Happy Friday! This month for my book review I read Family Trust by Kathy Wang. This was an interesting and well written book but I wouldn’t count it as a favorite for the year.
The story follows the Huang family. Stanley and Linda Huang are divorced and have two adult children, Kate and Fred. Stanley has remarried a much younger woman, Mary. When Stanley is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer we witness the family dealing with Stanley’s illness and the thought of him potentially passing away.
While reading I liked that all of the characters are flawed in some way. None of the characters react to situations in an ideal way; they show all the pettiness and selfishness that comes with being human. Set in Silicon Valley we get a great picture of the constant striving and stress of our current professional atmosphere in the United States. Nothing is ever good enough for our characters; they always want something more, whether that’s a better job, more money, or more from a personal relationship.
Overall the drama of the book felt anticlimactic. There was a lot of suspense over what would happen if Stanley passed away, the breakdown of personal relationships, and infighting between the characters. However, the cumulation of these events wasn’t as exciting as I was hoping for. I wanted to witness more of the drama actually occurring but instead the author mostly explained what occurred after the fact. In the end I felt like I was pushing myself to finish the book in time because I wasn’t drawn to continue the book.
Finally, most of the book is told from everyone else’s perspective other than Stanley. From everyone else’s eyes the reader gets a very particular image of Stanley. However, without hearing from Stanley himself I kept wondering if the perceptions of Stanley was accurate and what his opinions were. I think it would have been interesting to hear more from Stanley about the events that were occurring in the book.
Overall, I thought the writing in the book was well done and it painted an intriguing picture of life in Silicon Valley. However, the drama was anticlimactic and didn’t draw me into the story. I gave this book 3 stars on Goodreads.
Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!
To see more of what I am reading take a look at my Goodreads!
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