The Expatriates

By Janice Y. K. Lee

The Expatriates - Janice Y. K. Lee
  • Release Date: 2016-01-12
  • Genre: Literary Fiction
Score: 4
4
From 329 Ratings

Description

THE INSPIRATION FOR EXPATS—AN ORIGINAL SERIES STARRING NICOLE KIDMAN—NOW STREAMING ON PRIME VIDEO

“Devastating and heartwarming, and exquisite in every way, this is a book you’ll fall deeply in love with and never want to put down.”Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians
 
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Piano Teacher, a searing novel of marriage, motherhood, and the search for connection far from home.

In the glittering city of Hong Kong, expats arrive daily for myriad reasons—to find or lose themselves in a foreign place, and to forget or remake themselves far from home. Amidst this hothouse atmosphere, a tragic incident causes three American women’s lives to collide in ways that will rewrite every assumption of their privileged world: Mercy, a young Korean American and recent Columbia graduate, once again finds herself compromised and adrift, trying to start her life anew; Hilary, a wealthy housewife, is haunted by her struggle to have a child, hoping to save her uncertain marriage; meanwhile, Margaret, once the enviable mother of three, tries to negotiate an existence that has become utterly unrecognizable after a catastrophic event. Faced with unthinkable choices, these three women form a profound connection that defies the norms of the sequestered community—finding in each other a strength borne of need, forgiveness, and ultimately hope.  

Atmospheric and utterly compelling, The Expatriates showcases Lee’s exceptional talent as one of our keenest observers of women’s inner lives.

Reviews

  • Mothers

    5
    By Peggy Padelt
    A loving and caring story about Mothers, children and forgiving. She has written a beautiful saga of women's life's intertwining. I of course understand how she ended this story, but I was sad nonetheless that it did.
  • Highbrow chick lit

    3
    By voxdeae117
    Part of what might be called a genre of chick lit written by extremely high-achieving women, usually with former backgrounds in demanding corporate jobs. The writing is almost predictably good, the kind an Ivy League professor loves to grade as "A" (not A-!). But the precision of description struck me as overly conscientious. The most convincing parts was the description of high-end expat life which the author, as the wife of a senior financier, is probably better placed than anyone to discuss, and the escalation of Margaret's conflicted grief. I did wish for a bit more snark in the former, bur overall very well done. The weak points was Mercy (who comes off as a pallid knockoff of Minjin Lee's "Casey" character in Free Food for Millionaires) and Hilary, who struggles with childlessness does not really ring true. It felt as if the author was merely transcribing secondhand the experiences of someone who has had fertility issues. Above all the ending's sentimentality compromises the quality of the book - it would have been stronger without the epilogue.
  • Brilliant

    5
    By Aisan pickle
    Avid reader! Did not want this book to end.