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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
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
What We Were Promised is the story of a Chinese couple who move to the US shortly after their arranged marriage. They go to graduate school in the States and begin their work lives here, but then his job offers him a position in Shanghai that is too good to refuse, so they move back. The book focuses on their life in a corporate living hotel for expats and on their maid/nanny for their 12-year-old daughter.
This is a character-focused book, and I was deeply absorbed in it while I was reading it, ...more
This is a character-focused book, and I was deeply absorbed in it while I was reading it, ...more
This is another title I have been meaning to read since it was the talk of bookstagram back in 2018. And I’m so glad I finally did because I absolutely loved it. A story of China, marriage, parenting, family and class ~ it sucked me in and wouldn’t let me go ❤️
Excellent debut novel.
Lucy Tan’s novel WHAT WE WERE PROMISED is a story about dreams. Dreams that come true and dreams that don’t. A young Chinese couple, who have been promised to each other by their parents, who have both grown up in a rural village, go to America as their parents hoped. They return to China, this time to Shanghai, but re-entry is much different than they expected.
With more money, a good education, their new lives sound so promising. But what have they given up? Family is sac ...more
Lucy Tan’s novel WHAT WE WERE PROMISED is a story about dreams. Dreams that come true and dreams that don’t. A young Chinese couple, who have been promised to each other by their parents, who have both grown up in a rural village, go to America as their parents hoped. They return to China, this time to Shanghai, but re-entry is much different than they expected.
With more money, a good education, their new lives sound so promising. But what have they given up? Family is sac ...more
Jan 06, 2018
Megan
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Jan 23, 2018
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Aug 17, 2018
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Dec 24, 2020
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