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What We Were Promised

Lucy Tan (Goodreads Author)

3.56 · Rating details · 2,184 ratings · 295 reviews

After years of chasing the American dream, the Zhen family has moved back to China. Settling into a luxurious serviced apartment in Shanghai, Wei, Lina, and their daughter, Karen, join an elite community of Chinese-born, Western-educated professionals who have returned to a radically transformed city.

One morning, in the eighth tower of Lanson Suites, Lina discovers that a ...more

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Hardcover, 1st edition, 324 pages

Published July 10th 2018 by Little, Brown

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Aug 09, 2018 Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2018-reads, 2018-summer-reads, arcs, kindle-version

4 stars to What We Were Promised! ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

In What We Were Promised, the opening prologue includes the Zhen family leaving China to move to the United States. When life does not turn out the way they had expected financially, they return to Shanghai several years later.

Next, we meet Sunny, a housekeeper working in a lavish high rise apartment in Shanghai. Immediately apparent are the class differences as a result of her occupation, as well as her home background.

Years later, the Zhen family mov ...more

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Jul 23, 2018 Susanne Strong rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley

4.25 Stars* (rounded down)

Culture, Tradition and Family Ties. That is the story of “What We Were Promised.”

The transition of moving from the United States to Shanghai is a difficult one for the Zhen family. Lina was a School Teacher and is now a “Tai Tai,” a wealthy housewife, who need not work. Her husband Wei, is a successful Marketing Strategist. They live in Lanson Suites and have a Housekeeper and an AYI (a nanny/companion), named Sunny, - for their pre-teen daughter. Life is good. Then the ...more

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Jul 26, 2018 Meredith B. (readingwithmere) rated it really liked it

3.75 stars rounded up!

The Truth was more complicated than that. These objects of luxury they handled - how easy it was to fill them with meaning, to let them represent what you did or didn't have. How difficult, in fact, to know what you wanted in the first place.

This is the author's debut novel and it was beautifully written. This book dives into some deep rooted family issues that some cultures don't like to talk about.

As Children, Wei and Lina Zhen grew up in traditional Chinese-American homes. Their families were friends and when they were teenagers the families told them that one day, after college, that the two would marry. As custom goes, the two didn't interact very much up until that point. Instead Lina grew close to Wei's brother Qiang. They developed a very special bond which eventually turned into falling in love with each other. However, one day Qiang disappears, Wei gets an offer to go to America and due to the families agreements, Lina must go with him.

The Zhen's live in a luxury apartment complex in Shanghai. With this comes housekeeping as well as their ability to hire a nanny (ayi) to take care of their daughter and the family as a whole. One day, a bracelet was stolen from Lina and Sunny's friend Rose has been accused. There's a lot that comes from this bracelet being stolen. It brings up marriage issues between Wei and Lina and the ultimate reason it's devastating is because the bracelet was given to Lina from Qiang, her true love. Qiang shows up one day and secrets start to be revealed. You'll have to read to find out what they are!

This book is by no means a fast paced novel, however, it does explore a lot of family issues in the Chinese culture. It brings up the questions of, is arranged marriage still OK? Is it OK to use your children to pay off debts? What if the person you are married to isn't the person that you have truly always loved? Does your family get to dictate that? Does being rich make you happy if you aren't with the person you fell in love with?

At times this book was slow for me which is why it took me so long to finish it. I would pick it up and read it a little bit at a time. I think I was maybe looking for there to be some sort of twist which at the end there is a little one. I would recommend going into this book knowing it's not going to be a super light read and it's going to make you think. I had to reread parts of the book at time to make sure I understood what was happening.

Overall I think this debut was pretty good. I am interested to see what Lucy tan has coming up next.

Thank you to Little Brown and Company for my Advanced Review copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ...more

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Dec 21, 2018 Brandice rated it really liked it

What We Were Promised is a story of the Zhen family who lives in Shanghai, but used to live in Pennsylvania. Wei is a successful marketing executive and his wife, Lina, is a “tai tai” - A wealthy housewife who does not need to work, though she was formerly a teacher. She meets the other tai tais for meals regularly at the luxury complex where they live. Wei and Lina also have a daughter, Karen, who is home for the summer but goes to school in the U.S. Sunny, one of the housekeepers at the comple ...more

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Mar 21, 2018 Susie rated it it was amazing

As a second generation Asian-American, so much of this novel resonated with me. I've already read it cover-to-cover twice now, and will come back to it again when I'm in the mood for some seriously good writing and story, probably accompanied by a glass of wine and dark chocolate.

