Dan
I love Joan, I see and respect and appreciate her so much. This book read a little differently than I think it's billed, but I still loved it because I really enjoy Weike Wang's characters and style of writing.
This book is said to be about looking at people like doctors in everyday life, especially those with their own troubled and wound up pasts and families, and especially those who went through traumatic experiences such as the covid-19 pandemic. And it's certainly about that. But it's about so much more. So much of this book is spent about the treatment of oneself in the company of a harsh, overbearing family. The compartmentalization of one's entire person as chipped away at by their family and those close to them for years and years--the inability to even get close to anybody simply because they are so worn down and boxed up over time. And yet, despite that, Joan truly is okay. But what I loved about this book is that you can see and you very much want her to be more than okay but to be better, to be thriving, to be living.
I love Joan, I see and respect and appreciate her so much. This book read a little differently than I think it's billed, but I still loved it because I really enjoy Weike Wang's characters and style of writing.
This book is said to be about looking at people like doctors in everyday life, especially those with their own troubled and wound up pasts and families, and especially those who went through traumatic experiences such as the covid-19 pandemic. And it's certainly about that. But it's about so much more. So much of this book is spent about the treatment of oneself in the company of a harsh, overbearing family. The compartmentalization of one's entire person as chipped away at by their family and those close to them for years and years--the inability to even get close to anybody simply because they are so worn down and boxed up over time. And yet, despite that, Joan truly is okay. But what I loved about this book is that you can see and you very much want her to be more than okay but to be better, to be thriving, to be living.