Summary and Reviews of The Family Chao by Lan Chang

Media Reviews

BookPage (starred review) Funny, thought-provoking and paced like a thriller, The Family Chao radically redefines the immigrant novel while balancing entertainment and delight.

Minneapolis Star Tribune A playful literary romp with a serious heart. Ostensibly it's a murder mystery...but it's also an exploration of genre, of literary types and stereotypes, and the impact of these types on the hopes and dreams of its characters...The action soars...Chang's narrative [is] operatic and subversive.

NPR The Family Chao is a riveting character-driven novel that delves beautifully into human psychology; Dostoevsky himself would surely approve.

Kirkus Reviews (starred review) As with Dostoevsky's original, the story culminates in a trial that becomes a stage for broader debates over obligation, morality, and family. But Chang is excellent at exploring this at a more intimate level as well. A later plot twist deepens the tension and concludes a story that smartly offers only gray areas in response to society's demands for simplicity and assurance. A disruptive, sardonic take on the assimilation story.

Publishers Weekly (starred review) [A]n ingenious and cunning reboot of Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov...harrowing and humorous... In this timely, trenchant, and thoroughly entertaining book, an immigrant family's dreams are paid for in blood. For Chang, this marks a triumphant return.

 Jess Walter, author of The Cold Millions At once a brilliant reimagining of Dostoevsky and a wholly original and gripping story about the passions, rivalries, and searing pressures that roil a singular immigrant family.

 John Irving, author of Avenue of Mysteries A Dickensian drama of family conflicts and intrigues; an insightful comedy of the American immigrant experience, and of a small town's inner workings. Chang's creation of characters through dialogue is worthy of a great playwright.

 Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of The Committed Family drama, murder mystery, love story, The Family Chao is an oftentimes funny and sometimes sad portrait of a Chinese American family who runs that most ubiquitous of institutions: the Chinese restaurant. With nuance and slyness, wit and empathy, Chang turns the desires and deceits of one unhappy family into a moving and compelling saga of that classic American illness: ambition.

Reader Reviews

Bookworm
Undoing the model minority myth
This book exposes rawness of a dysfunctional family. I couldn’t put this book down. It’s a story of identity, the constant feeling of otherness, and weight of your parent’s flaws while shattering the facade of the model minority myth. BlueRidgeJeanne
Not Your Average Chinese Restaurant
"The Chinese American Dream" is not necessarily the same as another immigrant's "Dream" or an American's "American Dream." (Olivia Murphy) Essentially, The Family Chao depicts a Chinese-American family's pursuit of their "Dreams" in a small ...   Read More Susan_B
The Family Chao
Families are always complicated but even more so for second generation siblings trying to navigate two worlds. Respect for old world traditions vs new world ideology often are cause for conflicts which drive us away but inevitably draw/suck us ...   Read More Julie Z. (Oak Park, IL)
The Family Chao
Years ago, an immigrant family from China moved to small town Haven, WI. There they have operated Fine Chao, a Chinese restaurant, for over thirty years. The father, Leo, is a tyrant to both his wife and his three sons. With nods to The Brothers ...   Read More

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