By Samantha Pak
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Central Places
By Delia Cai
Ballantine Books, 2023
When Audrey Zhou left the tiny Illinois town of Hickory Grove after high school, she never looked back. Moving to New York City, she became the person she always wanted to be—from the high-paying, high-pressure job, to a seemingly perfect fiancé, Ben. But if she and Ben are going to build a life together, Audrey has to show him more of who she is—including who she used to be. This means bringing her white fiancé home to meet her Chinese immigrant parents.
Once they arrive in Hickory Grove, it’s clear (at least to Audrey) why she felt the need to leave in the first place. Her relationship with her parents, especially with her mother and her high expectations, is complicated, and the friends she left behind have started families. Then there’s Kyle, her unrequited high school crush who always seemed to understand her—and turns out, still understands her. The longer she stays in town, the more Audrey is forced to come to terms with her past.
“Central Places” is the story about a woman figuring out who she is and what she really wants in life. Audrey is flawed. While her fraught relationship with her mother bleeds into other parts of her life, she often uses that as an excuse for her own behavior. It’s not until she’s called out on it that she accepts her part in hurting others, just as they hurt her. It was great to see Audrey’s growth throughout the story and her ability to learn from her past mistakes and behavior—because it shows us readers that nobody is perfect and we all have the potential to be better people.
I also appreciated reading an Asian American story from a different part of the country. I haven’t read many stories featuring AAPI folks from the Midwest and Cai’s story was a welcome perspective about an experience I had not known much about (I particularly enjoyed the parts about the role church plays in everyday life and how seriously the community takes their Christmas show).
Sophie Go’s Lonely Hearts Club
By Roselle Lim
Berkley, 2022
Sophie Go is back in her hometown of Toronto after spending three years in Shanghai, training to become a professional matchmaker. Now that she’s home, she’s trying to land clients. But her job is made much more difficult when it’s revealed that she never actually graduated from matchmaking school. Toronto is a tough and competitive market and no one wants to trust their love life to an inexperienced, unaccredited matchmaker.
Then Sophie meets the Old Ducks, a group of seven septuagenarian Chinese bachelors in her condo complex who have been unlucky in love for one reason or another. She quickly realizes these men are the key to her success and miraculously convinces them to hire her to help them find love. The task seems easy enough, but Sophie’s matchmaking skills are put to the test when she’s faced with her clients’ loneliness, heartbreak, grief, and in some cases, pure pickiness.
“Lonely Hearts Club” is a heartfelt story about loneliness and the power of love—in all of its forms—filled with ups and downs (it definitely had me laughing and crying). While they may work to find love for others, it typically isn’t in the cards for matchmakers like Sophie. But as the story progresses, we see that she is actually surrounded by love. From her best friend Yanmei, to the bonds she forms with the Old Ducks, Lim does a great job of showing readers that love is more than just romantic (though there is the possibility of that for Sophie as well). Lim also shows what love isn’t through Sophie’s relationship with her parents, which is complicated and toxic.
My favorite part of this story was Sophie’s relationship with the Old Ducks—who she gives nicknames to, like Mr. Wolf, Mr. Porcupine, Mr. Sorrow, and Mr. Regret. It was great to see them go from being wary of her intentions, to openly welcoming her into their fold. The Ducks’ interactions with each other are also amusing as Lim does a great job portraying decades-long friendships and all the bickering and teasing that comes along with that. I could only hope to have friendships like that when I’m at that age.
The Last Tale of the Flower Bride
By Roshani Chokshi
William Morrow, 2023
Once upon a time, there was a man who believed in fairy tales. A scholar of myths, he married the beautiful and mysterious heiress, Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada, with the belief that they would live happily ever after. And in exchange for her love, Indigo made her bridegroom promise that he would never pry into her past.
This is easier said than done when Indigo learns her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams. Within the manor’s crumbling, but extravagant walls, lurks the shadow of a girl named Azure, Indigo’s dearest childhood friend who abruptly disappeared after graduation. And as the house begins to reveal his wife’s secrets, the bridegroom can’t help but be curious and want to know more. But is it worth the risk of possibly destroying their marriage, or even their lives?
“Flower Bride” is a modern-day fairy tale, told in the vein of the originals—before they were sanitized by Disney. It’s dark and it’s unclear whether there will be a happy ending until the very end. This story is quite the departure from Chokshi’s Pandavas series (which regular readers of this column know I’m a huge fan of), but I enjoyed the darker tone. Not all stories need to be light and I appreciated that Chokshi went there, showing her range as a writer, going from her light and humorous middle-grade stories to this (I have yet to read her young adult works, but they’re on my list!)
Told in alternating points of views between the bridegroom and flashbacks with Azure (both of whom are seemingly obsessed with Indigo), is a slowly unfolding mystery as readers try to piece together what happened to Azure. Chokshi does a great job of weaving together two stories from two different time periods, from two different points of view into a single tale that will have readers guessing what happens next until the end.