Number One Chinese Restaurant: A Novel
Named a Must-Read by TIME, Buzzfeed, The Wall Street Journal, Star Tribune, Fast Company, The Village Voice, Toronto Star, Fortune Magazine, InStyle, and O, The Oprah Magazine
A joy to read--I couldn't get enough.
--Buzzfeed
--Chang-rae Lee, New York Times bestselling author of Native Speaker An exuberant and wise multigenerational debut novel about the complicated lives and loves of people working in everyone's favorite Chinese restaurant. The Beijing Duck House in Rockville, Maryland, is not only a beloved go-to setting for hunger pangs and celebrations; it is its own world, inhabited by waiters and kitchen staff who have been fighting, loving, and aging within its walls for decades. When disaster strikes, this working family's controlled chaos is set loose, forcing each character to confront the conflicts that fast-paced restaurant life has kept at bay. Owner Jimmy Han hopes to leave his late father's homespun establishment for a fancier one. Jimmy's older brother, Johnny, and Johnny's daughter, Annie, ache to return to a time before a father's absence and a teenager's silence pushed them apart. Nan and Ah-Jack, longtime Duck House employees, are tempted to turn their thirty-year friendship into something else, even as Nan's son, Pat, struggles to stay out of trouble. And when Pat and Annie, caught in a mix of youthful lust and boredom, find themselves in a dangerous game that implicates them in the Duck House tragedy, their families must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice to help their children. Generous in spirit, unaffected in its intelligence, multi-voiced, poignant, and darkly funny, Number One Chinese Restaurant looks beyond red tablecloths and silkscreen murals to share an unforgettable story about youth and aging, parents and children, and all the ways that our families destroy us while also keeping us grounded and alive.
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Community Reviews
thenextgoodbook.com
Number One Chinese Restaurant by Lillian Li
288 pages
What’s it about?
The Beijing Duck House in Rockville Maryland has been a family owned restaurant and a community institution for thirty years. The Han family has owned and operated the restaurant since sons Jimmy and Johnny were kids. Jimmy has aspirations to move on and open a fancier Asian inspired establishment- but how can he make that happen?
What did it make me think about?
Not much! This was just a fun beach read with a cast of characters that kept the story moving.
Should I read it?
This book was not my favorite but it was a quick, easy book. I just did not find myself overly enchanted with any of the characters in this book. However, it was well-written and would make a good book for the plane or the beach.
Quote-
“Americans. They believed that a strong marriage came from knowing their partner’s every shadowy thought. But it was knowing too much that killed love. A strong marriage came when the wedded stopped trying to pump their partner’s depths. Life became easier when one passed the years with an amiable stranger and not a mirror that reflected back one’s flaws.”
If you like this try-
The Nest by Cynthia D''Aprix Sweeney
The Wangs vs. the World by Jade Chang
Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
Number One Chinese Restaurant by Lillian Li
288 pages
What’s it about?
The Beijing Duck House in Rockville Maryland has been a family owned restaurant and a community institution for thirty years. The Han family has owned and operated the restaurant since sons Jimmy and Johnny were kids. Jimmy has aspirations to move on and open a fancier Asian inspired establishment- but how can he make that happen?
What did it make me think about?
Not much! This was just a fun beach read with a cast of characters that kept the story moving.
Should I read it?
This book was not my favorite but it was a quick, easy book. I just did not find myself overly enchanted with any of the characters in this book. However, it was well-written and would make a good book for the plane or the beach.
Quote-
“Americans. They believed that a strong marriage came from knowing their partner’s every shadowy thought. But it was knowing too much that killed love. A strong marriage came when the wedded stopped trying to pump their partner’s depths. Life became easier when one passed the years with an amiable stranger and not a mirror that reflected back one’s flaws.”
If you like this try-
The Nest by Cynthia D''Aprix Sweeney
The Wangs vs. the World by Jade Chang
Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
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