I listened to this with my 8 year old son and we were captivated by the narrator and story. We found Miramar a charming and adventurous protagonist and the author really nailed what it was to be an imaginative little kid. The cultural plot points were relatable.

Thank you to NetGalley, Carrianne K. Y. Leung, Lisa Truong, and ECW Press Audio for the opportunity to read The Wondrous Woo in exchange for an honest review.

I used the NetGalley Shelf App to listen to an audiobook e-galley of this novel. The narrator, Lisa Truong, did a fantastic job of portraying Miramar Woo.

This is a book that shares the experience of a Chinese family moving to Canada (an interesting perspective from the usual United States portrayals). While this book is listed as young adult, I would say it is more of a new adult novel because of the setting and experiences that the main character goes through. 

Miramar Woo is the oldest of three siblings and she is eager to leave for college. Just as she is ready to leave, her father is killed in an accident. This death heavily affects Miramar and her siblings, as well as her mother. Learning to navigate through life and learning that the world doesn't stop even when death arrives is a major theme near the beginning of the novel. Miramar does end up going to university, for a time, and even has a boyfriend. Some of the usual stereotypes that accompany Asian people are portrayed through Miramar's experiences.

While these multicultural elements are touched upon, this book also has a bit of a fantasy element to it. The death of their father seems to trigger...strange powers? among the younger siblings. This part of the novel was a bit confusing to me. Miramar escapes into her mind where she explores these Kung Fu fantasies. This is also a story of identity, and even when people reach college age, they may still have a long road ahead of them when it comes to finding out who they are.

I enjoyed this book and think it would make a fun addition to book groups in the classroom. It has a lot of good themes and can be relatable to many young people, both high school and college-age alike as they go down their own roads to self-discovery.

Well deserved 2014 Toronto Book Award finalist.

There are “Kung Fu” vignettes at the beginning of each chapter; since I was listening via audiobook, it took me a while to appreciate this. (So I went from being confused at the beginning of each chapter ... to adding Kung Fu chops and hollering “haii yah!”)
My suggestion would be to make these intros a “separate chapter” for the audio.

What a great story! Mixing grief over the loss of a father and mental issues with the mother and child prodigies; there is a lot going on in this book, but it flowed seamlessly and quickly. Not a dull moment. Really like-able characters.

I wanted to finish this book before going to sleep; it’s now 1am. What a great way to head off to dreamland.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author/Carrianne Leung for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review. The narrator Lisa Truong did an excellent job!