Central Places by Delia Cai is a novel about the immigrant experience, a strained mother-daughter relationship, feelings of self-doubt and being caught between your present and your past.

I enjoyed the book even if it is a little bit predictable towards the end. Loved the way it's written and the exploration of complicated family dynamics.

I enjoyed this but I wasn’t entirely sure in how it brought originality to this story, as it felt like one I had come across many times before.

Audrey Zhou left her small Illinois town, where you had to search to find people like you and everyone mispronounced her surname, to go to university in New York and never went back. She met her WASP boyfriend Ben there and he's been carefully anti-racist and an ally, subsumed her into his posh family and only been slightly overbearing about his wishes over hers, however she has what she thinks of as a horror mum at home, also overbearing about her wishes over Audrey's (because we only read this book through Audrey's voice, I did have more sympathy for her mum than she did; of course she eventually realises her mum's situation in the end).

Ben and Audrey reluctantly go down to Illinois for Christmas, really only so she can help her dad attend a hospital appointment; she reverts to high school and of course runs into the crush and the best friend who she dumped in a hurry and left behind when she left.

Unfortunately, I didn't really end up feeling much sympathy for Audrey, as she behaves pretty poorly and doesn't seem to accept the consequences of her actions. Other NetGalley reviewers appear to have felt the same. The narrative of "realising nagging mum had her best interests at heart" is a well-worn one and so is the "returning home to the small town" narrative, often seeming to be about second-generation immigrant stories, though that could be because I will pick a book about a person from a marginalised community over one about a straight, White person!

Review will appear on my blog on 05 December. https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2023/12/05/book-review-delia-cai-central-places/

Audrey was determined to escape from her small town home in Illinois and her Chinese immigrant parents, especially her critical mother. She moves to New York, gets a high powered job and a white fiance, Ben, whose parents want to buy them their own place and who sweep Audrey up into their wealthy lives. When Ben wants to meet her parents and stay with them for Christmas, Audrey is very reluctant. But she finds that her past is still very much alive in the present, and the people and places she left behind still have to be faced. I really enjoyed this book. It was often very funny, but also thoughtful about the struggles and sacrifices of moving to a new country, about unrequited young love and about friendship. The characters were believably flawed but by the end you could empathise with them. The idea of difference is also well portrayed. I will look forward to other books by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a copy in exchange for a review.

I was very excited to read this story. I liked that Audrey wasn't very likeable for a large part of the book. In the real world, lots of people aren't likeable! I had no sympathy for her during a lot of the book because most of her problems were her own doing, but I liked that she turned things around by the end. I think a lot of people will be able to relate to Audrey and how she feels about her childhood and her parents, even if they don't share her exact background.

Initially the concept had potential and opportunity to discuss race and the feeling of being an outsider in a place where no one is anonymous. This novel did start off with promise of Audrey returning to her hometown with her fiancé Ben after leaving and making a successful life in New York. Delia Cai articulates the issue of feeling insecure, vulnerable and wanted to appease ones parents when returning home after long periods of living away. Cai presents those feelings of retuning to somewhere as a different person from you left through Audrey's perspectives. Due to the first person perspective of Audrey, the reader is presented with a very one sided story where Audrey acts in an immature or 'victim' mindset that everything bad only happens to her. This becomes extremely. tedious and makes her character unlikeable. I think it would have been beneficial to have a perspective of her mother or Kyle her old school crush to emphasise how much Audrey has changed. Ben is two dimensional and is unfairly criticised by Audrey as being self centred when in fact all Ben is presented as, is generous and overly sensitive to Audrey's anxieties of returning home. The conflicts throughout the novel are undermined by the insufferable personality of Audrey and how she deals with situations.

The pacing is slow and nothing particularly exciitng or gripping happens to make me want to read further. I found this a difficult start and then I lost interest after 30%. I did finish the book only to see how Audrey's character would develop and whether her relationship with her mother would be resolved, but this was disappointing.

