Book No. 12 of 2020
This is one of those stories where, if you boiled it down simply to “what happens,” could be summarized in one unremarkable sentence. (This, btw, is why I hate when people ask me what a book is “about” or “what happens”—a good book is so much more than that! Sorry, I digress.) But Amy Tan’s craft for storytelling elevates this to something that is heartfelt, heart-wrenching, and heart-breaking.
I also found the book deeply, deeply relatable; the background narrative unrolls in the Bay Area (when a character makes a decision to drive 280 from SF to San Jose instead of 101, I FELT that) and the undeniable Asian Mom Energy was pretty great (and made me want to call my mom). Also, Jimmy Louie. What a romance.
This book had me contemplating my own feelings of identity and family, and our distinctly human desire to protect others from painful truths. The web of secrets the characters shield from each other holds a brilliant tangle of tension and humor, balanced perfectly in Tan’s writing. (Who else can sprinkle distinctly Asian details to make a funeral funny and an engagement dinner sad?)
Similar Reads
For other books like this, obviously you can and should check out Amy Tan’s other novels, but that is low-hanging fruit and you know I can give you more than that.
For other fiction reads on first-generation Asian-American identity:
Ken Liu’s The Paper Menagerie (particularly the eponymous short story)
Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake
Angie Kim’s Miracle Creek
Ling Ma’s Severance
Meng Jin’s Little Gods
For fiction that takes place in the SF Bay Area
The Kiss Quotient and The Bride Test, both by Helen Hoang
A River of Stars by Vanessa Hua
Green Island by Shawna Yang Ryan
The Wedding Date and The Wedding Party, both by Jasmine Guillory