This is really excellent — I read a comp that suggested this is for readers of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, but I think Pachinko is a more accurate comp for me. It has a similar grandly-sweeping time span, with deep and devastating insights about history and humanity through the lens of more closely personal and interpersonal moments.

I struggled a bit with the back third — the pacing of it overall and the use of the second person made it slower for me, and somehow it felt more practical: it landed more like the way the book needed to wrap up structurally than what needed to take place by emotional necessity. Ultimately it didn’t hit as deeply and personally as I wished, though as I said it’s totally excellent; I longed for more catharsis, more emotional outpouring perhaps, but that is also not the affect of the book or of the storytellers inside it.

Definitely recommend — I am curious about Goodbye, Vitamin now, though it make take me a while to get to Khong’s backlist. I’ll for sure take note of her future novels, if not immediately dive into them.

Excellent story of a family, told through the lens of son, mother, and grandmother. Of immigrants with complicated stories, intense passions and extreme drive. Elements of sci-fi in the genetics and some subtle time shifts. Very well written!

This was a hyper-ambitious novel, but with so many hard-hitting topics to cover, I'm unsure it fully accomplished what it set out to do. After so many glowing reviews, I was sure this book would be a contender for my best book of the year, but the execution didn't jive with me. 

Split into three multi-generational POVs, the novel follows Lily, Nick (her son), and Mei (her mother) throughout the decades. I wonder if the book would've had more impact if we started from Mei's perspective as it had incredible depth throughout her heartbreaking journey to America from China. Lily's POV struck me as odd and a bit whiny. It also seemed like right as I finally was getting into one POV, it dramatically shifted to another. The same was true for Nick, which I was enjoying until his section abruptly ended. 

While trying to tell their multifaceted stories, Khong also threw in lots of sci-fi, ethical dilemmas, and magical realism (which was not needed nor fleshed out well). This is in addition to tackling topics like racism, class, white privilege, authoritarian governments, hate crimes, divorce, difficult family dynamics, and so much more. It was just... a lot. 

Overall, I don't regret picking this book up, but it's not the home run I was hoping for. 

CW: rape (mild scene on pg 279, mention on pg 284), hate crimes, torture, political crimes, death of a loved one, internalized racism

This was a fun read. So much of the book's summary spoke to me, a second-gen Chinese-American whose scientist parents were affected by the Cultural Revolution, so I was excited to dive in.

While the circumstances of Matthew and Lily meeting independently of their parents seemed farfetched, the book does a good job of depicting generational trauma and the ethics of science. It's grand in its ambition, but there were a couple dangling threads that felt unaddressed, like the opposite of Chekhov's gun. As much as I love magical realism, I found the use of stopping time to be so extraneous to the book. It didn't advance or add to the plot or character development in a way that I found to be critical; it could have not been a thing and the book would still maintain its sturdiness, imo! Same with the message that Ping gave to Lily to pass onto Mei/May. Or the entire relationship of Nick and Miranda.

To Rachel Khong's credit, the extraneous parts didn't feel extraneous as I was reading them; she's a very compelling and gripping writer, but it wasn't until I had finished the novel and was trying to piece together my thoughts that I realized that there was a lot in this book. Kind of like when you eat a really good meal and it's not until an hour later when you realize that you feel a little bloated.

The novel could have been tightened up and streamlined a little more without shedding its substance, but all in all, I found this an enjoyable read.

 "Chinese is a language that exists in the present tense. In this way it’s unlike English…”

Format: Audio
Source: Penguin Random House Audio
Narrator(s): Louisa Zhu, Eric Yang, & Eunice Wong

**Read for #bnbookclub**

Themes:

Characters:
• Lily Chen: MC
You first meet her in her 20's, then as a single mom, and then finally as a middle-aged women working at a nursery home. Lily literally goes through life not knowing what she wants. She always feels the dissatisfaction she gives her mom, the inability to follow in her footsteps. She is raised in a very "American" lifestyle; not learning her parents' native language, not learning their customs, or how to make their food, etc. Eventually she has a falling out with her mother, her dad since being in a home. She finds solace in motherhood, but it's still not enough. It isn't until later in life that she finally feels happy with herself and the life she has.

