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reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I liked it. I think very much like this author‘s previous book, Chemistry, this was a smart, witty and insightful book about family and being okay in your own skin. Similarly to the previous book, the protagonist, Joanna, is what can be described as a incredibly introspective, a little out of the norm, and to arm-chair diagnose, somewhat neurodivergent. Highly intelligent and a high achieving ICU doctor with former immigrant parents who were able to communicate indirectly an expectation for excellence along with a pragmatic sort of parenting style, Joanna struggles a little with the mainstream social cues and expectations to dominate and subscribe to capitalist impulses, that abound in a high energy city like New York. For Joanna, she would rather just be a cog in the hospital wheel- nondescript and unnoticed, yet essential and ever-present, doing her job excellently, ideally with no time off, until the death of her father causes her to reflect on her life and her choices.
Overall, I enjoyed this mainly because I enjoyed spending time in Joanna’s head. I think this won’t be for everyone- certainly if you dislike deeply introspective books that aren’t filled with lots of action or movement or complex and compelling characters, this won’t be for you. For one thing, not much happens in this book- there’s. It a lot of plot, frankly. This is more or less a book of Joanna’s observations and reflections on her life and her family and philosophies about life and the way she lives it. Even with Joanna, who we get to know the best, the author writes her in the same dispassionate, unemotional, heavily mechanized way that means we know who Joanna is and even like her, but like her family and co-workers, we don’t get to be emotionally attached who are. And I think this is on purpose.
Joanna’s relationship with her family was very important in this book, yet they were the kind of characters that were frequently spoken about but kind of frequently placed in the cupboard as an idea rather than a full blown character- I wish there had been more of an opportunity for dialogue and to get to know characters through that means rather than just through internal monologue. I also really enjoyed Joanna’s tangents about the intricacies of Chinese language word-building and the crafting of Chinese idioms, she was incredibly sharp and astute and unapologetic about who she does without being completely oblivious to how she was perceived..
This book had racism and xenophobia as significant themes with specific focus on the US’s checkered history with Asian immigrants particularly Chinese immigrants and the systems of subjugation which existed for decades and have led to anti-Asian sentiment even now. This book, like the author’s previous work, also rests heavily on immigration and cross-generational cultural tensions between immigrant parents and their first generation children. There are also themes of identity in this and pressures around being the model minority in contemporary USA.
If I have any niggles with this, it would be the lack of a proper plot or story trajectory, and the random insertion if COVID at the end, completely separate from the rest of the book. I understand this is perhaps a covid-era-produced book and so it seemed imperative to add Covid as a plot element especially given the linkage to the rise in hate crimes Asian people experienced during the pandemic. But the addition was clunky, rushed and didn’t really add anything to the book or link much to what came before. The book is written with such painstaking detail and tediousness that the last part felt very rushed and out of the blue, and for that reason sketchily finished. In this book, the character’s starting point and ending are the same and even though I enjoyed it a lot, I recognize that not much was happening in this. But these sorts of quiet, gentle works of fiction are my absolute jam so I’m glad to have found this one.
I received a complimentary copy of this book #JoanIsOkay from NetGalley.
Overall, I enjoyed this mainly because I enjoyed spending time in Joanna’s head. I think this won’t be for everyone- certainly if you dislike deeply introspective books that aren’t filled with lots of action or movement or complex and compelling characters, this won’t be for you. For one thing, not much happens in this book- there’s. It a lot of plot, frankly. This is more or less a book of Joanna’s observations and reflections on her life and her family and philosophies about life and the way she lives it. Even with Joanna, who we get to know the best, the author writes her in the same dispassionate, unemotional, heavily mechanized way that means we know who Joanna is and even like her, but like her family and co-workers, we don’t get to be emotionally attached who are. And I think this is on purpose.
Joanna’s relationship with her family was very important in this book, yet they were the kind of characters that were frequently spoken about but kind of frequently placed in the cupboard as an idea rather than a full blown character- I wish there had been more of an opportunity for dialogue and to get to know characters through that means rather than just through internal monologue. I also really enjoyed Joanna’s tangents about the intricacies of Chinese language word-building and the crafting of Chinese idioms, she was incredibly sharp and astute and unapologetic about who she does without being completely oblivious to how she was perceived..
This book had racism and xenophobia as significant themes with specific focus on the US’s checkered history with Asian immigrants particularly Chinese immigrants and the systems of subjugation which existed for decades and have led to anti-Asian sentiment even now. This book, like the author’s previous work, also rests heavily on immigration and cross-generational cultural tensions between immigrant parents and their first generation children. There are also themes of identity in this and pressures around being the model minority in contemporary USA.
If I have any niggles with this, it would be the lack of a proper plot or story trajectory, and the random insertion if COVID at the end, completely separate from the rest of the book. I understand this is perhaps a covid-era-produced book and so it seemed imperative to add Covid as a plot element especially given the linkage to the rise in hate crimes Asian people experienced during the pandemic. But the addition was clunky, rushed and didn’t really add anything to the book or link much to what came before. The book is written with such painstaking detail and tediousness that the last part felt very rushed and out of the blue, and for that reason sketchily finished. In this book, the character’s starting point and ending are the same and even though I enjoyed it a lot, I recognize that not much was happening in this. But these sorts of quiet, gentle works of fiction are my absolute jam so I’m glad to have found this one.
I received a complimentary copy of this book #JoanIsOkay from NetGalley.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Xenophobia, Classism, and Death of parent
Moderate: Ableism, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Sexism, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Bullying
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