CENTRAL PLACES

A newly engaged woman’s long-delayed return to her central Illinois hometown forces her to confront the person she used to be.

Audrey Zhou, a 27-year-old Chinese American woman, insists that her first visit to Hickory Grove in eight years is her fiance’s idea. The Christmas visit is planned both to introduce Ben, a White photojournalist, to Audrey’s parents and for Audrey to accompany her father to an upcoming endoscopy. Shepherding Ben around, Audrey sees her hometown through his ever present camera lens. Returning to the predominantly White, Christian, rural town forces Audrey to confront her relationships with her parents and her fiance and her identity as the only child of Chinese immigrants. When Ben is offered an assignment in California and the postponement of her father’s procedure extends her visit, Audrey’s prodigal-daughter attempt crumbles. At the intersection of her past and present, she is left to contend with the collision of “new Audrey” and “old Audrey,” spurred toward self-destruction while uncertain which self it is she wishes to destroy. Ben is a familiar type of well-meaning White man, passionately addressing microaggressions on her behalf. His inability to comprehend Audrey’s formative years makes it clear that he is more of a character-growth yardstick for her than a romantic hero. The predictable plot—Audrey herself compares the reappearance of a hometown crush to a Hallmark movie—verges on dull at times. It is Audrey’s relationship with her parents, nearly estranged at first and then rendered through shouting matches and silences, that Cai has portrayed with tenderness and savvy. Audrey’s efforts to understand and be understood by her mother, whose approval she has always found unobtainable, nudge her closer to understanding herself.

Studded with emotional insights—a worthwhile debut.