“Ann Mah’s Kitchen Chinese is a delicious debut novel, seasoned with just the right balance of humor and heart, and sprinkled with fascinating cultural tidbits.”
—Claire Cook, bestselling author of Must Love Dogs
Kitchen Chinese
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
After her magazine career craters, Isabelle Lee, the narrator of Mah's super sharp debut, leaves New York to reconnect with her family roots in China. Her familiarity with the language and culture limited to kitchen Chinese, Isabelle lands a job at a magazine for the expatriate community in Beijing and finds a circle of friends. However, her relationship with her big-shot attorney sister, Claire, who's lived in China for a while, gets off to a rocky start, with the two not knowing quite what to make of each other. Isabelle's Beijing immersion, coupled with her chick lit arc, provides a refreshing and fun narrative, helped along by a fantastic heroine whose insights into modern China and the expatriate experience will intrigue readers. It's a great start for a writer with much promise. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
After getting fired from her job and being dumped by her boyfriend, Chinese American Isabelle Lee decides to leave New York for Beijing in the hope of reigniting her stalled journalism career. She moves in with her older sister, Claire, a studious lawyer turned glamorous expat dating a powerful, married man. After failing to score a job at one of the high-profile foreign bureaus, Isabelle settles for a job as a food critic at an expat magazine called Beijing NOW. As she settles into her new job, Isabelle draws the attention of two men: a dashing Chinese pop star named Jeff and her charming neighbor Charlie, who works at the American Embassy. Though she’s taken with both, Jeff’s attentions threaten to cost her an important story for the magazine. The vibrant depiction of Beijing, lush descriptions of sumptuous Chinese meals, and Isabelle’s struggle with how others perceive her distinguish Mah’s first novel. --Kristine Huntley
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More About the Author
Ann Mah is a food and travel writer and author of a food memoir, Mastering the Art of French Eating, coming from Viking Penguin in September 2013, and a novel, Kitchen Chinese (HarperCollins). Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, Condé Nast Traveler, the International Herald Tribune, South China Morning Post, Fodor's guides, and other publications. Born in Orange County, California, Ann began her career in book publishing after graduating from UCLA. In 2005, she was awarded a James Beard Foundation culinary scholarship to study in Bologna, Italy. She currently divides her time between Paris -- where she has lived since 2008 -- and New York City. Visit www.annmah.net.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By abramowo
Format:Paperback
This book just shot up to be one of my favorites. As someone who has worked in China and is a big fan of all its many types of food, I can definitely say this work is a perfect mix of great reading, interesting facts, and with a story that keeps you up all night just to see what happens next.
I think the book fills a real void in something that I'm always interested in hearing about: what is it like for someone coming from another country to experience the "real China?" Too many books focus on China's history, politics, foreign relations, etc. This work, however, allows the reader to really "feel" what it is like to live as someone who has just landed, unprepared, and is thrown into the wild new world of emerging Beijing.
Mah has an excellent knack for pulling in the reader. This books is one of those reads that makes me pass up on heading out of my house just so I can read another chapter. The author's descriptions of sights, smells, and people is spot on. You can't get a better understanding of what's it's like in Beijing!
The recipes leave your mouth watering and the story as a whole is fun. The main character is hilarious and her experiences as a transplanted New Yorker are fantastic. I think this should be required reading for anyone heading to China or anyone who wants to know what it's like to live overseas.
I think the book fills a real void in something that I'm always interested in hearing about: what is it like for someone coming from another country to experience the "real China?" Too many books focus on China's history, politics, foreign relations, etc. This work, however, allows the reader to really "feel" what it is like to live as someone who has just landed, unprepared, and is thrown into the wild new world of emerging Beijing.
Mah has an excellent knack for pulling in the reader. This books is one of those reads that makes me pass up on heading out of my house just so I can read another chapter. The author's descriptions of sights, smells, and people is spot on. You can't get a better understanding of what's it's like in Beijing!
The recipes leave your mouth watering and the story as a whole is fun. The main character is hilarious and her experiences as a transplanted New Yorker are fantastic. I think this should be required reading for anyone heading to China or anyone who wants to know what it's like to live overseas.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Toffee
Format:Paperback
It's been a while where a book captured my attention and stuck with me like this one did. I picked it up on a new release table and tossed it into my bag to read during an air flight. Well, I didn't want to stop reading even after my flight landed. Her voice reminds me some of Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones and perhaps, I could really relate to her as I am Chinese American also. The descriptions are intriguing and the characters are often funny and flawed. Some parts could have flowed a bit better transition wise, but overall the story was captivating. Her depiction of the expat life of her glamorous sister and pals was well done as well as the lives of her free spirited and fun loving colleagues from work. Hope Ms Mah writes more books...I am a fan!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By M. Gee
Format:Paperback
I agree with the review that this book is more suited for a younger crowd and the plot comes across as juvenile. Needing a book for a long flight, I picked this book up in Asia (can't believe what I paid, but I needed *a* book). Based on the title, I was hoping that it would mainly focus on food, yet it turned out more to be a chick-lit book with a simple plot and one-dimensional characters.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By David Lynn
Format:Paperback
An overall enjoyable read... Having spent a year in China, I recalled many of my own experiences and impressions as Ann Mah's characters navigate the joys and challenges of living there. While the country's diverse cuisine is a reoccurring theme throughout the novel, the main character's cultural awakening and self-discovery is what fuels this page-turner. This book is largely about the search identity and the author presents this through a convincing multi-layered journey that exposes the reader to the enthralling complexity of life in modern China.
