stefanicox's Reviews (519)

Jade Chang is the best! This novel feels like it's representative of the newest wave of authors to take the contemporary fiction stage. It's the story of the Wang family, headed by Charles Wang, who came to the U.S. from China and ended up making a fortune in the makeup industry. Then 2008 hits and he looses all his assets. So he gets the idea to do a giant road trip from Los Angeles to New York where his oldest daughter lives, the only one who wasn't financially affected by the financial blow. On the way, Charles picks up his other two children, and together with his second wife they run into all manner of calamity on their travels. The book is really funny in the way that family road trip books often are, even though the underlying story is serious, and each chapter is told from the perspective of a different family member. I loved listening to this on audio, because I got to hear all the Mandarin spoken correctly, giving the story a more three-dimensional feel. Definitely check this one out!

I like that Behold the Dreamers feels so recent and urgent. It's about a young couple, Jende and Neni, from Cameroon who move the the U.S. to find opportunity just for the Great Recession. Their lives are intertwined with those of a Wall Street family that Jende works for as a chauffeur. You can probably figure out that setup doesn't bode well for their financial prospects. I did feel that some of the dialogue was a little stilted, but the story still kept me engaged to the end.

I knew pretty much nothing about the Pacific Northwest feminist punk rock scene where Brownstein grew into her identity. She does such a great job of describing her journey as a musician and human being in her memoir. Worth the audio if you do audio books.

At first I wasn't thrilled with this one. For me it felt slow to get going, but it ended really strong. I liked that it was in some ways a thriller but also got into family dynamics and what it's like to put everything into one big dream.

I feel like anyone who has ever lived in DC would really relate to the first half of the book, where the narrator Beth describes what it's like to move to that area from NYC. Also a well-done exploration of marriage and friendship among couples, though perhaps a pessimistic version.