Homeseeking

August 1, 2024

Chen, editor in chief of Hyphen magazine and former senior fiction editor at The Rumpus, debuts with a novel she spent a decade writing. As it explores the Chinese diaspora and the lives of two lovers, the narrative spans 60 years and moves between Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Los Angeles. Prepub Alert.

Copyright 2024 Library Journal

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 28, 2024
In this sweeping and heart-rending debut, Chen brings to life more than 60 years of Chinese history through the tale of childhood sweethearts separated by war and reunited decades later in America. Haiwen, a recent widower, and Suchi, who helps raise her grandkids, cross paths while shopping in 2008 Los Angeles. The two first met as kindergartners in 1930s Shanghai and fell in love as teenagers but were separated by the war between Mao’s Communists and Chiang Kai Shek’s Nationalists. In the historical timeline, Haiwen enlists in the Nationalist army in a misguided effort to help his family, a decision that will tragically reverberate through succeeding generations. Suchi, meanwhile, is sent to Hong Kong with her older sister to escape the war. At times, Chen relies too much on expositional dialogue to capture historical nuances, such as mainlander suppression of native Taiwanese culture, but in tracing Haiwen’s and Suchi’s diverging paths, she conveys the breadth of their sacrifices, making their eventual reunion all the more poignant. As she writes about Suchi’s realizations: “Home wasn’t a place.... It was people who shared the same ghosts as you, of folks long gone, of places long disappeared.” For the most part, Chen scales the heights of her ambition. Agent: Michelle Brower, Trellis Literary Management.

Starred review from November 1, 2024
Major political, military, and economic events in 20th-century China affect the lives and romance of two Shanghainese over many decades. By moving around in time and place--including Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the U.S. from 1938 to 2008--Chen illuminates the parallels and relationships among key moments in China's recent history. Intertwining the macro and micro, she makes readers care deeply about the impact of history on her characters' very private lives. Even the characters' names change to denote their code-switching based on geography and situation. Star-crossed lovers Suchi and Haiwen meet as first graders in pre-WWII Japanese-occupied Shanghai. A family crisis caused by Shanghai's shifting politics forces Haiwen to enlist in the Nationalist Army in 1947, before he can propose to Suchi. After Mao's defeat of Chiang Kai-shek, Suchi lands in Hong Kong, and Haiwen in Taiwan; they meet briefly in the 1960s and do not communicate again until they cross paths in 2008 Los Angeles. Though they follow different paths and marry other people, they remain emotionally "tethered to each other," as predicted in 1945 by a fortune teller who also described the concept of "mingyun"--a person's "personal destiny" as determined by a combination of their intrinsic nature and chosen actions--which is so important to the story. Chen avoids romanticizing or demonizing any of her characters. Nuances of class and ethnicity, as well as political identity, come to life as she digs into crevices of ambivalence and muddled motivation. Suchi marries out of financial desperation. Haiwen abandons his passion for the violin to fight for a cause he knows is lost. Suchi's father, a bookstore owner with progressive ideals, finds himself disillusioned once the Communists he backs take over. Haiwen's cosmopolitan, Anglophile parents are vilified by both Nationalists and Communists. This is historical fiction at its most effective. Romantic lyricism and hard-edged realism merge in this compelling novel.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2024
From heart-wrenching regrets to breathtaking redemptions, Chen's debut novel seamlessly crosses geographical, cultural, and temporal barriers to deliver a love story that touches all extremes of the human condition. Jumping back and forth in time, Homeseeking follows Haiwen and Suchi as they grow up in war-torn Shanghai, become separated by forces beyond themselves, and re-encounter years later in the U.S. While their love strings the story together, the novel is also notable for an all-encompassing portrayal of many types of love--for family, country, memories, music, and even ideologies. A true saga, it pits fate against choice without declaring a winner, allowing compassion and forgiveness to arise despite the worst betrayals. Chen's storytelling focuses on the Chinese diaspora through major historical events, encouraging readers to rethink ideas surrounding foreignness and to better recognize the diversity that exists within this diaspora. A compelling page-turner, Homeseeking offers a strong sense of longing for characters who wish to return, to change, to ask, "Do you ever wonder what our lives would have been like, if only?"

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.