COME UNDONE

Thankfully, this story is fictional: Huang’s debut novel—following his memoirs Double Cup Love (2016) and Fresh Off the Boat (2013)—chronicles the cringe-inducing love quest of Hubert Chang, the nearly suicidal, foul-mouthed host of the food travel show Dad Shoes.

Although he feels pressure from his parents to get married and have children, Hubie hops between relationships as often as he changes planes. It’s easy to see why his girlfriends end up packing their bags. Even his pickup lines are put-downs—“I’m a ho! You’re a ho! Let’s just be hos!” But he can wax poetic on restaurant food: “Sonorans don’t use baking powder in their tortillas, so the texture is crepe-like, but when it’s really on fire it feels like the dough at the core of a good New York slice between the burnt crust and the soggy top.” His wry observations about American life reveal a tender heart beating beneath the facade of his designer clothing. “We are in a significantly later stage of capitalism than China, where businesses don’t pay enough to sustain workers’ lives, so why would the workers care about the business? It’s like asking a child to love a parent that isn’t even taking care of them.” A product of abuse, Hubie is often on the verge of violence when he’s not cracking jokes. But in a darkly romantic twist, when he ends up falling in love with an escort—for real—he treats Janine not with judgment or pity but with admiration that grows into respect as they follow each other from city to city and leave their cynicism at the gate.

A spicy Cinderella story where no one needs a fairy godmother and the wicked family leaves the ball early.