By Celeste Ng
Deep, tender dig into a community’s psyche
Once again, Celeste Ng has written a beautifully layered story with a tender, empathetic dive into each of her characters’ minds. Our stars are Mia, a photographer/artist, and her teenage daughter Pearl who come to settle in perfectly planned community named Shaker Heights where the Richardson family lives – a family that will intertwine with Mia and Pearl. Ng’s ability to hop from one point-of-view to another is done so flawlessly that the reader can glide quickly, gathering up the missed connections, the wrong assumptions, mistakes and discoveries of the characters from the delicious vantage point of anticipating their next moves.
At the end of the book, I especially enjoyed the little descriptions of insight Ng shares about each character, framed as a mixed-media photographer would create. The photos added another dimension to the rich ground Ng had already prepared for us. I truly enjoyed this book. A terrific second novel from the author of Everything I Never Told You.