books via Edelweiss

Review: The Perfect Nanny (by Leila Slimani)

My Rating:  3.5 stars

For me, this book was originally a solid 4 stars – that is, up until the ending (which I'll get back to later).  The opening scene was quite explosive and emotional, hooking me from the start in wanting to find out exactly what happened, why things turned out the way they did, how such a horrific tragedy occurred.  We are taken back in time to the very beginning where we are introduced to the Masse family – parents Myriam and Paul who have two adorable kids, toddler Mila and baby Adam – a seemingly ordinary family who decides to hire a nanny due to Myriam resuming her career as a lawyer.  Enter Louise, a young woman with a world of experience taking care of kids – not only are the kids charmed by her from the start, she also proves to be efficient in everything she does, whether cooking or cleaning or coming up with activities for the kids.  Myriam and Paul are thrilled that they have found the "perfect" nanny to take care of their kids, allowing them to immerse themselves into their careers without worry…as long as Louise is there, everything will be fine – that is the mantra that Paul and Myriam live by as they become increasingly dependent on Louise day-to-day….until one day when they realize everything ISN'T fine after all….

This was a slow-burn, character-driven story that doesn't really follow the traditional mystery/suspense/thriller format in that we already find out "what happened" and "who did it" within the first few pages, so the big question explored throughout the rest of the narrative was to understand the "why" and "how" – why did the nanny do what she did and how did things get to this point?   Originally written and released in France 2 years ago, this book was recently translated into English for the U.S. market – while some of the sentences did come off a little bit oddly structured, I would say that overall, the writing was quite good.  The author did a great job building up Louise's character, revealing her past in bits interspersed with parts of the investigation.  As Louise's relationship with the family slowly unraveled, the sense of creepiness and tension slowly heightened as well, reaching near breaking point – I was absolutely on the edge of my seat and felt like I couldn't turn the pages fast enough!  So I guess it shouldn't be a surprise then that I was disappointed with the way this book ended, which was very abruptly, with many questions still unanswered, plot points not yet resolved, many loops not yet closed.  My first thought when I got to what ended up being the last page was that perhaps something happened to my copy of the ARC when I downloaded and perhaps some pages went missing, so I immediately went back and re-downloaded the book – in all formats available – and checked each one to see if the last section was the same….when I found out they were and the story truly did end at the point it did, I was actually quite upset, as I honestly felt like I'd just been played.  It was akin to me waiting all season to finally watch that finale episode of my favorite TV show where everything will finally be revealed after building up the suspense for months, with my eyes glued to the TV set in eager anticipation, only to find out the finale was pre-empted last minute with no re-scheduled airing date planned (this is actually something that happened to be me before, way back in the day…).  I guess in a way, the ending ruined the book for me, as I'm the type of person who doesn't like to be left hanging – when I'm reading a book (or watching a TV series or a movie), I always need to have some type of closure, some indication that the story arc has ended…even if the intention is to continue with the story as a series with the same characters at a later point, this particular story needs to end first.  I didn't get that with this book and unfortunately, it ended up leaving a bitter taste in my mouth as a result.

Aside from the issues with the ending, this was an otherwise solid read that I actually do recommend for its compelling story and riveting characters.  The author is obviously a very talented writer and can craft a truly captivating story.  I would probably still read other books by this author but of course while crossing my fingers hoping that those endings don't turn out like this one did…

Received ARC from Penguin Group via Edelweiss

Review: Little Fires Everywhere (by Celeste Ng)

