Review - 'The Family Chao' by Lan Samantha Chang

Whenever I come across a story about the Chinese American immigrant experience, I must read it. I'm forever trying to find that connection with others like myself, with people and characters who can somehow put into words a confounding experience, one I am still trying to figure out, even after so many years.

But that wasn't this book. It makes me sad to report that I couldn't find any connection at all with The Family Chao; the only familiar part was the food. Otherwise, this grotesque and dehumanizing tale repulsed me and made me wonder what the author was hoping to achieve.

To start, not a single character in here could be considered real or complex or likable. Instead, they're each an extreme caricature. The oldest brother is stubborn and reckless, the middle one is successful but emotionally gone, and the youngest is timid and meek. And they are all overshadowed by their loud, crude, and lewd father. Each character must stick to those narrowly defined traits and that's all the personality they have.

Their interactions with each other are so vulgar and bombastic that it made me cringe. There is a vitriol and malice behind them that is hard to stomach. This in-your-face style is so incongruous with Chinese familial interactions, which are always characterized more by what is unsaid than what is said. It made me question why the author chose to portray the characters in such a way, when they bear no resemblance to reality.

There is so much hatred in this book. Hatred for self, hatred for being immigrants, hatred for being Chinese, hatred of one's family, hatred of the future and the past. It comes off of the pages in waves and waves. There is no subtlety, only quantity.

There are also a lot of sexual references in this book, whether it's mentioning body parts or commenting on women or trying to have sex with them. But the descriptions are at best cold and emotionless, and at worst, offensive and obscene. It was so aggressively written that it was impossible to ignore.

At some point, the story even takes stereotypes and seem to encourage them. Is the restaurant serving dog meat? The fixation on how yellow the skin color is. How low the family will go for money. The implication that the only way to succeed is to marry a white woman (both of the older brothers are this way, whether through actions or feelings). Not a single one of these issues is addressed or resolved in any way.

As a reader, I have to ask myself: why did the author choose to write this? If you were going to write a story about a minority group often misunderstood, and you portray each person in the most simple and dehumanizing way—even going so far as to nickname the brothers "gou" (dog), a huge insult in Chinese—and you include some stereotypes that seem to further the misconception of who they are, what can possibly be the goal?

A book is a forum for an author to reach across the table to those they may not interact with otherwise. It's a chance to further understanding and portray people as both complex and human, in all the ways that are beautiful and ugly. But that didn't happen here. Maybe the author set out to do that, but somewhere along the way, the story got away from her and only the ugly remained.

Readaroo Rating: 1 star

My heartfelt thanks for the advance copy that was provided for my honest and unbiased review.