Saturday, October 27, 2018

Family Trust; Kathy Wang



TITLE: Family Trust
AUTHOR: Kathy Wang
PUBLISHER: William Morrow
PUB. YEAR: 2018
SETTING:  Silicon Valley, CA
FORMAT:  - (eGalley)
RATING: 4/5 stars

Stanley Huang has long claimed to have it all. Once a poor man in China, through hard work he has attained the American dream and should now be enjoying life. On the contrary, Stanley has been given a death sentence, diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he's forced to get his affairs in order and quick.

Family Trust is a complicated and sometimes funny family drama told from alternating POVs.  There is Linda, Stanley's ex-wife, who was married to him for 34 years. She wants to make sure that the couples (2) adult children get the bulk of his inheritance and not his much younger current wife, Mary.  There is son Fred, is a Harvard Business grad, who hasn't quite attained the corporate prestige and recognition he had hoped for.  Daughter, Kate, is a working mom, supporting a husband who has been trying to get a business off the ground and, lastly, Mary, the much younger current wife of Stanley, who has been married to Stanley for 9 years.

I loved the way the story is told, the various POVs and terrific character development worked well.  Although I disliked a couple of the characters, some of the things that happen to them at times were so funny that I could overlook their short comings.  I thought this was a well written and engaging debut novel about an Asian American family and life in Silicon Valley. It was, in some ways, was reminiscent of The Nest

11 comments:

  1. I saw this one recently and wondered about it. Will keep your thoughts in mind. Not really what I want to read right now, but maybe in a few weeks. :-)

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  2. This sounds like fun and it seems difficult to find fun books these days; they are all so dark.

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  3. Hi Diane,
    This sounds like it would be fun--engaging characters, multiple viewpoints, etc. And if it reminds you of The Nest, then I'm even more intrigued. I need diversions to survive right now. So, thank you!

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  4. Sounds good with so much going on in it.

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  5. I heard about this one at Book Expo and have been wanting to read it so I'm glad to see you liked it.

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  6. Sounds like a great family drama!

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  7. Diane, I'm glad you enjoyed this book.It sounds like it's well written.

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  8. Ah families. So rich with possibilities for fiction!

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  9. I love books with family drama! This sounds really good!

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  10. I have this one. It's a beautiful cover, isn't it? I am still spending my time with Murakami so it will be awhile before I get to other books.

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