3.5/5 - What a good read; an absolute must for those who enjoyed Sharlene Teo's 'Ponti' and Lillian Li's 'Number One Chinese Restaurant'.

While the simmering family tensions and criminal mystery are compelling enough to keep you turning pages (although the actual thriller bit doesn't really manifest until well after the middle, so if you're coming to this expecting a Val McDiarmid you might be disappointed), I was particularly interested in Chang's exploration of desire/hunger/appetite and lust. I haven't read her source material, 'The Brothers Karamazov', but from what I know about it these seem to be shared interests between Chang and Dostoevsky. The characters aren't likeable, but they don't need to be when they work so seamlessly to explore the friction between excess/pleasure and their consequences.

A final point about Chang's writing is how cinematic it feels at times. Often when I read a book I find myself imagining the action happening in a place already familiar to me, like a modified version of a house I have lived in, or a school I went to. Chang's writing style is so vivid however that she conjures up the whole world in your head. Despite having never visited Wisconsin (or the States at all for that matter), the setting felt so real to me, and was the perfect backdrop against which to explore the simmering family drama.

With sincere thanks to W. W. Norton & NetGalley for the ARC.

What a family!!
The narrator was really good and the story had some funny moments, some frustrating moments and some really sad family situations