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alysereadsbooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Listened to the audiobook and thought it was just okay. Didn’t love it. I found the main character a bit insufferable. I also found the ending unsatisfying.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Racism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Sexual content
questingnotcoasting's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
It's rare I buy a book without knowing anything about it but the cover and the blurbs by other authors I've read drew me to this one. I mostly enjoyed it but I think I liked the writing more than the plot. It's definitely an engrossing story but I also found the protagonist a little frustrating at times.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Cancer
serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-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
3.75
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.
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
Graphic: Racism
Minor: Cancer
betterly's review
emotional
reflective
tense
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Cancer
katiejohns's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- 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
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer and Xenophobia
saoliva's review
reflective
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Cancer and Drug abuse
nicolekdan's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-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
5.0
In Delia Cai’s debut novel, Central Places, Audrey Zhou returns to her small hometown in Illinois for the first time in 8 years, with her rich white fiance Ben. Audrey is financially secure, but regresses emotionally upon returning to Hickory Grove and confronting all the tension that she left behind. All of the characters are unlikeable in their own ways, and the story of combined self centeredness and self loathing is deeply relatable. Audrey constantly asks herself about how her life could have turned out differently. She observes the past with a self critical lens, thinking about the context of her childhood, and the expectations of her immigrant parents. The author avoids over romanticizing the small town, showing how truly impossible it would have been for Audrey to continue to live there. While Ben sees the visit as a small blip on the way to getting married, Audrey’s trip to her hometown causes a monumental shift in relationships old and new. I don’t want to say too much about the plot because it is truly special.
This was a quick read, and Audrey’s internal thought process, which may seem like overthinking, was a highlight. I would compare the plot to a realistic version of a Hallmark movie.
Thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the eARC.
This was a quick read, and Audrey’s internal thought process, which may seem like overthinking, was a highlight. I would compare the plot to a realistic version of a Hallmark movie.
Thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the eARC.
Content Warnings
Minor: Cancer, Drug abuse, Infidelity, and Racism
christinesreads's review against another edition
reflective
medium-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, and Racism
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