NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • Awitty, moving, piercingly insightful new novel about a marvelously complicated woman who can’t be anyone but herself, from the award-winning author of Chemistry
“A deeply felt portrait . . . With gimlet-eyed observation laced with darkly biting wit, Weike Wang masterfully probes the existential uncertainty of being other in America.”—Celeste Ng, author of Little Fires Everywhere
Joan is a thirtysomething ICU doctor at a busy New York City hospital. The daughter of Chinese parents who came to the United States to secure the American dream for their children, Joan is intensely devoted to her work, happily solitary, successful. She does look up sometimes and wonder where her true roots lie: at the hospital, where her white coat makes her feel needed, or with her family, who try to shape her life by their own cultural and social expectations.
Once Joan and her brother, Fang, were established in their careers, her parents moved back to China, hoping to spend the rest of their lives in their homeland. But when Joan’s father suddenly dies and her mother returns to America to reconnect with her children, a series of events sends Joan spiraling out of her comfort zone just as her hospital, her city, and the world are forced to reckon with a health crisis more devastating than anyone could have imagined.
Deceptively spare yet quietly powerful, laced with sharp humor, Joan Is Okay touches on matters that feel deeply resonant: being Chinese-American right now; working in medicine at a high-stakes time; finding one’s voice within a dominant culture; being a woman in a male-dominated workplace; and staying independent within a tight-knit family. But above all, it’s a portrait of one remarkable woman so surprising that you can’t get her out of your head.
Genre: Literary Fiction
“A deeply felt portrait . . . With gimlet-eyed observation laced with darkly biting wit, Weike Wang masterfully probes the existential uncertainty of being other in America.”—Celeste Ng, author of Little Fires Everywhere
Joan is a thirtysomething ICU doctor at a busy New York City hospital. The daughter of Chinese parents who came to the United States to secure the American dream for their children, Joan is intensely devoted to her work, happily solitary, successful. She does look up sometimes and wonder where her true roots lie: at the hospital, where her white coat makes her feel needed, or with her family, who try to shape her life by their own cultural and social expectations.
Once Joan and her brother, Fang, were established in their careers, her parents moved back to China, hoping to spend the rest of their lives in their homeland. But when Joan’s father suddenly dies and her mother returns to America to reconnect with her children, a series of events sends Joan spiraling out of her comfort zone just as her hospital, her city, and the world are forced to reckon with a health crisis more devastating than anyone could have imagined.
Deceptively spare yet quietly powerful, laced with sharp humor, Joan Is Okay touches on matters that feel deeply resonant: being Chinese-American right now; working in medicine at a high-stakes time; finding one’s voice within a dominant culture; being a woman in a male-dominated workplace; and staying independent within a tight-knit family. But above all, it’s a portrait of one remarkable woman so surprising that you can’t get her out of your head.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"Engrossing . . . Joan is fine; the problem is other people. I loved this book and didn't want it to end." - Marcy Dermansky
"Weike Wang takes us into the heart of the matter: death, dysfunction, xenophobia, misogyny, and the chronic misapprehension that passes between people of good intentions. The miracle that emerges, then, is just how funny this book is, how compassionate and visionary." - Joshua Ferris
"Unflinchingly, Joan Is Okay challenges some of our fundamental views on home, belonging, family. A smart, quietly engaging novel that is also warm and moving." - Ha Jin
"Brilliant, subtly powerful, and different - in the best way." - Rachel Khong
"Joan is a character I will be thinking about for a long time to come. I could not put this book down." - Angie Kim
"I am staggered by Weike Wang's humor, heart, and brilliance. I loved Joan and I am pressing this book into your hands." - Lily King
"Full of sly wit, off-kilter observations, and misanthropic poetry. Readers will find in Joan a kindred soul." - Lillian Li
"A deeply felt portrait . . . With gimlet-eyed observation laced with darkly biting wit, Weike Wang masterfully probes the existential uncertainty of being other in America." - Celeste Ng
"Incisive yet tender, written with elegant style and delicious verve. Joan isn't just okay, she's wonderful. I could listen to her smart, witty voice forever." - Sigrid Nunez
"This is an Asian American novel like no other, set in the heart of the pandemic, in the city I call home. Joan is my hero." - Ed Park
"Joan is the perfect guide for our troubled times. I was left circling sentence after sentence." - Heidi Pitlor
"Scathingly witty . . . Wang is wonderful at understated sadness presented without a twinge of self-pity." - Jim Shepard
"Joan Is Okay charts the internal story of the mythic immigrant success narrative in a tragicomedy about the costs of generational betterment." - Mona Simpson
"Brilliant, precise, excruciatingly funny . . . Joan wins your deepest admiration at the same time as her vulnerability breaks your heart." - Lara Vapnyar
"This novel made me laugh, think, feel a bunch of things, laugh some more. And then, when I was least expecting, it snuck up and kicked me in the gut so hard I cried. Joan's voice and world view are hard to shake, and Weike Wang's writing is immensely rewarding and enjoyable. I really, really didn't want this book to end." - Charles Yu
"Weike Wang takes us into the heart of the matter: death, dysfunction, xenophobia, misogyny, and the chronic misapprehension that passes between people of good intentions. The miracle that emerges, then, is just how funny this book is, how compassionate and visionary." - Joshua Ferris
"Unflinchingly, Joan Is Okay challenges some of our fundamental views on home, belonging, family. A smart, quietly engaging novel that is also warm and moving." - Ha Jin
"Brilliant, subtly powerful, and different - in the best way." - Rachel Khong
"Joan is a character I will be thinking about for a long time to come. I could not put this book down." - Angie Kim
"I am staggered by Weike Wang's humor, heart, and brilliance. I loved Joan and I am pressing this book into your hands." - Lily King
"Full of sly wit, off-kilter observations, and misanthropic poetry. Readers will find in Joan a kindred soul." - Lillian Li
"A deeply felt portrait . . . With gimlet-eyed observation laced with darkly biting wit, Weike Wang masterfully probes the existential uncertainty of being other in America." - Celeste Ng
"Incisive yet tender, written with elegant style and delicious verve. Joan isn't just okay, she's wonderful. I could listen to her smart, witty voice forever." - Sigrid Nunez
"This is an Asian American novel like no other, set in the heart of the pandemic, in the city I call home. Joan is my hero." - Ed Park
"Joan is the perfect guide for our troubled times. I was left circling sentence after sentence." - Heidi Pitlor
"Scathingly witty . . . Wang is wonderful at understated sadness presented without a twinge of self-pity." - Jim Shepard
"Joan Is Okay charts the internal story of the mythic immigrant success narrative in a tragicomedy about the costs of generational betterment." - Mona Simpson
"Brilliant, precise, excruciatingly funny . . . Joan wins your deepest admiration at the same time as her vulnerability breaks your heart." - Lara Vapnyar
"This novel made me laugh, think, feel a bunch of things, laugh some more. And then, when I was least expecting, it snuck up and kicked me in the gut so hard I cried. Joan's voice and world view are hard to shake, and Weike Wang's writing is immensely rewarding and enjoyable. I really, really didn't want this book to end." - Charles Yu
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