This book tells the story of a family—Lina, Wei, their adolescent daughter, Karen—moving back to Shanghai for Wei’s marketing career after two decades of living in the U.S. One summer, Wei’s brother comes to visit and L As a second generation Asian-American, so much of this novel resonated with me. I've already read it cover-to-cover twice now, and will come back to it again when I'm in the mood for some seriously good writing and story, probably accompanied by a glass of wine and dark chocolate.

This book tells the story of a family—Lina, Wei, their adolescent daughter, Karen—moving back to Shanghai for Wei’s marketing career after two decades of living in the U.S. One summer, Wei’s brother comes to visit and Lina hires a housekeeper/babysitter named Sunny to free up her time to act as hostess. This premise sets up a book that’s essentially character studies of people from different economic classes forced to live and interact within the confines of a single, well-staffed apartment building (Lanson Suites), all the while lying, hiding, evading, pining, and confronting one another with the deftness of any Edith Wharton character.

The three narrators—Lina, Wei, Sunny—represent the spectrum of complicated feeling I also have for modern day China and my place in it. There’s the nostalgia for the homeland of my parents and grandparents (where I’ve also spent many summers and college vacations), the flattery of being considered “upper class” simply by having lived in the U.S., the disgust for the myriad of pretensions of the rich, and above all—the search for a life with meaning when you feel displaced by both home and culture.

My favorite character in the book was Lina; without giving away spoilers, I loved her flawed personality, her private reflections, even her outward chilliness towards her husband and so-called friends in her “breakfast club”. She’s proud and guarded, a snob of the nouveau riche variety, but money isn’t the thing she seeks—it’s love, that elusive thing so hard to come by regardless of social class. So much of this novel explores what our cultural definition of love is (lust? trust? companionship?) through Lena’s regrets for her past choices, but also, in a fascinating character arc, through the housekeeper, Sunny’s, journey to decide if she wants to throw her lot in with a “good-enough” man, or try to make it on her own. It’s seeing these characters evolve and change through their small, everyday decisions (that bear such lasting consequences!) that provides the greatest pleasures of this novel.

Tan’s writing is so wonderfully understated and clean. There isn’t a whiff of the pretensions found in other debut authors. She writes with absolute control and precision. If you pick out any one sentence from the novel, it almost reads Heminway-esque in its plainness, and yet together, there’s a such a beauty to its spareness that I can only imagine the work that must of gone into achieving such restraint. It's the kind of book where I can flip to any page and immediately be absorbed within a matter of seconds. Do yourself a favor and spend a weekend with this, if only for the wonder of reading that incredible last sentence!

...more

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Dec 22, 2018 da AL rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-books, modern-literary

Intelligent, nuanced, and beautifully written story. How love, how perspective, how our experience changes everything. Audiobook performer Jennifer Lim does an outstanding job.

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Oct 22, 2018 Stephanie Anze rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

3.5 stars rounded up.

After twenty years of living in America, the Zhen family move back to China (where they are originally from). Settling in the luxurious Lanson Suites in Shanghai, Wei, Lina and their teenage daughter Karen lead a very comfortable life. But no amount of expensive and fine amenities can make up for their uneasiness around each other, a fact that does not go unnoticed by Sunny (their ayi, private nanny) and that further exacerbates with the arrival of Qiang (Wei's brother). The 3.5 stars rounded up.

After twenty years of living in America, the Zhen family move back to China (where they are originally from). Settling in the luxurious Lanson Suites in Shanghai, Wei, Lina and their teenage daughter Karen lead a very comfortable life. But no amount of expensive and fine amenities can make up for their uneasiness around each other, a fact that does not go unnoticed by Sunny (their ayi, private nanny) and that further exacerbates with the arrival of Qiang (Wei's brother). The dissaperance of one of Lina's bracelets sets into motion a series of events that further complicate the lives of this family, forcing everyone to re-examine their relationships.

