The Wong Way to Marry

by C.A. Poulter

Your ordinary, average, suburban, extended, post-war immigrant Chinese family - steeped in tradition and old-fashioned family values.

This is Lillie's story - their second daughter. Feisty, independent and unlike her compliant older sister Jane, Lillie questions and challenges the dictates of her traditional upbringing. An Asian girl, with a western mindset - caught between cultures.

Her love of rock 'n' roll takes her into a world of music and mayhem.

She falls in love with a dreaded gweilo (white boy) - which is strictly forbidden.

Stu, a scruffy, longhaired, hippie muso - permanently broke and driving a clapped out old rust-bucket of a car, is far from suitable marriage material. Lillie's mother, hell bent on getting all her children wed to the right people, would certainly not approve of him.

Daria - Lillie's younger sister is plain, serious, and incredibly fussy, searching for 'the perfect husband.'

Pete, their brother, just can't get it together. He gets drunk, stoned and busted by the cops because of his dodgy mates. Chinese girls hate him.

The two teenage girls are watching with great interest.

Will mother succeed in her mission?

Who find love, fortune or happiness?

A hilarious, heart-warming and incredibly funny tale of growing up ethnic…and the consequences of defying tradition.

418 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2008

Reviews

[Cassie Forsythe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t mind the story but maybe too lengthy an explanation of plot. However if this was a TV series i think i’d be great. I enjoyed the setting though… reading it in 2024… what a vast difference of accessibility of tech, entertainment yet… it was not any less back then because it was what it was. I’d like that life too! Millennial here 🤭

[Philia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up at the library. A pleasant reading but a touch too long and clumsy. Girlie themes about dating the right man and getting married, but there's also lots of references about cars, rock n roll bands from the era that I have little knowledge about.

I like the 70s and it was interesting to read about that era with a Kiwi touch, interesting to know that fish and chip cost $1, dossing cost around $7-10, and learning new vocabulary like 'chill bin"! Of course, the story was mainly revolving around the Wong siblings searching for love and dreams, and battling between the expectation of their conservative family values and their inner callings to live as free spirits. I am not sure how exactly the Chinese and the white Kiwis view or interact with each other in that era in New Zealand and I would have like to see a bit more elaboration.

A third of the way through the novel when I discovered the years in which Lillie and Stu were born, I found it quite amusing that while I was reading their young and carefree live in the 70s, they and their friends and siblings would in their 60s and 70s today if they were real characters; and it sort of make me think about the seniors around me and the wild days they once lived.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would actually give this 3.5 stars. Growing up in the 70s/80s, albeit a bit younger than these characters and in Australia, not New Zealand, I really enjoyed this story about the lifestyle and characters of the time. Song names/lyrics had me singing them in my head and I loved references to music groups like Split Enz. I could just picture a person like the main character Stu. Once I got into the characters a bit, it had me smiling through every page. It was all very real and nice to have a "normal" romance from a "normal" couple instead of a Hollywood inspired one.

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this up from the library on a whim. Not bad but a touch too long with the story diffused amongst too many characters. The writing is often clumsy but there are moments of good humour. I really enjoyed the setting (late 1970's in New Zealand)

Unfortunately it suffers in comparison to Benjamin Law's The Family Law

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the 70's setting and the pop culture references that came with that decade and I also liked the New Zealand backdrop. I would have liked the first generation Chinese/Kiwi story but it seemed stereotypical in some instances or perhaps it was that it was to shallow in its treatment of the storyline and given that other than the time and place this (heritage) was the main point of difference to all other girl meets boy coming of age type story it was disappointing.