A lush portrayal of Singapore life filled with vibrant characters and a lovable leading lady readers will root for.
A woman in her 30s contends with her family's expectations as she navigates career and romance in Singapore.
Andrea Tang is 33 and single, much to her mother’s chagrin. Andrea knows her family expected her to be married with children by now, but she’s still reeling from a nasty breakup with her long-term boyfriend, Ivan, and is more concerned with making partner at her law firm than getting engaged. Readers who enjoy their heroines booze-soaked and battle-worn—especially when the battle is being waged against society’s expectations of women, unfair treatment of women in the workplace, and judgmental aunties—will fall hard for fierce yet flawed Andrea. While the diary entries sometimes rely too heavily on dialogue and not enough on Andrea's own thoughts, her inner monologue is the perfect combination of hilariously brash and undeniably honest. She navigates a disastrous one-night stand, her mother’s outspoken disapproval of her lifestyle and relationship status, and her best friend’s soap-operatic dalliance with a married man with snark levels reminiscent of Bridget Jones herself. Of course, despite clocking 15-hour days at the office and eschewing Tinder, Andrea soon finds herself in a romantic entanglement or two. She unexpectedly connects with extremely eligible bachelor Eric Deng at a lavish book club meeting (complete with outlandish cocktail attire, overflowing champagne flutes, and sashimi freshly sliced by a smiling chef) hosted at his Architectural Digest–worthy home. Eric courts Andrea with fresh bouquets, pricey handbags, and fancy dinners, but she isn’t sure whether she can truly commit to the much older, much richer businessman—especially since she still hasn’t figured out why she is so drawn to her engaged work rival, Suresh Aditparan, and his popular webcomic series.
A lush portrayal of Singapore life filled with vibrant characters and a lovable leading lady readers will root for.Pub Date: June 9, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-18781-4
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An intriguing, twisty-turny tale of family secrets that comes just short of the bullseye.
A Cape Cod woman’s life is turned upside down by unexpected developments.
A year ago, Frankie Attleboro’s mother died at age 52 and the family fell apart. Frankie’s father, famous scientist Mack Attleboro, who had always been a distant figure in his children’s lives, was adrift. Frankie fled the Cape, throwing herself into her work as a nature photographer and leaving her brother, Penn, to hold things together. Now engaged and pregnant, she’s excited to share her news when she gets a text from her father asking her to come right away. Worried, she rushes home only to discover that her father is also engaged—to her childhood best friend, Ariel. Who is also heavily pregnant. As Frankie deals with her complicated feelings and her father’s complete lack of understanding of them, Ariel’s mother, Carlotta, who left when the girls were teenagers, shows up unannounced and ready to ingratiate herself back into Ariel’s life. Mitchard’s tone walks a fine line: Is everything dramatic because there’s actually a sinister edge to affairs, or is Frankie just having trouble dealing with things? Though each plot twist makes everything slightly more ludicrous in a way that would feel silly in another book, Frankie’s reactions and emotions ground the story, so the book can focus not on how absolutely absurd things are but on how one person’s words and actions can affect everyone around them. The novel’s biggest problem is that it doesn’t know if it wants to be a thriller or a family drama and never fully commits to one or the other. Mitchard is deft enough to create a rewarding read, but the book could have used a bit more mystery.
An intriguing, twisty-turny tale of family secrets that comes just short of the bullseye.Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2023
ISBN: 9780778369370
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
A story with both comedy and heartbreak sure to please Backman fans.
Eight people become unlikely friends during a hostage situation created by an inept bank robber.
In a town in Sweden, a desperate parent turns to bank robbery to help pay the rent. Unfortunately, the target turns out to be a cashless bank, which means that no robbery can take place. In an attempt to flee the police, the would-be perpetrator runs into a nearby apartment building and interrupts an open house, causing the would-be buyers to assume they're being held hostage. After the situation has ended with an absent bank robber and blood on the carpet, a father-and-son police pair work through maddening interviews with the witnesses: the ridiculous realtor; an older couple who renovates and sells apartments in an effort to stay busy; a bickering young couple expecting their first child; a well-off woman interested only in the view from the balcony of a significant bridge in her life; an elderly woman missing her husband as New Year’s Eve approaches; and, absurdly, an actor dressed as a rabbit hired to disrupt the showing and drive down the apartment price. Backman’s latest novel focuses on how a shared event can change the course of multiple people’s lives even in times of deep and ongoing anxiousness. The observer/narrator is winding and given to tangents and, in early moments, might distract a bit too much from the strongly drawn characters. But the story gains energy and sureness as it develops, resulting in moments of insight and connection between its numerous amiable characters.
A story with both comedy and heartbreak sure to please Backman fans.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5011-6083-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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