I came upon this book by chance and finding the concept to my liking, decided to give it a go. The Zhen family lived in America for about twenty years until Wei, a marketing strategist, was transfered by his company to Shanghai. With that came a much better salary and his wife, Lina, no longer needed to work. A school teacher, Lina is now a Tai-tai (a housewife that does little to no work at all and enjoys a life of leisure). While Wei and Lina grew up in China, they received their education in America, their daughter was born in America. As ex-pats, they don't quite know their place. When Qiang calls after mysteriously dissapering for twenty years, saying he is coming to visit them, it causes tension on the family. Enter Sunny, their housekeeper-turned-ayi. Sunny, herself, has a hard time finding her place after becoming a widow and moving to Shanghai. As these five individuals interact, their fates change.

I like the sentiment behind this narrative. The prose is well written. Dealing with obligations, responsabilities and duties to family and self, these two were often at odds. The title aludes to promises made and their respective outcomes. Outwardly, the Zhens seem like a fine family but each member (including Qiang and also Sunny) is hiding something and no one knows truly how anyone really is faring. Culture and tradition play a strong role as they either impede or ease personal development and growth. There are plenty of keen observations throughout the book. Where I struggled was with the pace. It was a bit too slow at times and it was not til I was over halfway through that I became truly invested. I can see the author's effort and do think this is a book that is thought-provocking. I am glad I came across this book and overall, found it, thoughtful. ...more

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Sep 19, 2018 Donna Hines rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, netgalley

Chasing the American Dream with plenty of culture, love, and family ties to keep them company.
The Zhen family (Wei, Lina, and Karen) have returned to a radically altered China.
An ivory bracelet Lina held dear has suddenly gone missing.
The entire family goes into various degrees of turmoil and must finally come to terms with their past.
Are we owed anything from our country and our family? What are we owed to ourselves?
It makes you examine how you arrived and perhaps how you must go back...
Thank y ...more

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Mar 05, 2018 Lolly K Dandeneau rated it really liked it

via my blog: https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
'Fang Lijian’s perspective on love was different from any she’d heard before. Lina’s friends had watched too many American movies and to them, love was a classic car that would come roaring in from nowhere when the time was right, pick you up, and peel away. For all their warnings to her about relinquishing control marrying a man she didn’t know, they seemed to crave the kind of love that made you lose control.'

The Zhen family returns to China a via my blog: https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
'Fang Lijian’s perspective on love was different from any she’d heard before. Lina’s friends had watched too many American movies and to them, love was a classic car that would come roaring in from nowhere when the time was right, pick you up, and peel away. For all their warnings to her about relinquishing control marrying a man she didn’t know, they seemed to crave the kind of love that made you lose control.'

The Zhen family returns to China after chasing the “American Dream’, which didn’t quite pan out the way they, and their elders, had expected. Wei didn’t rocket to the success he and his father imagine, bringing greatness to his Chinese roots. His wife Lina isn’t proud of her days spent as a taitai, a housewife who doesn’t have anything to occupy herself with. When Lina’s tanzanite bracelet from Africa (the only remaining keepsake of her early love) disappears, Lina isn’t sure if the old maid stole it or not. Sunny is surprised when the Zhen family asks her to work for them as an ayi, to help with shopping, cooking and to Lina’s mind to have someone to distract their daughter when Wei’s brother Qiang visits.

Lina feels a restlessness in her heart, a longing for a past that’s long dead and the life she had imagined, that never breathed life. There was a time when she readied herself to be a dutiful daughter and wife, have many children and live with her in-laws in the village. All of that was obliterated with the reality of moving the America. Qiang and Lian had a moment, though he was the ‘bad’ son. Where Wei was a son to make any Chinese parent proud, Qiang was always in trouble, living in his honorable brother’s shadow. Lina was groomed for marriage to Wei, who would surely make her life one of security, comfort. In her mind she would live out her life in the village, a dutiful wife and daughter-in-law, and never imagined she would one day be teaching Chinese to American children in the United States of America, only to return with nothing to do living in a tower. Why is she now, after so many years, mooning over the past knowing that her feelings for Qiang belong to a different time, a different Lina. Is it boredom, is it Qiang’s plan to visit?

