Jean Kwok might be my all-time favorite author that I have met in person. She is funny, engaging and humble. I was enamored her life story and what inspired her books. Kwok is a first-generation immigrant from Hong Kong. She is the youngest of seven and worked in a clothing factory from a young age to help provide for the family. She considers her family a 'traditional' Chinese family and, in that sense, her dreaming of going to college vs. marrying and having children was not well accepted. Her books are loosely influenced by her lived experiences, and I felt like I picked out pieces of Kwok's life in The Leftover Woman. I am looking forward to reading her backlist books: Girl in Translation and Searching for Sylvie Lee.
Interesting fact: Girl in Translation is on the banned booklist. It was loosely based on Kwok's childhood, which had me reflecting on how it would feel to basically be told your life story isn't appropriate to share. Shouldn't that mean it is all the more important to share?
Synopsis:
Two very different women, but with one child in common, find that the pulls of motherhood draw them together. Jasmine Yang arrives in New York after running from her abusive husband in China, searching for the daughter she thought was dead. Rebecca Whitney is struggling to keep up the appearances that she has it all: loving husband, successful job, beautiful home and darling adoptive daughter. She hires a Chinese nanny to help her balance the demands of being a working mother. Their stories collide in the most unexpected way, with both women realizing they are not that different than they seem.
Review:
The Leftover Woman is told from two points of view: birth mother and adopted mother. Both women essentially grapple with the same things: feeling unseen, unheard and not good enough in their respective 'roles.' Their stories collide in a way that I did not see coming. I swear, I did not see the twist at the end of Part 2 coming and my mouth was hanging open in shock.
Books with plotlines about motherhood always draw me in. This one had me intrigued from the beginning, given its suspenseful plotline and the child these two women had in common. For as different as Jasmine and Rebecca appeared to be, they had much more in common than what meets the eye. As do most women, especially those with children. We can all connect over the feeling of being in over our heads, balancing too many roles at once, having to be everything for everyone in our lives while we run on fumes and have nothing left to give to ourselves. I could completely relate to both women in this sense.
The Leftover Woman is fast paced and sheds light on what it means to be an immigrant in the US with nothing to your name. I do wish that the main characters were fleshed out a bit more, but that is because I tend to prefer good character development to an interesting plot. There was enough to keep me going to unravel what would happen between Jasmine, Rebecca and the child they shared.
Content warning: domestic abuse, depiction of sex worker industry, racism, classism, forced adoption/death of child
Rating:
4 stars
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