“The Fortunes of Jaded Women” - Carolyn Huynh

 🔮 I loved this humorous, sharp-witted, multi-generational tale. Magical realism in the form of generational curses, witches, and divination run through TFJW so buckle up for that aspect. It contrasts well with the day-to-day lives of the Duong women which are suffused with the gritty, sometimes funny, realism of being a refugee of the Vietnam War, resettled in Southern California. I’d say that Huynh writes this novel as a tribute to the unique Vietnamese So Cal culture. I read this book en route to Cairo in November, and it made the flights go by quickly. I never once had to resort to in-flight entertainment options.

🔮 The Orange County Vietnamese community knows that the 3 Duong sisters are cursed to be forever unhappy in love, and to give birth only to daughters; the latter, a truly terrible curse in a culture where only male descendants are able to welcome spirits into the home so the Duong women are cursed in the afterlife to be unable to visit their daughters. 

Mai Nguyen, Minh Pham, and Khuyen Lam joined their mother in So Cal in the aftermath of the war. As adults, they have grown estranged from each other and from their Mom. Though there is definitely a closeness between the cousins as a result of growing up with their scrappy family, clawing for immigrant success in its various forms, they too are not as connected as they’d be if their mothers weren’t feuding.

Mai, the eldest, receives a startling prophecy from her trusted psychic. In this novel, such things are to be seriously regarded. This year is to bring the Duong sisters and their daughters a marriage, a funeral, and the birth of a son. Mai rushes to assemble her sisters, daughters, and nieces. Can fences be mended and rifts healed in time for the prophecy to come true? The birth of a grandson would mean the tantalizing lifting of the generational curse upon her family!

🔮 The bickering and petty squabbles of the Duong sisters and daughters provides comic relief against the harsh realities of settling in a new community that doesn’t seem exactly welcoming. Huynh is a talented author, and she had me hooked from the 1st page.

🔮 If you enjoyed this book, I’d recommend “Gold Diggers” by Sanjena Sathian and “The Book of Luck and Fortune” by Natalie Tan. “Dial A for Aunties” by Jesse Q Sutanto would also be a good rec if you especially enjoyed the antics of the aunties in TFJW.