While the use of food helps to enliven the storyline, it offers outstanding insight into an aspect of Chinese culture that is as diverse and complex as Mah's characters. The descriptions of the various dishes are presented like an endless buffet, taking the reader on a culinary journey throughout the various regions of the country. I was impressed to see several personal, yet lesser known, favorites mentioned like jianbing and Yunnan cheese. BE WARNED: If you've ever experienced Chinese cuisine in China, reading the descriptions in this book will probably convince you to return sooner than anticipated.
The author's modest inclusion of pinyin (phonetic Chinese) will certainly serve as a refresher for anyone who has tried using it, but is not overused in a way that would seem threatening to someone who hasn't. While the novel is written from a female perspective, it remains approachable to all readers and is actually quite insightful. There is a gentle humor throughout the book that helps carry the flow of the story and humanize the characters. While there were a few aspects of the plot that stretched the imagination, this never distracted from the overall reading enjoyment.... Read more ›
While the use of food helps to enliven the storyline, it offers outstanding insight into an aspect of Chinese culture that is as diverse and complex as Mah's characters. The descriptions of the various dishes are presented like an endless buffet, taking the reader on a culinary journey throughout the various regions of the country. I was impressed to see several personal, yet lesser known, favorites mentioned like jianbing and Yunnan cheese. BE WARNED: If you've ever experienced Chinese cuisine in China, reading the descriptions in this book will probably convince you to return sooner than anticipated.
The author's modest inclusion of pinyin (phonetic Chinese) will certainly serve as a refresher for anyone who has tried using it, but is not overused in a way that would seem threatening to someone who hasn't. While the novel is written from a female perspective, it remains approachable to all readers and is actually quite insightful. There is a gentle humor throughout the book that helps carry the flow of the story and humanize the characters. While there were a few aspects of the plot that stretched the imagination, this never distracted from the overall reading enjoyment.... Read more ›
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Very light summer reading. I enjoyed a book not full of embarrassing sex, so that I can actually share this book with everyone. I look forward to more by this author. I also wonder how much her editor chopped since it comes complete with a guide. Learning my own 'kitchen Chinese' added to the enjoyment. My book club had a nice chat about the novel.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By C. Fong
Format:Paperback
I agree with one of the previous reviews that Kitchen Chinese has some similarities with Bridget Jones' diary. For example, they both feature witty, self-deprecating protagonists who have dating mishaps, career ups and downs and sometimes find themselves in ridiculous situations. It makes for a fun, quick read (I just finished reading it for a second time). But I think that Kitchen Chinese has a lot more depth and deals with issues that the Bridget Jones genre normally doesn't. Some of the issues that are prominent in the book include being the child of an immigrant - and the cultural norms and expectations that can go along with that - and finding one's own identity in a foreign country that also happens to be the birthplace of a parent. On top of that, the food writing is amazing. Makes me want to pack up my bags and move to China!
I really liked this book and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading about food, travel, being a first generation American, and young people trying to find their way in their career and love life.
I really liked this book and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading about food, travel, being a first generation American, and young people trying to find their way in their career and love life.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
This was a fun book
This was a book you didn't want to put down. It gives you a interesting perspective on the life of people of different ethnic origins living in US and how they feel. Read more
Published 3 months ago by merle
4.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable read!
“My first meal in Beijing is roasted duck, or kaoya as it’s called in Chinese. Glossy and brown, with crisp skin and meltingly moist flesh, the bird is cut into over one hundred... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Suzanne Dobbins
2.0 out of 5 stars
Didn't live up to its potential
Interesting premise but this ended up being a pretty lacking novel. The writing was quite juvenile and so was the plot. Read more
Published 3 months ago by cat
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good description of expat life in China
I would have loved if the descriptions of food were a little more elaborate, but overall it is a very good read. Enjoyed it thoroughly.
Published 3 months ago by M. Basu
5.0 out of 5 stars
Right Translation?
Experience that when one door closes, another opens if one feels brave enough to go into the unknown. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Ginger
4.0 out of 5 stars
Are We Who We Perceive Ourselves to Be?
In author Ann Mah's first novel, KITCHEN CHINESE, the main character gets fired
from her job and dumped by her boyfriend of eighteen months--all in the same week. Read more
from her job and dumped by her boyfriend of eighteen months--all in the same week. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Cybergirl
4.0 out of 5 stars
Chinese Kitchen
This was a good sister book. There was enough cultural information contained in the book to also make the story interesting.
Published 12 months ago by Booklover
5.0 out of 5 stars
Delicious but more about the story than the food.
Made me slightly hungry but the story was more tasty than any food item talked about. I made every lady in the family read this one. It was a good one.
Published 14 months ago by J. Tsui
5.0 out of 5 stars
very cute
Kitchen Chinese is a novel of 339 pages plus 17 pages of extras that include recipes, an interview with the author, and a reading group guide. Read more
Published 18 months ago by bookchic
5.0 out of 5 stars
great writing, very funny
This quickly became one of my favorite books and I will buy it for all of my friends. Humorous and intelligent. Simply fantastic.
It was such a pleasure to read. Read more
It was such a pleasure to read. Read more
Published 22 months ago by amp123