Overall, I think this novel has an opportunity to explore the anxieties and guilt around starting a new life in a different place to where you grew up and experiencing racism in a poignant way, but this novel undermines these themes. Audrey is too immature, selfish and doesn't attempt to see the point of view of other characters. By the end of the novel, Audrey isn't redeemed for her actions, in my opinion, and I can't envision what will happen to her character next.

This book is best summed up as a bottle of champagne, opening the book felt fizzy and exciting in the way popping that bottle feels. The first glass (first few chapters) slipped down in an effervescent fizz, the words translating a lot of my late twenties feelings.
Then once you finish that first glass and start on a second it doesn’t hit the same, which is how the middle of the book felt. There were moments where I hated Audrey, and her parents and her relationship with Ben. That having been said, I think it shows the skill of the author to craft characters that are multifaceted enough that you care about them at the same time as they irritate you.
The growth of Audrey from beginning to end was what won the book over for me in end. This is a book with real bite, and one that has stayed with me since finishing the book..

#CentralPlaces #NetGalley

Twenty-something Audrey Zhou seems to have the perfect New Yorker life. She has a good job at a magazine, a great Brooklyn apartment, and now, a loving fiancée whose wonderful parents want to buy them a condo. But Ben wants to meet her parents for Christmas and see Hickory Grove, where she grew up, but where hasn’t been in eight years. There’s lots to worry about, not least of all her combative relationship with a judgmental mother. Sure enough, it’s cringe time the moment they enter the door, and on a trip to Walmart, they run into Kyle, Audrey’s high school crush.

Those are relatable topics right there. Audrey doesn’t want to relive the awkwardness, pressure, and angst of those years, which is why it’s been so long since she’s visited. Cai makes a good case for her MC, painting the mom as vicious and bitter, and the interactions are testy at best. Audrey’s past anxieties come rushing back at every turn, every time she and Ben venture out into town. Hickory Grove and supporting cast are described well. The relationships with her best friends at the time, Kristin and Kyle, have plenty of depth. Even the parents feel complex and textured.

For me, the story could have used more action description, and a lot more dialogue. After all, if we’re meant to understand the deep-seated conflict between mother and daughter…shouldn’t we hear their grievances? Sure, there’s some of it, and yes, people who don’t like each other don’t tend to speak to one another. But the debate gets only one side: Audrey’s. And it’s all worked out in her head, through introspection and reflection, which goes against the mantra of “show, don’t tell.” It cooled off a story that could have been explosive and edgy.

Now, some reviewers remark that Audrey isn’t likeable. Well, my benchmark for unlikeable MCs is Rabbit in Updike’s Rabbit, Run (and series). Audrey might act petulant and self-righteous, and tends to blame others for her situation, but she hasn’t come close to Rabbit’s level of bad behavior. Yes, she’s immature and a little snobbish, but I was more indifferent, watching her from a distance.

That said, I did think the effort to make Audrey’s situation complex falls a bit flat. See above for one thing: not enough to “see.” For another, the issues seem to run into one another: being one of the only Asians in a white, Midwest town; the expectations of an immigrant family; high school regrets; past love; young adults establishing themselves; and what it means to get married. This needed something to pull it together.

There’s an effort to do just this around 75%, where the action picks up and the characters begin to act and talk things out. I enjoyed this: Audrey seems to get some clarity on things as her world shifts with some real-world interventions. It’s crisp, interesting, and dramatic. The ending is satisfying.

One note: reading it, I was thinking, “Boy, does this ever feel biographical.” Sure enough, the author notes indicate that she grew up in Central Illinois, and has worked for publications like Buzzfeed. A lot like Audrey. Would love to talk to her about it all!

It’s an interesting take on the “you can’t go home again” theme, and certainly worth a look.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ballantine and Cornerstone for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Wow! What an amazing book!!
Would love to read more from the author.
Thankyou netgalley for the Arc!

I wanted to feel so much more than this book allowed me to. It had such promise and yet for some reason I don't feel like I got the full impact of the premise.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5. I enjoyed the deeper thematic work of this book but I felt like it was quite surface level? I was expecting to be balling my eyes out but that didn't happen.