Soy Sauce for Beginners

I got this book for free via Amazon's Kindle First promotion in January and decided to give it a shot. This is basically a coming of age story of someone who is trying to find her way again after returning home to Singapore from the US. She is 30 years old and frankly lost after a life of trying and failing; running home has not helped her hide–she has problems enough to face with her family as well. It starts out strong (I cannot stress enough that the writer knows how to provoke the senses of smell and taste) but peters out a bit towards the middle. I stuck through it because I had a soft spot for the code-switching and for the cultural similarities between the main character and myself. As the story went on, more was revealed about her predicament with her family–the precarious relations, her trouble with finding herself amongst a long-lived tradition, the struggle between loving and letting someone go. The writing isn't exceptional, except when she talks about food or soy sauce which isn't often enough, but I found the parent/child relationship to be the most compelling thing to read. While Gretchen isn't always the most sympathetic main character, I still really want to learn more about her past and her plans. Towards the end, I found myself not able to put the book down.

Very pleasantly surprised that this book ended up being enjoyable.