A review by abbysbookadventure
The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I read Searching for Sylvie Lee back in 2019 and while I remember few details, I remember enjoying it! I was looking forward to the author’s latest.

While I liked this overall and really liked parts of it, this book is extremely mismarketed as a thriller. It’s barely a mystery - this is contemporary fiction about motherhood, race and class. There’s a “twist” this is not even remotely a twist at all, it’s so obvious from the very beginning. The cover is all wrong for what you’re getting and I fear that people will unfortunately be quite disappointed vs. expectations.

This book is told from two perspectives - one of the rich white adoptive mother and one of the poor Chinese birth mother. I enjoyed both stories a lot, especially the birth mother growing up in rural China and the focus on the one child policy. Some of the commentary got a bit heavy handed at times and I found the ending a bit clunky, but overall I liked it. It felt like a similar vain to Little Fires Everywhere and I think it would have been much more successful if it was edited and marketed as such.