Wei isn’t sure how to feel about seeing his brother again, who disappeared without a word, breaking their parents hearts. Shocked to learn that he is even still alive, and angered that he chose not to see their parents sets off a riot of conflicting emotions. It is with suspicion he opens his home to the bad seed. Surely, he must still be running around with criminals, gangsters? Just why does Qiang want to be a part of his family again? Where has he been all these years? Upon his arrival, Qiang seems filled with resentment towards his brother, and in Wei’s mind, comes off as wanting to shame him for not reaching the greatness their father was adamant be his. Who knows better than Qiang what golden future was set for his brother Wei? Lina longs for her moment to find why he chose to abandon them all, especially her. Sunny is witness to everything that happens within’ the Zhen household. She has gone from being ‘under the suspicion of theft’ to working as an ayi. She has her own story to tell, of her marriage and it’s demise, of the money she earns with her hard work and sends home to her family. Sunny has her own family shaming to tolerate, as a daughter is meant to carry on the line, have children, not earn money like some man. Yet, it feels good to earn money, to sustain oneself without a husband to have dodged the life she knew in her bones wasn’t meant for her.

This is a novel about cultural and family expectations, it is also how our lives take shape based on unexpected choices others make for us. It is finally getting the whole story, and feeling foolish for the time wasted wondering why. Too, it is about those who have everything, and those who work for them.

Publication Date: July 10, 2018

Little, Brown and Company ...more

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Nov 12, 2018 ❄️Nani❄️ rated it it was ok

Shelves: east-asia

I’m still reeling from the crushing disappointment that is this book.

This’s set in Shanghai so it’s only natural that it be on my radar since before it was even released and to say my expectations were sky high would be an understatement.
The incredibly generous two stars is for the China setting.

I’ll say it again, what a crushing disappointment.
For starters, IT WAS BORING. And I mean so utterly boring that I came close to DNFing it so many times. The author spends 4 to 5 pages describing thi I’m still reeling from the crushing disappointment that is this book.

This’s set in Shanghai so it’s only natural that it be on my radar since before it was even released and to say my expectations were sky high would be an understatement.
The incredibly generous two stars is for the China setting.

I’ll say it again, what a crushing disappointment.
For starters, IT WAS BORING. And I mean so utterly boring that I came close to DNFing it so many times. The author spends 4 to 5 pages describing things that are of no importance to the narrative whatsoever, like the most mundane things that the characters were doing or talking about which brought nothing to the story.
There’s an attempt to create “tension” and unease so as to make the story more sentimental that ended up really not working at all ‘cause the tension felt so forced and even aggravating because the characters were just a bunch of ignorant, self-serving and pretentious idiots in addition to also being dull. So so so so dull.

The flashbacks were what made me almost call it quits altogether because oh my goodness NOTHING WAS HAPPENING! It was mumblingly uninteresting. Let’s just leave it at that.

And that sentence: ’She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.’🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️
Are you kidding me!? Didn’t YA authors trademark this cheesefest of a line for themselves?? WHY. Just... why?

The characters, right.
The father, Wei - so painfully out of touch with reality. Oblivious to his surroundings. Dull as a wall. Doesn’t know which way’s up or down, not to mention, cowardly.
The mother, Lina - a pompous, artificial, self-important Idiot who suffers from an inflated self-worth. Oh, how I hated her.
Karen, the 12-year-old daughter going on 50 - a know-it-all spoiled brat and so so so unbelievably irritating and arrogant. Wow.

The only three characters who had slightly redeeming qualities were:
Sunny, the house keeper/ and a sort of nanny-like companion to Karen.
Qiang, the returning brother.
And Cao, the driver. ...more

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Nov 20, 2018 Tuti rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2018, contemporary

i liked it. interesting story on different levels - a western-educated chinese family going back to shanghai because the husband, wei, got a good job there (for an american company). the wife, lina, is at home in a luxurious residence with pool and maids, with nothing to do. the daughter, karen, us-born, is on vacation with her parents, so far going to school in the us, which she calles « home ».
the story starts with the announcement that wei‘s lost brother, whom they haven‘t seen for twenty ye ...more

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Apr 04, 2018 Lillian Li rated it it was amazing

I loved Lucy Tan’s What We Were Promised. A true talent, debut author Tan writes prose that is compelling, evocative, funny, and at the same time manages to cut straight to the core of things. Most impressive of all is the authority and care with which Tan builds her world of nouveau-riche Shanghai, not only situating the complex, cosmopolitan city in the equally complex history of China and the Cultural Revolution, but allowing this same history to shape and haunt her novel (as fully and inevit ...more

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Jul 30, 2018 Jessica rated it liked it

Shelves: library, mmd-summer-reading-guide

I can't tell whether I thought this was unremarkable and rather boring just because I've already read 16* books like it this year or if it really wouldn't stand out regardless. Normally I'd dismiss it as a so-so book: well-enough written and plotted to be worth reading if it sounds like your thing, definitely not a can't-miss. Anne Bogel put it on her minimalist summer reading guide, though! I'd love to know why. Our reading tastes aren't perfectly matched, so her favorite books won't necessaril ...more

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Oct 03, 2018 Elizabeth rated it it was amazing

Tl;dr: An unflinching, gorgeously writtenlook at expat life through the view of a Chinese couple returning to China and the woman they hire to watch their daughter. You can be at home and yet never be there like you want to be.

