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The residents of Haven, Wisconsin, have dined on the Fine Chao restaurant's delicious Americanized Chinese food for thirty-five years, content to ignore any unsavory whispers about the family owners. Whether or not Big Leo Chao is honest, or his wife, Winnie, is happy, their food tastes good and their three sons earned scholarships to respectable colleges. But when the brothers reunite in Haven, the Chao family's secrets and simmering resentments erupt at last. Before long, brash, charismatic, and tyrannical patriarch Leo is found dead--presumed murdered--and his sons find they've drawn the exacting gaze of the entire town. The ensuing trial brings to light potential motives for all three brothers: Dagou, the restaurant's reckless head chef; Ming, financially successful but personally tortured; and the youngest, gentle but lost college student James. As the spotlight on the brothers tightens--and the family dog meets an unexpected fate--Dagou, Ming, and James must reckon with the legacy of their father's outsized appetites and their own future survival. Brimming with heartbreak, comedy, and suspense, The Family Chao offers a kaleidoscopic, highly entertaining portrait of a Chinese American family grappling with the dark undercurrents of a seemingly pleasant small town.… (more)
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Lan Samantha Chang bases this on The Brothers Karamazov and it's hugely fun to see where she has chosen to follow that novel and where she diverges. But there's no need to have read, or even be familiar with the Dostoevsky; this novel is wild and fun and full of its own heart. Chang has taken the framework to create her own memorable group of siblings. I've been a fan of Chang's work since I read her previous novel, All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost and this new book shows the same beautiful writing, while being utterly different.
This book explores the Chinese American immigrant experience from several perspectives – Chinese born immigrants, their first-generation American born children, and Asian children adopted by white parents. The characters have made different choices regarding assimilation into the broader regional and national culture. The trial brings a measure of cohesion to the immigrant community as they perceive the racism that drives the course of justice. It’s easy to forget that this is a murder mystery, until an unexpected twist at the end of the book brings the mystery to the forefront again.
The Chao family have lived in a small Wisconsin town for 35 years, since the father and mother emigrated separately from China as young adults. They own a successful Chinese restaurant in the town, and have raised three sons. As the book opens, the parents have separated and the sons are grappling with their own places in the family and the world, hindered by their overbearing father's harsh treatment. (These are the bits that I absolutely loathe.) Everything builds to a climactic Christmas Eve dinner at the restaurant, where an unexpected tragedy alters the trajectory of all of their lives.
The second part of the book is set inside and outside of the courtroom where one of the family members is on trial. That mitigates but doesn't entirely erase the family's inability to connect with each other, and I found myself not really caring at all about the outcome. The final part deals with the aftermath of the verdict with some half-hearted attempts to wrap up each character's story. In the end for me, my antipathy is less about some characters being unlikable and more that I generally didn't find any of the characters compelling enough to make me care about what would happen to them.
I probably should not have read this book, knowing that it was not going to feature a narrative that I find appealing, so I won't try to pass judgment on whether anyone should or shouldn't read it. I did find the discussions of the immigrant experience to be really interesting, especially as Chang presents different viewpoints — the original immigrant generation who had to make a life for themselves in a new country far from home; their ABC (American-Born Chinese) children, whose experiences range from trying to maintain the old ways to complete assimilation to having a foot in both worlds and feeling at home in neither; to the young woman who was adopted from China by a white couple as a baby and grows up to feel completely disconnected from her native culture and desperate to try to re-join it in some way.
The alumni book club that chose this as its January selection is reading much more slowly and won't even finish the reading schedule until the end of the month. Perhaps when the discussion heats up in that venue I'll get some new insights to the book that will make me appreciate it more. Until then, it's a general 'meh' from me.
Leo Chao , the patriarch, is a domineering figure who is generally disliked
Leo Chao dies after being locked in the freezer in his restaurant and his body is discovered the day after the party. The presumed murder puts the restaurant and family members in the spotlight. Subject to hushed speculations, open suspicion and public scrutiny, the family must answer questions raised not only among themselves but by their own community of friends and fellow immigrants and in the eyes of law. Complicating matters further is a missing bag of money, the life savings of a dead man whose family is searching for it and that was mistakenly picked up by James who tried to administer CPR to save this man’s life when he collapsed at Union Station.
The story combines family drama, mystery and dark humor and explores themes of ambition, family, loyalty, mental health, spirituality , cultural identity, racial stereotyping and immigrant assimilation. The first half of the book is slower in pace, building up to the death of Leo Chao. The author’s sensitive yet insightful portrayal of second generation immigrant experiences and the struggles associated with conflicting expectations and cross-cultural identity is commendable. The second half is relatively fast paced describing the subsequent trial and unraveling of the mystery .
The novel is described as a retelling of a Russian classic, but I would say that on its very own , The Family Chao is a very well structured , engaging and enjoyable literary mystery. Thanks to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.