Starred review from October 7, 2024
In this wonderfully acerbic outing from Wang (Joan Is Okay), a married couple from New York City face pressure from their in-laws and others on two separate vacations. First, Nate and Keru host Keru’s Chinese immigrant parents on Cape Cod, where they’ve rented a house. On their final night together, they debate the virtues of suffering, which Keru’s mother prizes as essential to a person’s success. Then they host Nate’s parents, blue-collar Trump supporters from the Blue Ridge Mountains who Keru struggles to connect with, especially after Nate’s mother complains about the house being too small. Five years later, the couple rents a bungalow in the Catskills, where comments from neighbors about their “double income, no kids” household activate a long-dormant fault line in the couple’s relationship: Nate, a scientist, earns far less than Keru, a business consultant. Later, Nate’s deadbeat older brother makes a surprise appearance, talking up his newest business venture, a gym, and pressuring Nate to invest in it. Wang excels at setting the tone with biting prose, describing the Catskills’ fall foliage as the “mass death of deciduous leaves,” and the scenes of family drama are compulsively readable. It’s a tour de force. Agent: Joy Harris, Joy Harris Literary.
February 1, 2025
Keru and Nate defy many of the assumptions people make about their interracial, dual-income, childless relationship, and yet, these preconceptions persist, even among their closest friends and family. Over the years, they attempt to bridge the gaps between Keru's Chinese immigrant parents and Nate's white parents, occasionally inviting them to vacation together. From Cape Cod to the Catskills, however, the clash of cultures, expectations, and familial histories strain their relationship to the breaking point, and it seems that what initially taught them to lean on each other might eventually drive them apart. Wang (Joan Is Okay) crafts a dramatic relationship fiction filled with heartache and humor. Narrator Jen Zhao gives a flat, no-frills performance that enhances the banality of the stereotypes and strain that Keru and Nate endure. Her engaging portrayal of the sympathetic characters and their family discord, both everyday and extreme, creates an engaging listening experience. VERDICT This audio will appeal to listeners seeking an emotionally intense drama about immigrant identity, class, and family dyamics. Recommended for fans of Ann Napolitano, Karin Lin-Greenberg, and Terah Shelton Harris.--Lauren Hackert
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