Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim

I was pretty excited to read one of my favorite genres of books: magical realism, with a dash of foodie thrown into the mix. This delightful novel didn't disappoint and I loved everything about it. 

Natalie returns to her mother's apartment in San Francisco's Chinatown after learning her mother has died. Guilt-ridden at leaving home in anger years before, she's grieving over her lost relationship with her agoraphobic mother and isn't sure what her next move will be. A failure at cooking school, her desire is to open a restaurant just like her grandmother, Qiao. Her grandmother's restaurant was a pillar of the community, and when she died, Natalie's mother refused to keep the restaurant going. Over the years, a part of the Chinatown community started to die off, and now a greedy real estate agent wants to buy out the remaining families and turn it into a new hipster community. 

Natalie learns that she has inherited the apartment and restaurant below; her task: to reopen the restaurant using her Qiao's recipe book. But before she can do that, she has to cook for three members of the community in order for the restaurant to be successful and in doing that, revitalize the people and businesses around her. Not a small task! If she fails, the neighborhood is doomed. 

Qiao's recipes aren't just recipes, of course. They all mean something, whether it's giving courage, opening up hearts, or helping someone find their luck. After carefully visiting folks around the community, she creates her three recipes and invites them each for a meal. But what seems easy isn't so easy, and disaster soon strikes. 

How can Natalie save her dream of reopening the restaurant, make peace with the neighbors, and understand why her mother left Natalie's father a big secret?It seems like a lot, but it all comes together nicely--even a potential romance with Daniel. What I really enjoyed, besides the recipes, was the glimpse into Chinese culture. Natalie is throughly American, but she honors the traditions of her family and culture by respecting her elders, being humble, and seeing the signs all around her that most of us would usually ignore. Those traditions and Chinese mythology made what could have been just a regular ho-hum contemporary story into a very enjoyable, thoroughly charming, novel. I can't wait to read more from Roselle Lim. 

Rating: 5/6 for novel with a dash of magic, mythology, romance, food, and tradition. A young woman struggles to understand and make peace with her mother's passing, and in doing so, discovers more about herself than she could have ever imagined. It's all about dreams, love, hope, and determination.

Available in paperback, audio, and ebook.

Komentar

Posting Komentar

Postingan populer dari blog ini

The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins

Gambar
Well, this book was charming for me. A quick read that hopefully is the beginning of a series of tales about the people in Dove Pond, North Carolina.  Karen Hawkins is a romance author, and when I first saw this book, I knew her name was familiar to me-probably because I shelved her romances for years while I worked at B&N! But, fear not. Yes there is some romance in this novel, but it most definitely isn't a romance novel. More of a feel good, Sweet Home Alabama-Reece Witherspoon-ish kind of novel. Yes, it could find a place on the Hallmark Channel. That being said, I'm not a huge fan of Hallmark movies, in that they just are a little too perfect. The folks in Dove Pond, and the two lead female characters, most definitely aren't perfect.  Sarah Dove comes from a long line of women who have special talents. Sarah's talent is one that I think every book lover would wish for themselves: the books talk to her and tell her who they should go to next. Sarah hears them, l
Baca selengkapnya

Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown

Gambar
I zipped through this novel in a day--my first of 2020. It read very quickly, and I had a hard time putting it down.  Why was it so compelling? I'm not sure. It's a dual storyline, between two women: Nellie in 1956, and Alice in 2018. Both are living in the same home, and married. Nellie is married to a man who swept her off her feet, and she quickly realizes he's not a nice man. Not nice at all. He wants a wife who is pretty, looks perfect all the time, cooks, cleans, and has babies. He's not afraid to use some physical force to keep her in line.  Alice is a modern woman, who recently left her job in New York City under a cloud--although she's kept that bit of information from her husband Nate. He thinks she quit. Nate wants to move out of the city and start a family in a home set in the suburbs. Alice, very reluctantly, agrees. She's a big city lady, and used to working a lot. Nate makes enough money that she can stay home and write her novel. Alice and Nate b
Baca selengkapnya

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

Gambar
This was a powerful novel, and if not for folks around me talking about it, I probably would have passed it by.  However, fate intervened, and I'm happy to have spent the time reading about Jende and Neni Jonga's experience as immigrants in America.  There is so much to talk about, it is definitely a novel you'll want to discuss with friends.  Jende is a native of Cameroon, and is living in New York City with his wife Neni and their young son, Liomi.  Jende had arrived in New York City alone, and spent a few years working hard, scraping up enough money to marry Neni and bring her to America.  His dream was to leave Cameroon, where opportunities to succeed were slim to none.  Jende is extremely hard working, of noble character, and polite to a fault.  He's also living in the U.S. without a green card, and an expired visa.   Jende's chance to make a huge leap in providing for his family comes when he's offered a job as the chauffeur to Clark Edwards, an executive
Baca selengkapnya