What We Were Promised is exquisitely written and traces the consequences of leaving home, and how whether it's for another country or simply another place means that the gulf between what you knew and who you've become can make you a stranger to what you thought you'd alwa ...more

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Aug 05, 2018 Elizabeth rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2018-summer-reading-guide, abandoned

Well-written but entirely too slow-moving to hold my interest. Still bored after 100+ pages.

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Dec 12, 2018 Sarah rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction, 中国, not-for-me

2.5 rounded down

Shanghai, 2010. China is preparing for the Shanghai Expo, and the city is the setting for Lucy Tan's debut novel.

We follow the Zhen family - Wei, Lina and their daughter Karen. The couple are originally from Suzhou (a city on the Grand Canal, an hour away from Shanghai), and have recently moved back to China after living in America for a number of years. Wei's high-powered job has brought them to Shanghai and they take residence in some fancy catered apartments in the "new" area ...more

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Jul 20, 2018 Olga Fry rated it really liked it

Shelves: best-books-read-2018, fiction

I very much enjoyed Lucy Tan's debut fiction novel, "What We Were Promised." The book focuses on one family and two people floating in their orbit. The Zhen family is comprised of Lina, Wei, and their daughter Karen, none of whom are close to each other, much less have active conversations. While Qiang is Wei's brother, they haven't heard from him since their wedding day nearly 20 years ago. The second person in their orbit is Sunny. When first introduced in the novel, Sunny was the housekeeper I very much enjoyed Lucy Tan's debut fiction novel, "What We Were Promised." The book focuses on one family and two people floating in their orbit. The Zhen family is comprised of Lina, Wei, and their daughter Karen, none of whom are close to each other, much less have active conversations. While Qiang is Wei's brother, they haven't heard from him since their wedding day nearly 20 years ago. The second person in their orbit is Sunny. When first introduced in the novel, Sunny was the housekeeper assigned to their residence. A few chapters in, however, she and Rose (another maid assigned to the apartment), were accused of stealing. Instead of getting fired, Sunny is offered a position as an ayi (a nanny) to Karen. At the same time, Qiang calls Wei out of the blue to announce that he will be in town for a week to visit the Chinese Expo and will be staying with the family.

The novel featured a strong supporting cast, a fair amount of detail without being an information dump, and beautiful writing. Each word is deliberate, as is the sparseness in some scenes. It was fraught with tension but it didn't feel forced or overwhelming. I found it an emotional read about family expectations and the choices we make, as well as those made for us. The book also seamlessly moves between the characters and the class differences.

Growing up, Lina envisioned a different life for herself rather than the one carved out for her by her parents. She'd dreamed of pursuing her own career path, perhaps marrying a different man than the one she'd been betrothed to since birth. Even when the young couple moved to America, Lina kept a form of independence. It wasn't until after they moved back to China that she lost her sense of drive and settled into the housewife lifestyle. This change in personality doesn't go unnoticed by Wei, her husband. He doesn't do anything about it, however, preferring to throw himself into his work. His schedule doesn't lessen when Qiang arrives in town either. Qiang's arrival will force the characters to think about themselves in ways they've long been avoiding, which made for an excellent, compelling read. ...more

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May 12, 2018 Afoma Umesi rated it it was amazing

Thanks to Little Brown for a free ARC of this book!

WHAT WE WERE PROMISED is the enthralling story of Chinese family forced, by the return of a prodigal son, to address familial issues and unfulfilled promises.

