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jennabeck13's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.5/5)
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
About 275 pages
The Leftover Woman tells the story of Jasmine’s journey in NYC as she runs from her controlling husband, Wen, in China. While Jasmine has put up with Wen for years, when she discovers he lied and told her that her daughter died at birth, while in reality, their daughter is alive and well in the US, Jasmine knows it is time to go. Jasmine is determined to reunite with her daughter no matter the cost. But while Jasmine seeks to put her family back together, Rebecca’s family and career are falling apart. Following a scandal, Rebecca is on thin ice at work which is why she needs to land what is predicted to be the book of the year. Rebecca plans to connect with the author using her husband and daughter as leverage. However, she hasn't been prioritizing them lately, leading her daughter to favor her nanny and her husband to resent her a bit. While Rebecca and Jasmine are dealing with very different motherhood dilemmas, they end up on a crash course toward one another.
This was a beautifully done story that tackled several important topics including motherhood, racism, classism, abusive relationships, immigration, fetishization, and female empowerment. I enjoyed figuring out how the characters in Rebecca and Jasmine’s stories connected as the story progressed and seeing how both evolved as women. It also had a level of suspense we don’t normally see in contemporary fiction that I liked. My only complaints are there were a few places where I had trouble following the timelines and that Kwok left us with some loose ends.
Favorite Quote: “No one knew better than I that while your mind might disappear, the body must endure.”
Content Warnings
Moderate: Classism, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Deportation, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Racism, and Sexism
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