Reviews

This feels like thinly fictionalized memoir (especially as the author is married, has a dog and a cat, and lives in Ithaca). A lot of musings on what to do in your mid-twenties, when working at a job that doesn't seem to be going anywhere, and when you might be the trailing partner for someone going elsewhere for grad school, etc. A thoughtful book.

nikkigrady's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

3.5

abzhozay's review against another edition

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slow-paced

3.0

This book had a lot going on for it. It brought great discussions of an asian girl working in a white dominated industry & having a white boyfriend but also having Chinese immigrant parents who has a hard time understanding her circumstances. This book is for the millenials, the burnouts, the second and the generation immigrant children. Although it's very melancholic, poignant, and objectively great written discussions, it's also a very slow book that I had a harder time focusing up until the end. I still think you should give this book a chance, but the writing wasn't for me personally.

luciepzt's review against another edition

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informative reflective

4.75

jnelsontwo's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

chan_bean's review against another edition

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2.0

Honestly,

Spoiler

I feel like I was tricked into reading a memoir. A little over halfway through the book it is revealed that the main character's name is the author's name. And In the acknowledgments the author mentions her husband, Jeff, who I'm assuming is J. I read her bio in the back of the book before reading, and I have no problem with people writing from their experiences, but if I knew that this would be so heavily based on her personal life I don't think I would have read it.

I found the parts about the dynamics at her job most interesting, but they were few and far in between, especially once the main characters move to Ithaca. I didn't feel any deep emotional connection to anyone in this story, so it fell flat for me.

caroisreading's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

This book personally wasn't a favorite of mine, but I understand how others might connect to the experimental writing style, and still think it's worth a read for its themes about racism, interracial relationships and immigrant families. These are typically the topics I relate to and seek out the most, which made this even more of a let down for me.

Alexandra Chang has basically written a memoir, positioned as a work of fiction -- maybe a legal decision because she talks about her tech jobs and coworkers? What made this difficult was my immense dislike of the narrator, and I feel badly if this was written as a true reflection of the author.

This felt like a slow read through a Notes app -- a collection of rants, insecurities, conversations with her boyfriend and family, and research on Asian American historical figures. The tone comes off as self-absorbed, control-freakish, egotistical and petulant.

The main storyline is their move from California to Ithaca for her boyfriend's grad school work. This journey into a non-Californian America really brought out an excessively antagonistic voice. Her reactions to live country music (disgust, could never live there? okay...) or a person giving them directions too slowly (you're annoyed at a nice stranger trying to help?) just really put me off. On top of this, the first third of the book is about her agonizing over not getting a raise (spoiler, she eventually does) while she watches a racist boss use the n-word at a company meeting -- WHAT? Then she has a running joke with her boyfriend called "That's So Ithaca" to sarcastically belittle everyone living there.

I was more interested in the latter third of the book, where the focus shifts to China and her relationship with her father, as well as article clippings about Yamei Kin, who probably deserves her own dedicated story.

That was all to say: Not for me.

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