I was struck by the poignancy of her deceptively simple style, barely ten pages in! This book is full of astute observations about life, love, and the choices we make for the people we love. Combined with compelling characters, the mystery of Qiang’s return and what it will mean for the Zh ...more

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Aug 11, 2018 Carol (Reading Ladies) rated it it was ok

2.5 stars. I’m underwhelmed. The first 90% of the story is build up and in the last 10% some important themes are introduced and the story ends. I thought what was brought up at the end was life changing, interesting, and important (avoiding spoilers here) and the story needed more time to explore the implications and how the disclosure will change their lives. As plot twists go, I thought it was fascinating and intriguing. The characters are not that likable but we do get a great look at Chines ...more

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Aug 02, 2018 Readingbringsjoy rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2018

Thank you Littlebrown for the free review copy

What we were promised was a book that was on my radar because the description sounded exactly like my type of story. An interesting setting, a family recently coming into a lot of money, a long lost brother returning after years of being estranged, and lingering feelings left over after an arranged marriage. The lovely @annebogel helped put this book at the top of my list by adding it to her summer reading guide.

This book was such a fascinating look ...more

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Aug 04, 2018 Charlsa rated it it was ok

Shelves: mmd-summer-reading-challenge-2018

There has been so much hype about this up and coming author. I was disappointed. The story plodded along. None of the characters were particularly likeable. The author took too long to develop the characters but little time on telling the story and bringing it to a conclusion. Just when she finally started telling the story, the book ended. This didn’t read like book one of a series, but if it turns out that is the case, I won’t bother with book two.

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Aug 04, 2018 Linda Hutchinson rated it it was amazing

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ If you read my reviews, you know that I like to keep them succinct. This is the first book in a long time that is hard to describe in a limited number of words. A character drive novel set in modern day Shanghai revolves around four people, Wei (the wealthy father and family provider), Lina (married to Wei and unfulfilled), Qiang (Wei’s bad boy brother), and Sunny (the maid turned nanny for the family). Post-revolutionary China is not the country that its revolutionary citizens expected. S ...more

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Aug 31, 2018 Charlotte (charandbooks) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: asian-authors-read, read-in-2018

What We Were Promised was not what I expected and I completely loved it!

This book blends together the stories of an expat family (wife Lina, husband Wei, daughter Karen) recently returned to Shanghai, their rural-born housekeeper Sunny finding her footing in the modern city, and a long-lost and thought-to-be-dead brother Qiang. I was enthralled by the observations of unrequited love, struggling with your identiy, and feeling out of place in both another country and your own upon your return. Tan ...more

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Jun 04, 2018 Anne rated it really liked it

I've been fascinated with Chinese culture ever since I was in college and went on Semester at Sea my junior year. I love everything about it including the rich history and struggles so I was excited to read this novel. At first I had trouble getting into it though as there is so much backstory given to bring the reader up to speed with Lina and her family's present. But then as present and past are interwoven, it becomes clearer and more engaging as we have the Zhen family and Sunny as their hou ...more

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Sep 24, 2017 Maggie rated it it was amazing

Tan's debut novel will definitely put her on the map for her beautiful storytelling and exquisite prose. She eloquently weaves together the characters' lives, flawlessly fusing the past and the present. Each page is filled with such rich detail that you feel as if you are living with the characters in their setting, that you know each of them intimately. At the end, you want the story to continue so you can continue living within their story and reality. Absolutely a must-read for 2018.

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Nov 10, 2018 Sharlene rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2018, diversiverse, ebook, immigrants, library, women-writers

In the first chapter of this book, I learn a surprising fact about China – it has one standard time zone, despite it spanning five geographical time zones! How confusing is that?

Luckily this book, despite its interweaving stories of an expat family, a long-lost brother, and a housekeeping staff-turned-ayi, isn’t confusing at all.

Sunny is from rural China. She works as a maid cleaning rooms and serviced apartments at a hotel in Shanghai. Her name isn’t Sunny of course – it’s just a name tag she p In the first chapter of this book, I learn a surprising fact about China – it has one standard time zone, despite it spanning five geographical time zones! How confusing is that?

Luckily this book, despite its interweaving stories of an expat family, a long-lost brother, and a housekeeping staff-turned-ayi, isn’t confusing at all.

Sunny is from rural China. She works as a maid cleaning rooms and serviced apartments at a hotel in Shanghai. Her name isn’t Sunny of course – it’s just a name tag she picked out of the bin, finding something that seemed right about the name, although she couldn’t even read it herself.

