Reviews

The barebones plot of Central Places - girl living in the big city travels to her small town home for the holidays - could very well be that of a Hallmark movie. While some of the plot threads are also Hallmarkish - she reconnects with her best friend and her high school crush - this book has got additional layers, more depth and breadth, plus an ending which didn’t go where I feared it might, ensuring it is no mere cliche.

Audrey Zhou is the only child of Chinese migrants, but hasn’t been home in eight years, and is only there this Christmas because her fiancé wants to meet her parents. She is effectively estranged from them and her relationship with her mother is particularly fraught. For me one of the strengths of the novel is its depictions of the relationships in the family - husband and wife, father and daughter, as well as mother and daughter - whether it be the pregnant silences, the explosive disagreements, or the myriad small details. Audrey’s father’s gestures of love for her - the roast chicken, the way he quietly slips her some money as she is leaving - are especially poignant.

Audrey is a complicated and not always likeable protagonist, but she is written in such a way that I could at least understand the reasons for her actions. Race, migration, identity and belonging - among my favourite themes - all factored in to them. As a teen she was desperate to leave Hickory Grove, to find somewhere to test her ambition and a place where she could belong. Over the course of the novel she comes to see the good in her parents and her hometown and to realise that she didn’t have to cut off everyone and everything from her past in order to escape it. She also recognises that she doesn’t actually like every aspect of her own behaviour or the way her life in New York is unfolding. This character arc and the ending help make this a satisying, feel-good read, while the exploration of issues like race and migration give it the depth I enjoy.

Many thanks to @penguinbooksnz for my ARC. Central Places releases in Aotearoa on 21 November.

Content Warnings

kathryndouglas's review against another edition

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2.0

DNF. This book did not hold my attention and it was just kind of boring. Not worth the read. I got through almost half of it though, so I am just going to say that I read it.

jpov's review against another edition

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This book was hard for me to read at times for how it felt too personal. It was as if Cai cut parts of my life out and pasted it to Audrey’s. So much of her story differs from mine but the consistent critism from Audrey in her consciousness of thought made me take a literal sigh - it was all too familiar. I really enjoyed Cai’s writing - it was daggers of Audrey’s honesty and sharp judgement mixed with insecurity. She tries to take two steps ahead with all her decisions but she failed to see what she was even skipping ahead for. You can’t change your upbringing or your past but you do have to know when it’s time to leave it behind. I think that’s something Kristen would have said. Overall - I think this was a great debut. Going back home will always leave you with so many mixed emotions. In the euphoric moment when you leave it all behind you tend to forget how the thought of it all disappearing can swivel on you and be crushing. Thank you to Delia Cai, NetGalley, and Random House Publishing Group.

3.7/5