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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The surgical ICU had its surgeons and anesthesiologists, doctors who wrote the shortest and most indecipherable notes. The notes reminded me of haikus. And because I wasn't a literary person, I called my time in this unit 'Difficult Poetry.'
I cackled so many times! Wang makes naked, staccato, absurdist statements and cultural observations through Joan, the narrator/MC. Joan wants to be so useful to her ICU patients that she's effaced, so productive at work she has no time for anything else. She admires the clean efficiency of the ECMO machine and, less so, her self-directed vacuum.
These plans chafe with others' expectations of her as neighbor, daughter, sister. Her arcs crisscross in the book: She's almost constantly stifling the things she would like to say to arrogantly oblivious white men. Selectively borrowing postures, gestures, idioms and cultural references to build relationships. Slowly realizing that grief
I appreciated Wang's treatment of Covid as an emerging phenomenon in the textual timeline. She thoughtfully integrated Chinese American history, xenophobia, and diasporic perspectives. The ending felt abrupt,
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Probably more 3.5. I liked all of the wordplay, the conversation around language and the layers underneath what we say. Her relationship with her mother is more interesting than that with her father, tho the latter is more central to the book. Overall maybe I wasn’t ready for a pandemic novel quite yet but I still enjoyed it.
I really enjoyed this. I loved Joan. She is so socially awkward, has the craziest responses to things, definitely has a hard time accessing her feelings, likes her ICU equipment more than most people. And everyone wants to change her in some way. I love that she resists this, and finds her own way of beginning to deal with things like the death of her father. I hope she doesn't stop putting googly eyes on her equipment, though. :-) She is quirky, and angry, and stubborn, and just Joan. Now I need to look up the author's previous book.
I started out thinking is book was just OK, especially since it employs the overused trope of the main character being on the autism spectrum. This is never directly acknowledged but is evident in her behavior. Also, I listened to the audiobook and the narrator choose a very clipped, direct style of speech. However, this book grew on my over time. Joan is a likable protagonist, and as the story evolves and we get to know her parents and brother, you begin to wonder how much of her personality is based on a condition and how much was a result of her upbringing as the child of Chinese immigrants.
This takes place right before and in the early months of the Covid pandemic. That adds an extra element to the story since we as the readers who have lived through it know what is to come.
I reread this book because it was selected for my neighborhood book club. I enjoyed reading it again and cheering for Joan to overcome everyone else's opinions and forge a life she is comfortable with. Since last reading the book, I have learned more about mental health issues and had a better understanding of Joan's situation. Also, with some more distance from the start of the Covid lockdown, I was able to appreciate how the author provided a historical record of the life of a medical professional at that time.
This takes place right before and in the early months of the Covid pandemic. That adds an extra element to the story since we as the readers who have lived through it know what is to come.
I reread this book because it was selected for my neighborhood book club. I enjoyed reading it again and cheering for Joan to overcome everyone else's opinions and forge a life she is comfortable with. Since last reading the book, I have learned more about mental health issues and had a better understanding of Joan's situation. Also, with some more distance from the start of the Covid lockdown, I was able to appreciate how the author provided a historical record of the life of a medical professional at that time.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5-3.75 stars (somewhere in there!)
It took a bit for me to get into this book because I wasn't a huge fan of the stream of consciousness writing, but as it went on, it actually grew on me, as did the main character. Joan was a little hard to connect to at first, and things seemed like it was initially a bit rushed, but it all eventually felt like it settled a bit. Although we both share a culture and Asian parents, her experience of having Asian parents was super different from mine, so I didn't fully connect there. But later, I really started connecting with her and what was going on in her head when she was talking about how she struggled to connect with the people around her in various ways. In a lot of ways, I too feel like I have a lot of difficulty connecting with people at work (though actually this job has been really great, but at least in the past), and I definitely have difficulty connecting with my family.
But the part that I think ended up feeling most impactful for me was the whole situation involving Joan's neighbor and how he kept bringing things over for her and eventually threw a whole ass party in her apartment without telling her about it beforehand because he thought she would be fine with it. At first, I thought he was being super sweet, but it felt more and more intrusive, and when Joan said something along the lines of how she realized she didn't have to change who she was for anyone, even someone who thought that she was uncultured or whatever because she didn't behave in the same ways or do the same things, I was just like /holy shit/ because I totally would have done the same thing.
Also, I definitely do agree with the readers who thought that Joan was on the autism spectrum - there were quite a few hints and things mentioned outside of her narration that made me think that. Also I couldn't quite sum up my description of Joan's narrative voice, but this quote by another reviewer definitely puts how I felt into words: There is a sharp weariness (interesting contradiction), that shapes much of the prose.
And then the last two pages did make me tear up because of Joan's reflections on her dad - my dad also calls me a doctor casually, so that bit really could have been about me and my dad. So overall, the book really rose from a 3 to 3.5 or even almost a 3.75 to me by the end, and I'm definitely glad I read it! :)
It took a bit for me to get into this book because I wasn't a huge fan of the stream of consciousness writing, but as it went on, it actually grew on me, as did the main character. Joan was a little hard to connect to at first, and things seemed like it was initially a bit rushed, but it all eventually felt like it settled a bit. Although we both share a culture and Asian parents, her experience of having Asian parents was super different from mine, so I didn't fully connect there. But later, I really started connecting with her and what was going on in her head when she was talking about how she struggled to connect with the people around her in various ways. In a lot of ways, I too feel like I have a lot of difficulty connecting with people at work (though actually this job has been really great, but at least in the past), and I definitely have difficulty connecting with my family.
But the part that I think ended up feeling most impactful for me was the whole situation involving Joan's neighbor and how he kept bringing things over for her and eventually threw a whole ass party in her apartment without telling her about it beforehand because he thought she would be fine with it. At first, I thought he was being super sweet, but it felt more and more intrusive, and when Joan said something along the lines of how she realized she didn't have to change who she was for anyone, even someone who thought that she was uncultured or whatever because she didn't behave in the same ways or do the same things, I was just like /holy shit/ because I totally would have done the same thing.
Also, I definitely do agree with the readers who thought that Joan was on the autism spectrum - there were quite a few hints and things mentioned outside of her narration that made me think that. Also I couldn't quite sum up my description of Joan's narrative voice, but this quote by another reviewer definitely puts how I felt into words: There is a sharp weariness (interesting contradiction), that shapes much of the prose.
And then the last two pages did make me tear up because of Joan's reflections on her dad - my dad also calls me a doctor casually, so that bit really could have been about me and my dad. So overall, the book really rose from a 3 to 3.5 or even almost a 3.75 to me by the end, and I'm definitely glad I read it! :)
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was too quirky for me. I still need to understand the ending. I wonder why authors don't use quotation marks. Joan is an ICU doctor, good at her job, but not good at much else. Her mother and brother criticize her all the time. This one just didn't do much for me.