From Publishers Weekly
Lee's debut novel is the heartfelt story of Hua Wu, a young Chinese immigrant who comes to New York City and serendipitously becomes a nanny to an adopted Chinese girl, Lily Templeton-Walker, after meeting her American mother, Jane, in the park. Hua becomes attached to the child and involved in the family, but is disturbed when she uncovers trouble in Jane's marriage. She begins to snoop around her employers' apartment hoping to discover the reason behind the turmoil; the more she finds the more she fears what will happen if Lily's parents separate. This drama takes second stage when Hua meets Evan, the man with whom she wrongly assumed Jane was having an affair. Hua and Evan have an odd one-night stand, during which the author flashes back to Hua's sexual encounter with a teacher in China. Hua's memory of Teacher Zhang leads to a revelation about her past, which prompts Hua to attempt to protect Lily from the pain of her parents' conflict—a rare instance in which Hua takes action. Unfortunately, Lee's impassioned storytelling is unable to make up for prose that is at times overwritten and melodramatic. The passive and often stereotypical characters make this portrait of a Chinese immigrant feel simplistic and uninspired.
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Review
"A moving tale ... Wendy Lee's intentionally light hand allows for the showcasing of some very courageous and harrowing brush strokes." --
Porochista Khakpour, author of Sons and Other Flammable Objects"A quietly dangerous novel of domestic life ... sure-footed and unflinching, funny and smart--a remarkable first novel." --
Alexander Chee, author of Edinburgh"Beautifully written ... Told in lyrical prose and filled with surprising insights, this story is sure to dazzle readers and touch them deeply." --
John Searles, author of Boy Still Missing and Strange but True"Required reading...[a] moving debut." --
-Billy Heller, New York Post"Wendy Lee's moving and assured first novel unravels the tangled knot of international adoption to reveal its finest, most delicate threads." --
Dana Sachs, author of If You Lived Here: A Novel, and The House on Dream Street: Memoir of an American Woman in Vietnam"[A] sure-footed debut ... Hua, Lee's stranger in a strange land, speaks in a soft but firm voice from the ineradicable margin." --
Ed Park, author of Personal Days"Heartfelt....Impassioned storytelling" --
--Publishers Weekly"Resonates long after the last page." --
--Terry Hong, The Bloomsbury Review"Rich and multilayered, Lee's novel explores what it means to be a part of something, whether it's a family or a culture. Told in Hua's sparse, somber voice, the story grabs readers from the start and doesn't let go until the final page. A truly memorable first outing." --
--Kristine Huntley, Booklist (starred review)"Through Hua, Lee treats the moral and emotional ramifications of international adoption, as well as the contrast between adoption and immigration, with all the nuance they deserve. ... [Happy Family is] thoughtful and perceptive. [Lee] deals with a hot-button issue in a manner neither shy nor didactic, and she invests her characters with humanity when they might easily become sociological types. Happy Family is worth reading for those reasons alone, and serves as the debut of a writer who may well do great work later on." --
--Anna North, San Francisco Chronicle
