A Quitter's Paradise

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The author uses the same things I've seen in other books -- the children assume their family debt, parents pressure them to pay as well show respect with dignity while paying these bills; don't complain or bring shame -- not further shame, just shame to the family.

I found this book on NetGalley and decided to give it a try because it was available in my region and I didn't need to apply to get approved for a copy. The death of Eleanor’s mother has her questioning everything—her childhood, her marriage, her career. Penny, Eleanor’s former supervisor, disapproves of the arrangement because she believes Eleanor is a good scientist who’s not living up to her potential. We follow mostly along with Eleanor, whose mother has recently passed, but we flip back and forth between present day and growing up.Eleanor, however, is comfortable and thinks to herself, “Yes, I have had to face the fact that I quit. Rather than confront her grief and the ways she’s complicated her own life, she allows her actions to put her job and relationship in jeopardy. Growing up, Eleanor learned to be quiet and obedient, immersing herself in schoolwork and reading (similar to how the ancient scholars immersed themselves in their studies) — not because she particularly enjoyed either activity, but because that was the only way she could be left alone.

As grief isn't relentless, its fragments are scattered throughout the story, reminding ones the several facets of this sentiment. Now that her mother is gone, Eleanor—who acknowledges how much her mother’s approval and disapproval influenced her choices—must consider how to live her life and make sense of it on her own.

The present time storyline was definitely more engaging, and I wished the book had focused more on that (Eleanor's relationship with her husband, her affair with their co-worker Samir, and the rodent she stole from the lab). Summer’s here, the days are longer, and we’re delivering lots of Poured Over Double Shot episodes to help you plan your summer reading, starting with Jonathan Eig and Héctor Tobar on June 1st. Meanwhile, glimpses of Eleanor's childhood and family history in Taiwan unfurl, revealing long-held secrets, and Eleanor starts to realize that she will never be able to escape her grief, or her family, despite her wildest attempts.

I’m excited and honored to publish A Quitter’s Paradise, the debut novel by standout literary talent Elysha Chang. The writing was very good however, and I would definitely read another book by this author with a more linear storyline. Eleanor was the most interesting character in all of this, as the background noise of her family’s immigration only makes what is happening to her—and the family—as a whole even sadder. But it could be because I preferred the past timeline over the present one, so I was more interested in how that played out. In terms of story arc, the first two-thirds or so was quite strong and kept me engaged, but then the last third of the story got a bit muddled and abstract, to the point that, in the end, I felt lost and was no longer sure I knew where the author was trying to go with the story.We also follow from the viewpoints of each of her parents in Taipei before they came to the US, before having had any children, and from Eleanor's sister's vantage point. I personally struggle with litfic that isn’t really plot driven — although I did love the writing style and flow of the book through different perspectives. A bittersweet family saga about a young woman from a second generation immigrant family coping with her mother’s death. In 2013 New York City, Eleanor Liu is on track to fulfill her late mother Rita’s low expectations, having dropped out of a neuroscience graduate program to work in her classmate-turned-husband’s lab. What do you inherit from a mother who refused to make herself known, even to the people she loved most?