moniipeters's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
What the novel lacks in style, it doesn't quite make up for in substance. With the dull way the plot is conveyed, the conflicts and characters all feel, if you'll excuse the pun, underbaked. Moments that should be powerful and emotional instead come across as melodramatic and dry. I couldn't sympathize or connect to Natalie at all, and found her mother and grandmother much more compelling despite their merely posthumous presence. The dynamics between characters were, like many other elements, only really intriguing in theory, with their actual writing fairly shallow and any interpersonal conflict resolved in an awkward, rushed manner.
The romance is particularly unconvincing. Daniel is even less well-developed than Natalie; I felt no chemistry between them, even when it's insisted out of absolutely nowhere that they're soulmates. It being a subplot at all feels a bit... odd -- maybe I skimmed past some timeline details, but making romance a priority presumably less than a month after your (estranged, but still) mother dies is just strange to me. Though it's not the main focus of the novel, it does take attention away from other plotlines, since a significant number of conversations with other characters after Daniel is introduced regard his and Natalie's relationship. Ultimately, I feel like excising -- or at least even more significantly downplaying -- romance would have been in the narrative's favor.
I truly wish I had more positive things to say, but I find myself at a loss -- in addition to the above grievances, the setting feels inauthentic; a white audience seems to have been intended for how heavy-handed some notes on Chinese culture are (unfamiliar readers can just look up what an erhu is, I promise!); the light tone is inconsistent with themes that have potential to be so much better explored; many fabulistic elements serve no real purpose; and the progression of the plot is choppy and unsatisfying. I did conceptually like certain revelations and events, but their actual handling leaves a lot to be desired. In the end, while the recipes within may be filling, Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune is decidedly less so.
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death of parent, and Mental illness
Moderate: Death and Abandonment
Minor: Classism, Sexual content, Car accident, Ableism, and Violence
Gentrification. Agoraphobia and depression.calamitywindpetal's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Death
mandkips's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Death of parent and Mental illness
Moderate: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Car accident
jademelody's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Abandonment, and Grief
Moderate: Death and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Bullying, Car accident, Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Cultural appropriation