Family Trust (Wang) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
An old plot device gets a fresh life in this debut novel about a family gathering around the impending death of its patriarch in Silicon Valley.
Washington Post


Dryly cynical.… [T]he hook, however, lies in Wang’s relatable portraits of the various members of the Huang family.
Toronto Globe and Mail

   
It’s a story of trust in both senses of the word, and Wang guides us effortlessly through that intertwining mess of love and resentment that only family can create. She does so against the backdrop of Silicon Valley wealth and pretensions, perfectly skewering its (and our) culture of excess.
Buzzfeed


Set in a Silicon Valley that is as monstrous and absurd as it is true to life, Family Trust examines the nature of family loyalty and obligation as well as the choices that set lives on seemingly irreversible courses.
San Francisco Book Review


American literature knows family about as well as anything else.… By now the cliches write themselves. Yet debut author Kathy Wang confidently leans into them, spicing up old stories—the tense reunions and fatal betrayals and dying fathers—with fresh faces.
Entertainment Weekly


Addictive.… [A] story about families and what connects everyone to one another, about the ties that bind and what the comfort that financial security can bring to people inside the hamster wheel of American consumerism.
NPR.org


A Taiwanese-American family faces the realities and indignities of living in Silicon Valley in Wang’s astute debut.… The author brings levity and candor to the tricky terrain of family dynamics, aging, and excess. Wang’s debut expertly considers the values of high-tech high society.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review) While many are comparing this novel to Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians, it's much more about family relationships.… Verdict: Readers who enjoy complicated novels about family issues will find this engrossing work impossible to put down. —Andrea Kempf, formerly with Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS
Library Journal


[Wang] explores Silicon Valley subculture with wit and ultimately reveals a deep understanding of her feckless strivers.
Booklist


Wang speaks with authority, insight, and irony about the ethnic and socio-economic realities at business school, in Silicon Valley, in mixed-race relationships and marriages. A strong debut.
Kirkus Reviews