Customer Reviews

Sushi for One?

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I am not one who is drawn to the "chick-lit" format, but having seen Cami around on other blogs, Novel Journey, and the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers), I was curious about SUSHI FOR ONE. When I received it as part of a review group I belong to, and saw quotes like "hilarious romance" and "entertaining romp", I again sighed thinking I was in for a slap-stick comedy with no depth or true story. Let me say, I was pleasantly surprised! Though SUSHI FOR ONE does indeed have its humorous situations, the weight of the book deals with Lex Sakai, and how she deals with the interference of her extremely tight-knit family.

I really enjoyed the development of Lex's character, a women striving for independence in a culture where woman are expected to be marriage-minded. I'm so glad I was able to read this entertaining novel. This was a typical case of - Don't judge a book by its cover.

Lex Sakai is being tortured by her grandmother to find a husband or else her volleyball team will have to suffer. So now Lex has to find a boyfriend in a mere matter of weeks or else suffer the wrath of having no funds for the team. Everyone seems to want to set her up, from the losers her brother keeps pointing her towards to the guys who only want to get her because of her insider info to the latest game. Lex decides there must be a guy who meets every one of her requirements and plans to stick to her Ephesians list. Then she meets Aidan, who is everything NOT on her list, but seems to be everything that she wants. A wonderful story blending chick lit with Asian culture.

I have been dying to read this book since I first started visiting Camy Tang's blog. Being an Asian American myself, there are few choices even in mainstream for books written by Asian Americans, let alone in Christian fiction. So when I heard that there was going to be a Christian chick lit book written by an Asian American author, I nearly passed out. And this book definately made all my expectations and more. Even if you're not Asian, you will still be able to follow the story and you get to learn about new cultures as well. Some people might say there's some stereotyping in this book with the Asian culture. Well let me say that we really do act like this. I love how there's a distinction of two different types of Asian cultures in this book and it shows readers that Asian are not one big group to be lumped together. I love how Lex loves sports and is not afraid to let her sports knowledge show. There are lots of hilarious spots in this book, my favorite is cameo of the author herself involving a volleyball accident. However there are serious moments in this book as well which makes this story extremely well written. The book goes from downright hilarity to painful memories within the same chapter. I really felt for Lex in this book and enjoyed her adventure. The only negative thing I have about this book, and I'm sorry, but I don't like the grandmother. Why does she want to force Lex to get married? All her insults were really spiteful and I don't blame Lex at all for what she does near the end of the book. I'm hoping we learn why she acts like this so that I don't hate her for the rest of the series. And yes I cannot wait for the next book in the series to come out. An excellent debut, a wonderful cultural chick lit novel and an inspiration to aspiring Asian Americans writers!

Lex Sakai is an independent dependent woman who wants to have it all: a fulfilling job, coach of a winning volleyball team, and a place of her own. While Lex strives for these things, at the bottom of the totem pole is finding a man to marry, which is priority #1 for her grandmother. There is a big underlying reason for Lex not wanting a boyfriend, but the author literally spends exactly ONE page (if not less) on it and never integrates it into Lex for growth through the book. The premise of the story takes us through the trials of tough breaks, unfair treatment, and small victories for Lex. The time constrained rush of everything is caused by Lex's grandmother, who will pull funding for Lex's beloved junior high volleyball team if Lex does not find a REAL boyfriend by the time of Lex's cousin's wedding.

Although the storyline drew me in, the characters turned me off. Lex is an uncouth woman who barks at people rather than work with what she has. If Lex is so independent, why does she somehow expect Grandma to fund the team or Daddy to keep a roof over her head? And how does she attempt to break the stranglehold of Grandma's purse strings? By dating a man with money. Come on - what about fundraisers and soliciting businesses. With the people Lex did try and solicit, Grandma "got to them," and that reach no longer worked.

For a woman who wants to do it all on her own, she sure has a limited vision. The logic in the story seem plausible, but seriously, Lex lacks brains. She reminds me of the procrastinating college student who throws temper tantrums like a child when she doesn't get what she wants. Is there some justification to this behavior? Sure, but not in EVERY scene.

There is familial support that changes like a wayward wind. If we are to get a glimpse of Asian culture, I can tell you right now, I have YET to see an Asian grandmother use the ultimatum of disowning her son and grandson, Lex's dad and brother, to get Lex to search for a boyfriend. With the Asian families I know, none of them behave this way - give conditional support. For example, Lex's brother was willing to introduce her to whatever guy he knew or didn't know, in exchange for a new car from Grandma. It's ridiculous.

By the end of the story, there is really no character growth or any real life lessons won. Every character lacks any social graces or conscience except for perhaps, Aiden, the nice man who somehow sees light in Lex. Aiden does something underhanded to spare Lex, but she turns it into a personal affront where he should be sorry?

The book was not funny or inspiring and the references to Christianity seemed out of place, especially since it was a primary criterion for Lex's perfect man. Lex, herself, did not behave like with the daily values set of a Christian woman. The read is easy, but after reading "Sushi for One," I will be passing on any more books from Camy Tang if they are written like this.

