A review by tinamayreads
Activities of Daily Living by Lisa Hsiao Chen

4.0

ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING by Lisa Hsiao Chen is a great debut novel! I listened to the audiobook narrated by Tina Huang and I really enjoyed it! Excellent narration and I was engaged in this story the whole time. It’s about Alice, a Taiwanese immigrant, who begins a project about the performance artist Tehching Hsieh and takes care of her ageing stepfather. I loved the exploration of art and creativity in this book. Alice is almost consumed by Hsieh’s art and it comes through with her in depth account of his life. I also loved the topic of Chinese diaspora as Alice herself is an immigrant as was her mother and the artist. And the heartfelt topic of being a caretaker for an elderly parent with dementia is at times difficult to read but those situations are everyday and makes you reflect on your own activities of daily living. I found Alice to be very relatable and I really enjoyed the writing style which was very descriptive in explaining the past. I’m really looking forward to reading more form this author!!
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Thank you to Dreamscape Media and W. W. Norton via NetGalley for my ALC!