My Ratings: 5 stars

Wow, what a story!   As I try to gather my thoughts to write this review, I am finding it difficult to do because there were too many things that made this book so wonderful!  The premise sounded simple enough – a wealthy family living in a progressive suburb called Shaker Heights, where every aspect of the community is carefully planned out and everyone lives idyllic, picture-perfect lives shielded from the "unpleasantness" of the outside world.   Guided by the philosophy that "as long as you follow the rules, everything will be fine," Elena Richardson is the ultimate embodiment of the Shaker spirit – she leads a perfectly maintained privileged life, married to a successful attorney husband with 4 "perfect" kids (2 boys and 2 girls), living in a big, beautiful house, doing a job she loves and surrounded by close friends who all think and act like her.   For Mrs. Richardson -- who was born and raised in Shaker Heights and whose ancestors had proudly upheld the planned community's ideals for 3 generations – it is unfathomable that anyone would choose to live any other way than the way she and her family and her entire community does.  Into this idyllic setting enters Mia Warren, an enigmatic and intriguing artist who brings with her a fatherless 15-year-old daughter named Pearl – hoping to settle down after years of living a nomadic life, Mia rents a small house from the Richardsons (an arrangement Mrs. Richardson wholeheartedly agrees to because, after all, how can someone who leads such a "perfect" life as hers not have a "compassionate" and "charitable" heart?).  As the lives of the 2 families become more and more entangled, things happen that reveal the deep dysfunction that actually lies just beneath the surface of this community, the Richardson family in particular.  As "reality" sets in and things fall apart around her, Mrs. Richardson sees her carefully curated bubble start to burst, which eventually triggers in her the obsessive need to dig up Mia's past and expose her in a desperate attempt to get her "perfect" life back.  The results of this obsession proves to be unexpected as well as devastating.

Author Celeste Ng writes beautifully – she has a skillful way with words and her storytelling draws you in completely.  From the first sentence all the way to the very last word, I was captivated by this well-crafted story with its well-developed, complicated, yet extremely realistic characters – to be honest, I didn't want this story to end.  It's not often that a book comes along where the characters are explored so deeply and flushed out so completely without sacrificing the story or the writing in any way.  While there were some characters that I didn't like at all and others who were unequivocally endearing, all of them I felt like I understood and could empathize with.  I loved how the characters were drawn so realistically – the portrayal of Mrs. Richardson, for example, with her "holier than thou" attitude and "sweet as pie" platitudes trying to mask the hypocrisy and unethical nature of her actions was truly spot-on!  The story itself explored so many different issues, complicated societal issues such as family, mother/daughter relationships, teenage angst and rebellion, racism, etc. yet this was done in a way that presented both sides while still remaining neutral from a narrative standpoint – something that is extremely difficult to do!  As a reader, I appreciated being presented with both sides and letting me decide for myself what side I wanted to be on.

One of the things I saw in this book that I rarely see nowadays with contemporary authors was the use of allusions and foreshadowing woven so seamlessly throughout the entire story.  The number of direct and indirect references to "fire" and all its different iterations (blaze, sparks, flames, flare, smoke, torch, ember, etc.) from the book's awesome title was astounding, but what I loved most was how these references were so thoughtfully relayed through such beautiful writing!  I would quote passages if I could but seeing that I read an ARC version of the book, probably best not to – besides, there were so many great "fire" related passages that deciding which ones to include and which ones not to would be a nightmare for me, lol.  You will just have to read the book and discover them for yourself! ;-)

My only complaint is a little bit of dissatisfaction with the ending – not because the loose ends weren't tied up (I actually like the fact that Ng went with a non-traditional ending), but because I was so invested in the characters already that I wanted to know what ultimately happens to them, wanted the story to continue on so I could keep spending time with them (part of me also wanted to see some type of comeuppance for the deplorable Mrs. Richardson, whom I detested from the beginning of the story to the very end, lol).  But of course, the ending reflects how real life works and I am perfectly fine with that!

This book made me think and reflect on a lot of things but most of all, it made me think about life and all its complexities.  No matter how much we may want to -- try to -- plan or control things, life happens and more often than not, takes on directions that we don't expect, can't anticipate, can't control, and oftentimes can't change.  Whether good, bad, or indifferent, when life happens, even the best-laid plans cannot help us avoid it..  Wonderful book, highly recommended!!!

