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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Joan is a mercilessly efficient cog in the medical system. She doesn't need time off--not even bereavement leave after the passing of her father who returned to China after raising her in America. She's what her director calls "a gunner," his avatar of a new breed of doctor vital to delivering efficient and timely care. She's not that far removed from her beloved ECMO, a medical robot that never breaks down, never runs out of battery, and reliably performs its task.
And Joan (mostly) thinks that's all fine. No one else does, and part of the fun of this novel is watching even persistent people--like her brother and sister-in-law--try and fail to impress upon Joan the need for change. Her neighbor Mark does talk her into watching Seinfeld (he has to buy her a television and have it installed in her absence to make it happen), but it's hardly a transformative experience. It changes her about as much as the tower of books he lends her for her edification; that tower remains entirely untouched throughout the novel, stalwart even when Mark throws a surprise house warming party in their apartments without her consent or foreknowledge.
Though no one else gets her, Joan is ostensibly content with her life of work and work and work and quiet time in a sparsely decorated apartment. Among the novel's many ironies is the fact that the only person who does not want her to change is her director, a low-key racist who sees Asian-American Joan as part machine and all perfect.
The novel is less about transformation than about self-realization. She begins to see her hands as her father's hands and comes to appreciate the parts of him she carries. He was a gunner too. They once went a year without speaking, and it generated no ill will on either side. When he visits her at the hospital, he leaves the car on the curb with the hazards on to avoid the parking fee and indulges in a 2-4 minute chat while he is visiting America. It's only after his passing that she wishes he had stayed longer.
It makes sense then that Joan comes to recognize and appreciate her own idiosyncracies and emerges only somewhat changed--more willing to consent to the non-negotiable invitations her brother on Connecticut sends her but still jumping in to take all the shifts when COVID hits. It's character change, moderated.
I've never met a character quite like Joan. She is inflexible and indelible, and I like this novel more the more I mull it.
And Joan (mostly) thinks that's all fine. No one else does, and part of the fun of this novel is watching even persistent people--like her brother and sister-in-law--try and fail to impress upon Joan the need for change. Her neighbor Mark does talk her into watching Seinfeld (he has to buy her a television and have it installed in her absence to make it happen), but it's hardly a transformative experience. It changes her about as much as the tower of books he lends her for her edification; that tower remains entirely untouched throughout the novel, stalwart even when Mark throws a surprise house warming party in their apartments without her consent or foreknowledge.
Though no one else gets her, Joan is ostensibly content with her life of work and work and work and quiet time in a sparsely decorated apartment. Among the novel's many ironies is the fact that the only person who does not want her to change is her director, a low-key racist who sees Asian-American Joan as part machine and all perfect.
The novel is less about transformation than about self-realization. She begins to see her hands as her father's hands and comes to appreciate the parts of him she carries. He was a gunner too. They once went a year without speaking, and it generated no ill will on either side. When he visits her at the hospital, he leaves the car on the curb with the hazards on to avoid the parking fee and indulges in a 2-4 minute chat while he is visiting America. It's only after his passing that she wishes he had stayed longer.
It makes sense then that Joan comes to recognize and appreciate her own idiosyncracies and emerges only somewhat changed--more willing to consent to the non-negotiable invitations her brother on Connecticut sends her but still jumping in to take all the shifts when COVID hits. It's character change, moderated.
I've never met a character quite like Joan. She is inflexible and indelible, and I like this novel more the more I mull it.
The second book I've read that's set during the pandemic. Entirely different but still absolutely wonderful. Gut punch of what all of this (this being life, being covid, being everything that's happened) is doing to us:
"All this to show that we were strong, made stronger, instead of admitting to what we really were, numb."
"All this to show that we were strong, made stronger, instead of admitting to what we really were, numb."
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Hate crime, Medical content, Death of parent
Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, Blood
A short but curious book.
The writing here is so direct that it’s almost disarming. Joan is exceedingly practical as a character and a narrator. She’s not an emotionless robot yet there’s a level of detachment in her interactions with colleagues, neighbors, family, and even you as the reader. There are funny moments along with sad ones for Joan but her tone remains resolutely matter-of-fact throughout. It made for an engaging and occasionally challenging reading experience because while I certainly felt things about her various situations, she as a character was just not going to meet me there.
And I ended up respecting that. There are a lot of interesting ideas here: Her dedication to her profession as an ICU doctor, her experiences as an Asian American woman in a male-dominated field, her memories of her parents as immigrants building a new life in America, her complex relationship with a brother living his own version of The American Dream, and her guarded demeanor with everyone she encounters. They fit together more like moments than plot, similar to how I felt about the book [b:Intimacies|55918474|Intimacies|Katie Kitamura|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1605570704l/55918474._SX50_.jpg|87129689]. It worked for me here as well.
Thinking about it for a while after closing the book helped the pieces fit together for me, especially appreciating why Joan resents being viewed as “different” for how she chooses to move through the world.
It was initially a 3 for me at first, but bumped up to a 4 after I had some time to reflect on it.
As a heads-up, I try to skim blurbs because they almost always give away a plot point that’s more enjoyable to discover on my own. Part of me wishes I had in this case as I ended up wandering right back into another novel about...
The writing here is so direct that it’s almost disarming. Joan is exceedingly practical as a character and a narrator. She’s not an emotionless robot yet there’s a level of detachment in her interactions with colleagues, neighbors, family, and even you as the reader. There are funny moments along with sad ones for Joan but her tone remains resolutely matter-of-fact throughout. It made for an engaging and occasionally challenging reading experience because while I certainly felt things about her various situations, she as a character was just not going to meet me there.
And I ended up respecting that. There are a lot of interesting ideas here: Her dedication to her profession as an ICU doctor, her experiences as an Asian American woman in a male-dominated field, her memories of her parents as immigrants building a new life in America, her complex relationship with a brother living his own version of The American Dream, and her guarded demeanor with everyone she encounters. They fit together more like moments than plot, similar to how I felt about the book [b:Intimacies|55918474|Intimacies|Katie Kitamura|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1605570704l/55918474._SX50_.jpg|87129689]. It worked for me here as well.
Thinking about it for a while after closing the book helped the pieces fit together for me, especially appreciating why Joan resents being viewed as “different” for how she chooses to move through the world.
It was initially a 3 for me at first, but bumped up to a 4 after I had some time to reflect on it.
As a heads-up, I try to skim blurbs because they almost always give away a plot point that’s more enjoyable to discover on my own. Part of me wishes I had in this case as I ended up wandering right back into another novel about...
Spoiler
...the beginning of the pandemic. That said, I found that Joan’s straightforward tone about events worked much more effectively here than the more dramatic approach I’d found in [b:The Sentence|56816904|The Sentence|Louise Erdrich|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1630063344l/56816904._SY75_.jpg|88822235].
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
I absolutely adored this book. Joan is such a singular, memorable protagonist, and Marcy Dermansky put it best when she said "Joan is fine; the problem is other people." Excited to read more from Weike Wang!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
