Book Summary and Reviews of The Manor of Dreams by Christina Li

Book Summary

Mexican Gothic meets The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in Christina Li's haunting novel about the secrets that lie in wait in the crumbling mansion of a former Hollywood starlet, and the intertwined fates of the two Chinese American families fighting to inherit it.

Vivian Yin is dead. The first Chinese actress to win an Oscar, the trailblazing ingénue rose to fame in the eighties, only to disappear from the spotlight at the height of her career to live out the rest of her life as a recluse.

Now her remaining family members are gathered for the reading of her will, and her daughters expect to inherit their childhood home: Vivian's grand, sprawling, Southern California garden estate. But due to a last-minute change to the will, the house is passed on to another family instead—one that has suddenly returned after decades of estrangement.

In hopes of staking their claim, both families move into the mansion. As Vivian's daughters race to piece together what happened in the last weeks of their mother's life, disturbing visions and bizarre behaviors start to take hold of everyone in the house, forcing them to realize they are being haunted by something far more sinister and vengeful than their regrets. After so many years of silence, will the families finally confront the painful truth behind the house's origins and the last, tragic summer they spent there—or will they cling to their secrets until it's too late?

Told in dual timelines, spanning three generations, and brimming with romance, betrayal, ambition, and sacrifice, The Manor of Dreams is a thrilling family gothic that examines the true cost of the American Dream—and what happens when the roots we set down in this country turn to rot.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Brainstorm some adjectives you would use to describe Vivian, Lucille, Rennie, Madeline, Elaine, and Nora. What traits do they have in common? What aspects of their identity create the biggest rifts between then?
2. Why do you think Li chose to begin the story with Nora's character?
3. How are the relationships between the mother-and-daughter pairings in the novel similar and different?
4. Did you enjoy the chapters from the past more, or the chapters from the present day? How does Li build tension within and between the two timelines?
5. Consider how each character interacts with their cultural and class identity. In what ways are these identities present in the narrative? How do they affect characters like Elaine, Ada, ...