Received advance reader's copy from Penguin Press via Penguin First to Read program and Edelweiss.

Review: Swimming Home (by Mary-Rose MacColl)

My Rating:  4 stars

This book was a surprisingly good read and a quick one too despite its length (400+ pages).  I will admit though that when I first saw the title and read the summary, I wasn’t sure if it would be my kind of book.  The main reason is because the story seemed to revolve around swimming, both for recreation and as a sport – nothing wrong with that of course, but I tend to shy away from books about athletics and sports because, well, I’m not “outdoorsy” and because I’m not into sports of any kind, I’m afraid I might get bored if a book gets too technical about the sport.  Well, it turned out that with Mary-Rose MacColl’s Swimming Home, I had nothing to worry about.   Yes, the book was about swimming and yes, the sport played an important role in the story, with the author even blending real life swimming history into the story (for example -- names of real swimmers with real achievements, real swim organizations, historical facts about swimming and the women’s movement, etc.).  However, there was much much more to the story than just swimming.  MacColl actually explores a variety of different subjects in the book, including family relationships, friendship, society convention and prejudices, gender equality and women’s rights, coming-of-age, class system (rich versus poor), etc. What I liked best though was the good dose of history that the author was able to incorporate into the story, both via the setting (1920s Europe and U.S. when aviation hadn’t really taken off yet so people took the train or boat when travelling between countries and also no telephone either so people wired one another via telegrams) as well as actual historical events that had taken place (i.e.: the WSA’s fight for women’s rights in swimming, the changes in society that were part of the aftermath of World War I, famous achievements such as swimmer Gertrude Ederle being the first woman to swim the English Channel in 1926, etc.).  There were even some undercurrents of a subtle mystery that ran throughout the story, which resulted in a bit of a twist in the end that I totally did not expect. The beauty of the way the story was written though (yes, this book was definitely well-written), was that none of the subjects this book dealt with were overpowering in any way -- each subject/theme was given adequate treatment without going overboard, which I definitely appreciated.

This book also had good character development, especially with the 2 main characters :  Louisa Quick, a doctor in London who was instrumental in helping to lead the female empowerment through education movement in her youth, and her niece Catherine Quick, a teenager born and raised on a remote island in Australia whose affinity with the sea and swimming was as natural as eating and breathing.  To be honest, I really didn’t like Louisa much in the beginning and some of her actions were truly appalling, but then I realized that the way her character was written was actually very realistic.  Basically, she was a good person who made mistakes – lots of them….in other words, she was flawed just like the rest of us.  Catherine, on the other hand, was a character I liked from the start – her carefree manner was infectious and I enjoyed getting to accompany her as she comes-of-age after her father dies unexpectedly and she is relocated to London to live with her aunt.  I loved that Catherine grew and matured after her various experiences in London and New York, but yet the core of who she was never changed and her passion for swimming stayed strong throughout.

I read a few reviews of this book that said the plot was too slow, which made it hard to get into the story.  I partially agree in that the plot was indeed slow at first and it did take a few dozen pages for the story to really take off, but after that, I didn’t have any problems getting into the story.  In fact, I found the story quite engaging at this point and I was so invested in the characters that I just wanted to keep reading so I could find out what happens to them in the end.  I also appreciated the good use of descriptions and imagery throughout the story – again, adequate and not overpowering while staying true to the historical context of the time period.

This is a book I would definitely recommend, especially to those who enjoy well-written historical fiction that is also well-researched, with a story that has depth, but is also easy to read.  One observation I would like to mention though – I noticed this book was originally published in October 2015, but I received an ARC of this last month with an expected publication date in June 2017.  I didn’t really look into it but I noticed the 2017 release is for the paperback version – so I guess this is technically an “older” book from 2 years ago that is being re-released in paperback now.  Just a random observation in case there is confusion on the release dates for this book.

Received ARC from Penguin Books via Penguin First-to-Read program.