I flew through this! Very readable, but definitely leans literary in terms of the prose and the themes (Asian American experience, gender, generational trauma). My main reason for 4 stars instead of 5 stars was that it felt melodramatic at times. The language surrounding a scene would amp up the intensity so much. I imagine if it were a movie it might be a little overacted and the music really pushing certain emotions on you. I prefer my stories more restrained than that.

I want to call this more a family drama than a thriller, but it has thriller or mystery elements given the death of Lydia (first sentence, not a spoiler). I haven’t read many books like that, but Shelter by Jung Yun comes to mind. I would also compare the structure of this book to Crossroads by Franzen because we are focused on this family and we learn so much about each family member in turn - including all their psychological hang ups. There’s just not a death at the center of Crossroads.

I love how Ng fleshed out each character so fully. I also love how she got you to see certain moments from multiple perspectives, such that you knew the misunderstandings and misinterpretations happening. It was so well done because they were such believable misunderstandings based what the characters think they know about each other. But really they are often projecting.

The scene when Marilyn finds all the diaries was one of the most moving but quiet moments for me.