I really wanted to like this book but...

The characters were two dimensional and I couldn't grow attached to any of them. I did like the love interest though. The author focused well on her two main characters but then seemed to have trouble utilizing the rest of them. The storyline was not compelling for me either. The story was based on Lex needing to find a boyfriend so that her grandmother wouldn't cut funding for the school volley ball team. The author barely focused any reading time on the volley ball team and so I struggled to even care about what happened to them. It seemed like since the whole book was about saving this team, that the author would have focused better on them. The storyline struggle for any focus. The book flitted from one topic to another and left me having a hard time caring about anything that was going on in Lex's life. I couldn't understand why Lex just didn't make up a boyfriend for her grandmother. It seems like it would have been simple enough for her to take one of her friends to family functions. I can understand where Lex wouldn't think that this is moral, but the fact that the idea never even crossed her mind seemed strange to me.

I could have handled all of the above flaws a lot better if I liked Lex. However, I found her to be one of the most annoying main characters that I have ever read about. She whined about everything. The book was a cycle of things going wrong for her and then her complaining about them. I understand that we all do this but the extent to which she did this was sickening. She also came off as extremely selfish. She was constantly asking people for help and then was rude to them when they did help her. She didn't handle it well when someone wasn't able to help her. The one time that she actually helped someone, she sulked and complained about it the whole time. She was rude at some point to every single person that she came in contact with. I couldn't for the life of me understand in the beginning why her love interest even liked her. She was rude to him for their first few encounters-especially their first encounter. He must have been glutton for punishment or something. I found it hard to relate to her. I, personally, am not a big sports fan and she was a major sports fan. I wish that the author would have included a few other interests of hers. That's just me personally though.

I skimmed this book and still felt like I wasted my time.

I read the book, and I agree with every point in the J. Lewis review. I disliked Lex; I could not understand what Aiden, the love interest, saw in her (other than he thought she was beautiful). While grandma was pure evil and should have been shunned from the family as a noxious individual, the rest of them weren't any better, including Lex. I've never "met" a more morally destitute bunch.

I kept reading the book hoping that Lex would actually grow spiritually (the "Ephesians list" is easily one of the most shallow and ill-conceived things I've ever read). In all the "Job-like" situations, where life is throwing one thing at her after another, she remains brittle - a whiney, angry, self-righteous, self-centered, pain in the rear. She is not joyful, admirable, or likeable at any level.

I picked this up when it first came out because the title caught my eye. (Where I come from raw fish is "bait", but friendly Yankees helped me learn to appreciate sushi.) Then when I looked it over, I found the premise intriguing enough to purchase but not quite intriguing enough to read because this man's man doesn't usually read romance novels or chick lit,...

as far as you know.

However, I quite recently gave in and read it, and, boy, am I ever glad that I did!

Lex Sakai is a disaster magnet, only some of which she arguably brings down upon herself. She's a control freak, she works in a place and with people that she loathes, she still lives with her family except for her mother who died of cancer, she drives a barely functioning POC, she has the temper not to mention the manners of a drill sergeant, she never dates, her only outlet for pleasure is playing and coaching volleyball, in four months she will officially become the Oldest Single Female Cousin in her extended Japanese-American family, and Grandmother, the (justly) feared matriarch of the clan, has decided that Lex needs to be pushed into getting married and is not above using a little extortion to get her way,...

make that a LOT of extortion.

Oh, did I also mention that she's a Christian in a family full of Buddhists? And the reason that she doesn't date is that she was raped about 8 years ago, told almost no one, and has yet to fully get over it?

As this description suggests, this novel shouldn't be funny at all, but like the similarly cascading disaster of a movie I stole my review title from, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, this novel is relentlessly, uproariously funny, as Lex desperately tries to foil her grandmother's plotting, fend off an endless line of sons, nephews, friends of friends, and other assorted losers, keep her life from spinning even further out of her control, and avoid falling for the one guy who seemingly lacks every quality on her list for an acceptable suitor. But Christians are supposed to give God control over their lives, and when all else fails, and Lex finally decides to try it, all those balls she has been trying and failing to juggle begin to fall into place, just not quite the way she figured.

Camy Tang is amazing; when things got the most stressful or moving for Lex, they also got the most hilarious. While reading so many scenes, I laughed 'til I cried....

Well, I didn't actually CRY, of course, man's man and all that you know.

Of course it is obvious early on how this is all going to turn out, though not to the protagonists, but the fun comes in how Camy Tang gets us there. She kept me guessing 'til the end.

The only bad thing about this novel is the fact that it is the first book in a series; now that I am well and truly hooked, I shall be compelled to read the rest: Only Uni, Single Sashimi, and Weddings and Wasabi further risking my manly reputation.

(sigh)

Oh well, at least there's the consolation that they should also be laugh out loud funny and deeply moving as well.

