What We Were Promised

Posted on 09 April 2018 by Lucy Tan

After years of chasing the American dream, the Zhen family has moved back to China Settling into a luxurious serviced apartment in Shanghai, Wei, Lina, and their daughter, Karen, join an elite community of Chinese born, Western educated professionals who have returned to a radically transformed city.One morning, in the eighth tower of Lanson Suites, Lina discovers that a childhood keepsake, an ivory bracelet, has gone missing The incident contributes to a wave of unease that has begun to settle throughout the Zhen household Wei, a marketing strategist, bows under the guilt of not having engaged in nobler work Meanwhile, Lina, lonely in her new life of leisure, assumes the modern moniker taitai a housewife who does no housework at all She spends her days haunted by the circumstances surrounding her arranged marriage to Wei and her lingering feelings for his brother, Qiang Lina and Wei take pains to hide their anxieties, but their housekeeper, Sunny, a hardworking girl with secrets of her own, bears witness to their struggles When Qiang reappears in Shanghai after decades on the run with a local gang, the family must finally come to terms with the past.From a silk producing village in rural China, up the corporate ladder in suburban America, and back again to the post Maoist nouveau riche of modern Shanghai, WHAT WE WERE PROMSED explores the question of what we owe to our country, our families, and ourselves. New Download [ What We Were Promised ] by [ Lucy Tan ] For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr via my blog Fang Lijian s perspective on love was different from any she d heard before Lina s friends had watched too many American movies and to them, love was a classic car that would come roaring in from nowhere when the time was right, pick you up, and peel away For all their warnings to her about relinquishing control marrying a man she didn t know, they seemed to crave the kind of love that made you lose control The Zhen family returns to China a via my blog Fang Lijian s perspective on love was different from any she d heard before Lina s friends had watched too many American movies and to them, love was a classic car that wo...As a second generation Asian American, so much of this novel resonated with me I ve already read it cover to cover twice now, and will come back to it again when I m in the mood for some seriously good writing and story, probably accompanied by a glass of wine and dark chocolate.This book tells the story of a family Lina, Wei, their adolescent daughter, Karen moving back to Shanghai for Wei s marketing career after two decades of living in the U.S One summer, Wei s brother comes to visit and L As a second generation Asian American, so much of this novel resonated with me I ve already read it cover to cover twice now, and will come back to it again when I m in the mood for some seriously good writing and story, probably accompanied by a glass of wine and dark chocol...A beautifully told story, an advanced copy of which I won here from goodreads I had read a book Little Soldiers just a few weeks ago about Chinese education and culture, so this being a book about Chinese people who live in Amer...Tan s debut novel will definitely put her on the map for her beautiful storytelling and exquisite prose She eloquently weaves together the characters lives, flawlessly fusing the past and the present Each page is filled with such rich...An impressive debut novel the expertly weaves together two parallel narratives to great effect The first tells the story of the Zhen family moving back to China after decades in America and their struggles navigating this new, bustling Shanghai which feels so far removed from the post Great Leap Forward poverty of their childhood villages Further complicating matters for the Zhens is the sudden reappearance of a long lost brother whom the family hasn t seen for years The second story follows An impressive debut novel the expertly weaves together two parallel narratives to great effect The first tells the story of the Zhen family moving back to China after decades in America and their struggles navigating this new, bustling Shanghai which feels so far removed from the post Great Leap Forward poverty of their childhood villages Further complicating mat...I loved Lucy Tan s What We Were Promised A true talent, debut author Tan writes prose that is compelling, evocative, funny, and at the same time manages to cut straight to the core of things Most impressive of all is the authority and care with which Tan builds her world of nouveau riche Shanghai, not only situating the complex, cosmopolitan city in the equally complex history of China and the Cultural Revolution, but allowing this same history to shape and haunt her novel as fully and inevit I loved Lucy Tan s What We Were Promised A true talent, debut author Tan writes prose that is compelling, evocative, funny, and at the same time manages to cut straight to the core...Recommended This novel is about leaving the country, China, and the US and returning home, to family , and is told from several points of view it moves back and forth in time without any loss of narrative thread It probably has one or two too many ...4.5 starsFull review to come.I enjoyed reading this book about family, secrets, loyalty and Chinese culture The writing was beautiful and descriptive and the different characters s perspectives helped in understandingabout the Chi...I really liked this book, but I didn t love it I received this book for free as a Goodreads Giveaway The writing was fluid and the story was interesting My one complaint is that I never felt connected to any of the characters It wasn t until the last fourth of the book that the reader gets a glimpse of who the characters really were and how they felt, and the reasons they made the choices that they did I believe that this is the author s first book I look forward to seeing what the author I really liked this book, but I didn t love it I received this book for free as a Goodreads Giveaway The writing was fluid and the story was interesting My one complaint is that I never felt connected to any of the characters It wasn t until the last fourth of the book that the reader gets a glimpse of who the characters really were and how they felt, and the reasons they made the choices that they did I believe that this is the author s first book I look forward to seeing what the author comes out wi...

English
09 April 2018

Lucy Tan