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A review by arisbookcorner
Family Trust by Kathy Wang
3.0
IQ "They didn't yet understand that as one grew older, as one's own children aged and moved away, your own self came increasingly back into focus. Life became definitively finite, increasingly so, and your desire for pleasure grew each day." (239)
I think comparisons to CRAZY RICH ASIANS is a bit lazy, this book is not nearly as funny or focused on the materialistic side. It's also more focused on Chinese Americans than Chinese abroad whereas Crazy Rich Asians only has Rachel as the "Chinese American" voice. And unlike CRA which has a great sense of place the Silicon Valley setting failed to stand out. I also had little investment in the characters which made the story boring, the only ones I was drawn to were Camila and Linda. I wanted to know more about Camila and I wanted Linda to narrate the entire book because her biting tone was stellar, "Sometimes Linda wondered whether she had taught her son anything. Didn't Harvard Business School have a class on second wives and end-of-life estate planning? For the tuition it charged, it should at least have offered it as an elective" (124). But unfortunately we spend a lot of time with Kate and Fred who could have been interesting but fall flat. There is lots to be said about the gendered expectations placed on them both and the familial trauma they share having endured Stanley's cruelty but there is nothing new explored here. Kate is a staid character and mostly remains that way throughout the novel, the result being that her "can a woman have it all" dilemma never really feels natural or all that stressful. I wish we at least understood how she and Denny ended up together but even that is a mystery making their marital strife feel like a mere plot device and thus uninteresting. Fred is under a lot of self manifested pressure at work and at home but his story was also uninteresting, he's a passive character whose arc only picks up when something happens to him at the very end. Yes it skewers the classism, racism and sexism of Silicon Valley but none of that felt particularly new or noteworthy.
This book did unexpectedly present the world of healthcare (specifically palliative care and caretakers) and finance in compelling ways. When I finished reading I felt considerably more knowledgable about both worlds than I ever had before. I was also surprisingly moved by Stanley's demise even though he's insufferable but I think that's given the author's focus on how his diagnosis and death affect the family. Kate and Fred's reflections on their childhood are shockingly dark and unexpected, the characters remain fairly closed off though, the author unwilling to probe those memories and their affect any further.
FAMILY TRUST is a heartfelt novel a money obsessed family and the insanity of Silicon Valley culture. If it weren't for Linda's sardonic wit I'm not sure I would have ever finished even though I was curious about what would happen to Stanley. But it was fine overall.
I think comparisons to CRAZY RICH ASIANS is a bit lazy, this book is not nearly as funny or focused on the materialistic side. It's also more focused on Chinese Americans than Chinese abroad whereas Crazy Rich Asians only has Rachel as the "Chinese American" voice. And unlike CRA which has a great sense of place the Silicon Valley setting failed to stand out. I also had little investment in the characters which made the story boring, the only ones I was drawn to were Camila and Linda. I wanted to know more about Camila and I wanted Linda to narrate the entire book because her biting tone was stellar, "Sometimes Linda wondered whether she had taught her son anything. Didn't Harvard Business School have a class on second wives and end-of-life estate planning? For the tuition it charged, it should at least have offered it as an elective" (124). But unfortunately we spend a lot of time with Kate and Fred who could have been interesting but fall flat. There is lots to be said about the gendered expectations placed on them both and the familial trauma they share having endured Stanley's cruelty but there is nothing new explored here. Kate is a staid character and mostly remains that way throughout the novel, the result being that her "can a woman have it all" dilemma never really feels natural or all that stressful. I wish we at least understood how she and Denny ended up together but even that is a mystery making their marital strife feel like a mere plot device and thus uninteresting. Fred is under a lot of self manifested pressure at work and at home but his story was also uninteresting, he's a passive character whose arc only picks up when something happens to him at the very end. Yes it skewers the classism, racism and sexism of Silicon Valley but none of that felt particularly new or noteworthy.
This book did unexpectedly present the world of healthcare (specifically palliative care and caretakers) and finance in compelling ways. When I finished reading I felt considerably more knowledgable about both worlds than I ever had before. I was also surprisingly moved by Stanley's demise even though he's insufferable but I think that's given the author's focus on how his diagnosis and death affect the family. Kate and Fred's reflections on their childhood are shockingly dark and unexpected, the characters remain fairly closed off though, the author unwilling to probe those memories and their affect any further.
FAMILY TRUST is a heartfelt novel a money obsessed family and the insanity of Silicon Valley culture. If it weren't for Linda's sardonic wit I'm not sure I would have ever finished even though I was curious about what would happen to Stanley. But it was fine overall.