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The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh

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gillsbooks21's review against another edition

4.0

The Duong sisters are cursed. Everyone in Little Saigon in Orange County, California, knows this. They've been cursed for generations, beginning with their ancestor Oanh, who fled her marriage for love, and whose descendants were fated with unhappy marriages and only gave birth to daughters--never sons.

The descendants of Oanh Duong endure loveless marriages, estrangement, and unhappiness. That all changes when Mai Nguyen visits her psychic, Auntie Hua, on the island of Kauai, where she predicts her family will see one funeral, a marriage, and the birth of a son in the coming year. Armed with this prediction, Mai sets off doing the one thing she thought she'd never do: breathe out the past and reconcile with her sisters and daughters.

Carolyn Huynh's book about reconciliation, healing, and love is sharp, witty, full of candor, and will make you laugh. There are plenty of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the very last page, and even then you'll want to keep reading about the Duong women. This was such a great book to begin 2023 with, and I highly recommend it!

aladon66's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Book Review The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh

The Duong Family is cursed and has been for generations. Oanh Duong left her husband when she fell in love. Her ex mother-in-law made a long trek to see the witch. The curse is that the family will only produce daughters and that they will never know love and will marry poorly. This means that they will wander the afterlife alone unable to visit their children because the husbands won’t invite the ancestors to their ancestral alter

The story follows the following generations of women, their daughters and their unhappy marriages. The story is replete pushy, loud, stubborn and opinionated Vietnamese mother’s trying to run their daughters lives to break the curse. The sisters Kim, Mai, Minh, and Khuyen provide a lot of drama. Think Housewives of Vietnam in California. The emotional story line centers around their daughters and the impact living under the belief in the “curse” has had on them and their love lives. How to respond to a meddling mother is also a constant theme.

I found it difficult to develop a connection to any of the characters because of the sheer volume of them. But it is an enjoyable, light hearted read. If you like a lot of drama and intrusive, pushy mothers you will enjoy this.

taliabasma's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I think most novels that approach generational trauma, especially from the point of view of women tend to come off as super heavy and hopeless and disheartening, and just a lot of other negative emotions and connotations, so I really appreciate that this book took a more lighthearted and relatively chaotic tone that didn’t allow you to feel overwhelmed by the realities of womanhood generational traumas. That said it was very chaotic because we’re learning about a whole family tree of women and it was pretty hard to keep track of some of the women honestly. I did feel like the climax was super hilarious if not perturbed which you would need to read it to know what I mean.

Also, as a romance reader, this book had only one satisfying romantic couple everyone else I was pretty much not rooting for to be honest lol

However, in the end last seen kind of confused me and I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to take away from this book, I guess maybe it’s just that life is complicated and there is no one size fits all solution to motherhood and to ending generational trauma. Regardless the closing line confused me and I think I would’ve liked the book more if it had ended even five sentences earlier.