“Chinese names were too difficult for foreign residents to pronounce and carried too much meaning to be revealed to the Chinese speakers. When characters in a name were combined, they produced a complex of feelings and images. That was no good; the best thing for a housekeeper to be was forgettable. Better to take on the blankness of American names.”

One of the apartments that Sunny cleans belongs to the Zhen family, an expat family returned to China after a decade in the US. Lina and Wei have had a long history, having been betrothed since they were young. Wei works long hours at his advertising job, Lina is one of the many taitais in the hotel – “ladies of luxury who could not be called housewives because, aside from cooking the occasional meal, they did no housework at all”.

Wei’s long-lost brother Qiang, contacts them out of the blue after 22 years, and comes to visit. What exactly does he want? Why did he disappear all those years ago? And it turns out that Qiang and Lina have had a history of their own.

I’ve read quite a few books by Chinese authors but this one is written from a very different perspective of a returning Chinese family. Their move from China to the US and then back to China was such a contrast – from a young couple with no money to spare, entertaining themselves by wandering into drugstores and looking at all the goods on display and not being able to buy anything, to becoming a well-off expat family living in a fancy apartment, owning Rolex watches and expensive jewelry. It was a bit hard to like Lina though, although I felt like we had plenty in common in that I am an immigrant to the US myself and while Singapore isn’t such a huge contrast from the US with all its shopping malls and what not, there were all these very “American” things that fascinated (and sometimes frustrated) me. Like the way our first apartment had an open kitchen and this combination cooker hood/microwave over the stove – how was one to get rid of all the cooking smells if that was all?

“American kitchens weren’t designed for wok use, Lina complained. She had tried the American recipes and decided people here didn’t know what real cooking was. All that boiling and baking? Those were safe ways of preparing food. Oil was meant to be splattered on walls, the wok lid held in front of your body like a shield. Cooking, she said, was an act of love and creation. Danger should be somewhere in the mix or it didn’t count. You had to put yourself on the line; you had to sweat. Chinese cuisine required more energy and a higher flame.”

What We Were Promised is a story of contrasts. Sunny’s qunzu fang, a room she shares with five others and which reeks of boiled cabbage and urine vs the large and luxurious jasmine-scented Lanson Suites she cleans. The silk factory where Lina’s father worked vs the skyscraper in which Wei’s office is located. Rural vs city life, rich vs poor.

In case you can’t tell by now, I loved this book and I am just so excited to see what else Lucy Tan writes. ...more

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Sep 03, 2018 Ming rated it really liked it

Wow. Quite a writing feat!

I enjoyed this book and appreciated the complexity of the story. This book has insightful and tender portrayals which made the characters and their stories compelling. I was concerned initially about reading about the super-rich; generally there seems to be very little that's redeeming in doing so. However, the characters here are well rounded and nuanced; the housecleaner/ayi and members of the rich family were depicted in such a way that one was not overshadowed or g ...more

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Sep 04, 2018 Leah DeCesare rated it it was amazing

What a gorgeous book! Since middle school, I've loved stories of China and this will go down as one of my favorites. This is a beautiful story that is deliciously written.

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Jul 22, 2018 Sachi Argabright rated it it was amazing

I absolutely LOVED this book! Definitely one of the best books I’ve read all year! The characters in this novel were so rich, and I grew to care about them deeply. While I could see Lina as an unlikeable character at times, I related to her early on in the story when she noted that being at ex-pat made her feel “in between.” Being half Asian and half white, I also struggle with feeling like I’m not “fully” white or “fully” Asian. I also loved the secrets and hidden motivations that are unraveled ...more

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Aug 31, 2018 Laura Lee rated it liked it

Shelves: the-far-east, mmd-srg, nbpl

For me, this lovely novel exemplifies what diversity in literature is all about: Honoring other experiences and cultures, fostering curiosity and understanding, establishing a connection with those whose lives are unlike your own. This book gave me more insight into modern China than any number of news reports have. That being said, I didn’t find the story to be very compelling. Ideally I would’ve liked a little suspense, a little more melodrama. This isn’t that kind of book. It’s a wonderful re ...more

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About Lucy Tan

Lucy Tan

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Lucy grew up in New Jersey and has spent much of her adult life in New York and Shanghai. She received her B.A. from New York University and her M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was awarded the 2016 August Derleth Prize. Her fiction has been published in journals such as Asia Literary Review and Ploughshares, where she was winner of the 2015 Emerging Writer’s Contest.