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3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
I was intrigued by the premise of this book, but found it a long slog. I could only read a handful of pages at a time. The characters and the narrative just didn't grab me. The best chapter, in my opinion, was written from the point of view of the car.
Disappointed in the character development in this book. Felt like they should have focused on fewer characters. Enjoyed the writing style but felt like there was a lot of NY society name dropping that went over my head
I was really hoping for this book to be better. I continued reading it in the hopes that it would get better, but it never really did. Thankfully there were a couple of characters that were interesting so I could justify reading until the end.
Hard to get into. Weird graphic details. Not the most endearing characters. Just not my thing.
I loved this book, the family dynamics and the writing were so good! Only taking out half a star because I didn't have the heart swell that the perfect 5 star books give me, but I would read again just for the writing. The number of issues touched on is amazing
I just noticed the blurb says "hilarious debut novel" but this book was not funny at all. It was ok as a story. I did not care about any of the characters. Saina seemed the most interesting. Grace and Andrew were just spoiled.
This book was due at the library and I couldn't renew it. I chose to keep it an extra day because I couldn't imagine caring at a later date to pick it back up to find out what happens to the characters. But I hate not finishing a book.
This book was due at the library and I couldn't renew it. I chose to keep it an extra day because I couldn't imagine caring at a later date to pick it back up to find out what happens to the characters. But I hate not finishing a book.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I am conflicted some by this book. In some circles this book received rave reviews. In others people found it terrible. I am somewhere in the middle. I didn’t have a hard time reading this one and there were some great moments in the book like the scene in the lecture hall or when the Mercedes narrates a chapter. I sometimes felt as though the book was campy and it teetered on the line with certain stereotypes. On the other hand, I’ve seen other families deal with some of the same issues where they are not quite PC in their personal home conversations. I feel like I learned a good deal about Chinese culture and I had fun reviewing my limited knowledge of the Mandarin language which we are learning along with our youngest son. All in all I was interested throughout the book about the characters and I can relate to this journey that Charles experienced to find that he belongs to both China and the US. I’ve seen this in my own immigrant family, especially with the person that arrives in the US first... this longing for success and growth in a new country vs. to pull of the old country. In the end I find that this story did serve to its purpose of giving the reader a look inside a different culture and the inter-generational immigrant experience.
Not only did I find all of the characters to be people I didn’t care about, but the plot never really went anywhere. As a side note, there is some untranslated Chinese in this book, which added to frustration.
This book can't seem to decide whether it wants to be a heartwarming family drama, or a warts-and-all dysfunctional week in the life of a family ala Jonathan Franzen. There were several scenes that went on a little too long, or where the characters were a little too selfish / pretentious / icky. But there were also parts that I really liked, and I was interested enough in most of the family to want to finish the book.