“The Family Chao” - Lan Samantha Chang

 

🥟 This novel takes us to tiny Haven, Wisconsin where a Taiwanese immigrant-owned restaurant has been serving authentic cuisine decades before the notion of authentic cuisine became ubiquitous in American cities. Haven adores the food at Fine Chao, gulping it down and clamoring for more, yet the community is indifferent to the Chao family’s personal struggles and tensions. Chang splits the novel in two parts: “They See Themselves” and “The World Sees Them”.

🥟 Big Leo and Winnie are the quintessential Asian immigrant couple: they arrived in Haven with nothing, through sheer hard work, they built a thriving restaurant, and achieved the ultimate in success: raising three ambitious boys and sending all three off to good universities. But Big Leo and Winnie’s relationship has recently fractured utterly, and Big Leo’s relationships with his three sons is fraught as well. The drama boils over in a catastrophic manner, unforeseen by the family and Haven community.

The eldest Chao son - Dagou - has returned to Haven (to his parents’ dismay) to cultivate his passion for cooking. A major point of drama in TFC is Dagou’s failure to win approval and partnership in Fine Chao with Big Leo. James is so burdened with expectations, his own desires, the conflicts in his family, and his attempts to keep the peace, that he has no idea what he wants beyond keeping everyone else in some state of happiness. And rich and successful Ming who lives far away, has checked out of the family drama, or so he thinks.

🥟 Though I overall enjoyed TFC, there were large swathes of dialogue and narration that I felt meandered, and it was occasionally frustrating. I wish it was more direct in places.

🥟 I also had 2 points that I wish were clarified a bit further. First, the existence of the $50k in the carpet bag was never verified - the Chaos were taking the other family’s word for its existence, but who’s to say it wasn’t stolen or spent or never even existed before the old man met James at the station? Second, the enigma of Kathryn Corcoran is never explained away. Her one-sided relationship with Dagou that is so intense on her side, though he clearly is “not in her league” is never explained beyond the possibility that she viewed the Chao’s as a surrogate family of sorts.

🥟 I wouldn’t describe Chang’s style as magical realism, but I found elements in the grey area between reality and perception sprinkled throughout the narrative. I can best describe certain scenes as having almost a dreamlike quality to them. I enjoyed this novel - but note to the reader, be prepared to feel ravenous as the food detail is mouthwatering!