I really loved Joan Is Okay by Weike Wang. Thanks to @randomhouse for sending me the ARC. This book follows Joan, a doctor in NYC and daughter of Chinese immigrants who moved back to China after she reached adulthood. Joan is extremely dedicated to her job and it’s a big part of her identity. After her father suddenly dies, Joan’s routines are disrupted as her mother returns to the US for an extended visit. Joan has to figure out how to move forward, with her own grief, and with the way others expect her to behave and cope during this time.

I really loved this book because Joan was such a remarkable special character. She’s perfectly content in her routine, completely dedicated to her job, and happy on her own. She lives on her own terms and subverts the expectations of society. She rejects her brother’s pressure to start a practice in a wealthy suburb - she’s happy in her modest apartment and isn’t striving for extreme wealth. Her observations are reflective and dryly funny.

If you like quiet character-driven novels about unconventional characters, I’d highly recommend this one.