• Nico “Nick” Chen: MC #2
Nick is Lily's only son. Lily raised him alone, and never really answering his questions in regards to his father, or other family for that matter. He grows up not feeling complete because of this. His friend, Timothy, is the one that pushes him to take one of those take-home DNA tests. When he gets his results, he's disappointed although not surprised. Later in the story he does find out who his dad is, who he meets behind his mom's back. He goes to Yale for college, having lied to his mom about his scholarships, and feeling like a sham. That's when he discovered his "power"(?) of stopping time. With that, he was able to get better grades, eventually landing a job with his dad, and then other companies relating to Biology. Years later, he finds his grandmother, no hard feeling towards her.

• Mai: MC #3
She's Lily's mother. She immigrated from China with her husband "Charles." She's a scientist, and gets a job at a some lab, who gets support from Otto Meyer. She studied/works in genetics & DNA manipulation practically, which eventually both her and Otto used their first borns for experiments. Lily find's out, which is when they become estranged. In her pov, she divulges in her past living in China, from her childhood to living under Mao's Cultural Revolution. She eventually meets her grandchild by practically stalking him. He's the first to hear her side of things.

• Matthew Allen “Meyer”: Important side character
Matthew is Lily's ex-husband, Nick's dad. He is present in everyone's pov, some with more presence than the others. He didn't know what Mai or Otto, his dad, had done to both his brother Thomas or to Lily. And when it came to choose between leaving that life with Lily or staying, he chose to stay. He seemed unempathetic every time he was mentioned by anyone other then Lily. I couldn't connect with him, but at the same time I understood. He tried to by his kid's forgiveness rather than genuinely apologizing, which to me, is a very American thing to do.

Review:
I don’t know where to start honestly. I liked it, but somehow I wasn’t satisfied.

The story is told from three generational POV: daughter, grandson, grandmother. I appreciated this, a lot actually. It made sense in the story. Having the grandmother’s pov come last is clever, especially when it came to the theme of time.

I saw many similarities between Lily, Nick & Mai. Like the whole being raised as an US American, I've actually seen this happen in my own culture, especially in first generation kids.

There is also a common trend among immigrants and their parents when it comes to not sharing personal information. Yes, some may be trying to forget their past experiences, others just don't know how. My grandparents were the same and my parents are currently doing this, although they've opened up more. I also see the trend of this happening as they grow older. Which goes hand in hand with Khong's theme of time.

I don't know if this book is being advertised as "magical realism." If it is, it's probably because of that "time" power that all three share. And of course the mentions of the Chinese Moon Goddess mythology.

I listned to this, even though I bought the book. I appreciate how they used different people for the main characters, it made it easier to follow, considering there wasn't a part/section separation/identifier between the character's povs. I think that's what made me have a little bit of a hard time following, but it was momentarily.

Overall, it's a good story. It's well written.

Rating Breakdown:
Characters: 4
Plot/Storyline: 4.5
Pace: 5
Writing Style: 5
Narrator(s): 5
Overall Rating: 4.7 rounded to a 4.75

Quotes:
"...'the rocks were earth,' Matthew said. 'Meant to remind us of our smallness'"

"...that we were so insignificant, that we didn't matter. Even now, it's something I understood in the abstract, not in any real way."

"Time, it's the one thing [rich people] can't but."

"'They buy my paintings because they want to own time itself. A painting is the next best thing.'"

"Meaning was a slippery fish I was trying to catch with one hand."

"Can a life be meaningful if it's foundation is anything besides work?"

"Was motherly-ness something that could be cultivated?"

"What does say about me? That I can only understand myself in relation to another person. Alone, I was a blank."

"Without time, ambition is worth nothing. It's only frustration."

"How could one man have done so much damage. That was power that one person could wield so much influence over the lives of strangers."

"So much of my life I've let slip by because I have not attended to it. All this while instead of seeking more time, I could have been paying attention."