Note: Ms. Tang is also the author of an Asian-American Christian suspense romance novel series: Deadly Intent, Formula for Danger, and Stalker in the Shadows).

Note: Ms. Tang is also the author of the start of another Asian-American Christian suspense romance novel series: Protection for Hire.

I got this book purely because it was free on my kindle and seemed small enough for an in-between read during a break. I did not know at the time that it was a christian book but a few pages into it I knew exactly what I was reading and what the story would be. I reserved my judgment until the last page and I have to conclude that this was a nice free mind numbing story. It is definitely not something I would have bought as I find it might have been targeted for 14 year old girls in the first stages of experiencing love.

The characters were bad at best, with the protagonist sinking further and further into oblivion at every page turn. I could not make sense of any of the christian remarks as they seemed to be put in to fit the writers purpose rather than the characters personality. Speaking of character development, there seemed to be none. The only person that seems to grow in any form was the one that was converted to accept christianity. The other people in the book, that are already christians, no matter how immature or wrongful they behave, are contempt with what they do showing no remorse (except for when they sleep out of wedlock). This book is a good example of how someone has to twist and bend a particular story to fit a moral rather than allow the story to grow around it.

My end conclusion is this: read the book if you have nothing else to do or if you need an example of how not to write a story but I would strongly advice against buying it.

I usually never write reviews for Amazon but this book was so bad that I could not let another person pay actual money - either Chinese or Japanese for it. I happened to pick it for free on the Kindle, thankfully.

This book focuses on a girl that is half Chinese and Japanese. She's obsessed with volleyball (which is fine) and is harassed by her Grandmother to find a boyfriend in less than 3 months time or otherwise her funding from her Grandmother will get cut for her junior high volleyball coaching gig.

The Good:
- I was intrigued with an Asian fiction that blended both the Chinese and Japanese cultures into the American storytelling. However, it wasn't enough really to make me feel the mix of cultures and things were not explained except in the Appendix. Thankfully my anime watching and college Japanese classes helped me with words like "baka" meaning stupid in Japanese.
- The story is not really a hard read. It was pretty easy to finish the book in a day or two.

The Bad (which is a lot):
- The story begins with the main character, Lex, bombarded by her Grandmother to find a boyfriend before her cousin's wedding. This begins the whining that doesn't stop until the last page. I felt like I was watching the character development of Sara in the movie, Labyrinth. "But that's not fair!!!!!" She doesn't realize life isn't fair even at the end of the book. At least the 14 year old kid figured it out before the 31 year old in this story.
- The setup for the Christianity arc of the story is just contrite and obvious the first couple of chapters. And of course, God saves the day at the end - while really not saving it. It read like a book that's whole point was to convince you to trust in God and religion. I've read much better Christian fiction that didn't cram it down your throat. Try the DragonSpell series instead if you like fantasy.
- Even when great things happen in the character's life, she just finds the negative in everything. Got a great job!? Oh, my life still sucks. Hey, this great guy likes me? Oh, he is not perfect. Why can't things go my waaaaaaY!
- The main character expects all of her friends and cousins to drop everything for her problems. I don't recall her even saying thanks to them for helping her. And if she did - she was so negative and focused on herself I didn't even notice. The whole story is focused on her issues even when it is obvious that others have problems too. She doesn't even stop to find out why her friends and family are unhappy at times.

I honestly finished the book to see what revelation and redemption the main character had at the end. And I'm not sure it was worth it. I wanted to be wowed and instead I irritated with myself that I wasted the time reading it. I've never disliked a character so much. Even Bella from Twilight has more dimension. Stay away.

Bold. Gutsy. Unique.
This debut book by Ms Tang is certain to open your eyes to a new culture alive and well and flourishing in gorgeous California. Bringing to life Asian customs, the characters never let you forget you're in the United States, yet the mouth watering descriptions of Oriental foods and the fine examples of dedication to time honored traditions encourage the reader to consider looking up the closest sushi bar in town.

Lex Sakai is perfectly happy with her life. Grandma is not. Lex has high aspirations for her life, many of which seem to be falling just within reach. Grandma wants Lex married and pulls all stops to get what she wants. Who will win?

With a delightful cast of characters, Ms. Tang introduces us to the worlds of volleyball and physical therapy. Goals, ethics and dreams. Lex is thrown together with strangers, friends and relatives alike in a bizarre competition where the prize appears to belong only to Grandma. Drawing on her Christian faith, Lex juggles the obstacles thrown in her way and just when we think she is down for the count, Lex discovers miracles really do happen when you let go and let God.

Excellent read. I look forward to next book in the series.

A disappointment. I really tried to give this book a chance. I read the first nine chapters then couldn't stomach it any more so I abandoned it.

The writer is trying to be humorous but I didn't find it funny at all. The characters weren't very interesting. The writing was very confusing. She had too much going on at the same time so the reader is left not knowing the characters very well or why they are doing or saying what they are.

Not funny. Not interesting. Not for me.