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A review by miyaosamu
Central Places by Delia Cai
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Thank you to Random House - Ballantine for providing an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
with its intriguing premise, central places had aspects i did not expect at all that i found myself let down in the reading experience. following audrey zhou, we see her return to her small town, hickory grove in illinois for the holidays for her parents to meet her fiancée after building herself a pretty successful life in new york city and a relationship she's content with. but returning home upturns all her feelings and past growing up in that small town that she had left all behind, including a complex relationship with her mother that she's avoided at all costs to deal with.
things i did appreciate was the well done character development and self realization of flaws and a lot of healing resentment, though it was only in the last few chapters. the use of flashbacks all through the story made it much more layered and added to present-day moments of interactions with her parents and seeing old high school classmates. audrey's relationship with her mother, that dynamic being the most detailed realistic to me down to the details of remarks and some things just having to go out the other ear.
though i enjoyed audrey's character development by the end, most of my criticisms are from what took up majority of this story. audrey being an unlikeable main character was natural for a story like this, but i personally just could not stand and empathize with her at so many different moments that made it tedious to get through the story despite it being less than 300 pages. dealing with her mother, i was quite understanding with audrey but she really was selfish and quick to blame others which i realize now was traits she may had picked up from her mother as well. dealing with resolving her past in her hometown, she makes several complicated decisions and actions that made her so incredibly frustrating and an example is how she blames "old audrey's" feelings for decisions she makes in the present. her fiancée, ben seemed decent at first but turned out to be another self absorbed man living off his rich parents. but don't get me wrong both were at fault in relationship with audrey clearly not being ready and never being able to properly communicate her feelings and with ben trying to set plans in stone assuming audrey would go along fine with it. overall, i could nitpick about some other portions of the story, spoilery but most lead back to audrey's actions. i do wish her character development was expanded on a bit more and not so rushed into the last chapters and that itself would made much more of an impact i think.
with its intriguing premise, central places had aspects i did not expect at all that i found myself let down in the reading experience. following audrey zhou, we see her return to her small town, hickory grove in illinois for the holidays for her parents to meet her fiancée after building herself a pretty successful life in new york city and a relationship she's content with. but returning home upturns all her feelings and past growing up in that small town that she had left all behind, including a complex relationship with her mother that she's avoided at all costs to deal with.
things i did appreciate was the well done character development and self realization of flaws and a lot of healing resentment, though it was only in the last few chapters. the use of flashbacks all through the story made it much more layered and added to present-day moments of interactions with her parents and seeing old high school classmates. audrey's relationship with her mother, that dynamic being the most detailed realistic to me down to the details of remarks and some things just having to go out the other ear.
though i enjoyed audrey's character development by the end, most of my criticisms are from what took up majority of this story. audrey being an unlikeable main character was natural for a story like this, but i personally just could not stand and empathize with her at so many different moments that made it tedious to get through the story despite it being less than 300 pages. dealing with her mother, i was quite understanding with audrey but she really was selfish and quick to blame others which i realize now was traits she may had picked up from her mother as well. dealing with resolving her past in her hometown, she makes several complicated decisions and actions that made her so incredibly frustrating and an example is how she blames "old audrey's" feelings for decisions she makes in the present. her fiancée, ben seemed decent at first but turned out to be another self absorbed man living off his rich parents. but don't get me wrong both were at fault in relationship with audrey clearly not being ready and never being able to properly communicate her feelings and with ben trying to set plans in stone assuming audrey would go along fine with it. overall, i could nitpick about some other portions of the story, spoilery but most lead back to audrey's actions. i do wish her character development was expanded on a bit more and not so rushed into the last chapters and that itself would made much more of an impact i think.