A fantastic narrator brings this collection of stories to life. My favorite was the story of a family coming to terms with issues of anger stemming from transracial adoption. I'll look forward to more from this author.
Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

This nuanced character diven novel absolutely captivated me and I hung on every word. I loved the characters and the glimpses into their complicated, messy, and realistic lives. The narrator did a great job bringing the story to life and I highly recommend the audiobook for this title.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

I thought the first story about the Park family was interesting, but the rest of it was sad, boring and weird.
I don't mind dark narratives, but there was no relief from the disturbing things that were happening all the time.
I got the satire of suburban lives, but I did not find it amusing, or enjoy reading about it.
I felt as if I needed to wash my hands & face and read something wholesome after this book.

This book was so weird, but in the absolute best of ways. It completely sucked me in, and I think a lot of that is owing to the audiobook narrator, who gave an excellent performance. I think what impressed me the most about this novel is the way it presents characters who are not unredeemable but almost, or who easily could have been? It balances that on a razor’s edge, and somehow this is humbling. Plus it’s full of dark humor, which I love. Will definitely be checking out Tan’s other work now!

First impressions - interesting plotline, good character development. However, I'm not sure if it was memorable. I had a hard time keeping track of all the characters. Open to rereading it in the future though!

For a lot of people, reading (or listening to) new books during the pandemic has been difficult. Books — even whole genres — aren’t providing the same levels of escapism that they did before. The concept of Sandi Tan’s Lurkers sounded like something I should love: LA suburb setting, explorations of the definition of family and home, gender dynamics, class dynamics, post-riot race relations — all filtered through the gritty lens of California noir.

Lurkers follows the residents of a small suburban neighborhood just north of Los Angeles. There are the Parks: a Korean-American family who moved out of Korea Town after the 1992 riots. Mr Park is a pastor for a religion his family doesn’t know if he actually believes in and while he and his wife speak Korean, he doesn’t want his American daughters — Rosemary and Miracle — learning the language. Raymond van der Holt, a single gay man and semi-famous author, lives next door. Across the street are Ireland women: Mary Sue and her adopted daughter, Kate, who’d been part of Operation: Baby Lift out of post-war Vietnam. Mr Park’s suicide propels these neighbors on a trajectory that has them colliding in unexpected, hilarious, and even heartwarming ways.

Tan’s writing style combined with Rebecca Lam’s narration drew me into this story immediately. A documentarian focus on what otherwise might be mundane daily details gives the setting and characters a depth I didn’t know I was craving. And while the “villains” of this story (or at least the ones society would all agree on are bad) aren’t shocking — a drama teacher who gets too close to his students and a California version of Nabakov’s Humbert Humbert — I felt I was still experiencing their brand of menace through a new lens (especially in light of today’s sociopolitical climate). I couldn’t help but question whether or not the girls’ (as in, underage) ethnicities, and the fetishization of them, were part of what drew men to them. This is also only one of the ways power dynamics between men and women/men and girls/adults and children are explored. Tan digs into the relationships between generations, cultures, neighbors, sisters, and mothers and daughters in an unflinching and refreshing way.

Sinking into Lurkers was one of the best books I’ve listened to so far this year. With so many answers to the questions of what defines family and home explored, I’m having a hard time not immediately starting to re-listen just to see what I get out of it the next time.

I enjoyed the characters and their different storylines, and the overall setup of the book following a group of neighbors. The writing was equal parts funny and dark and that really worked for me. Unfortunately it was sometimes difficult to follow when the narrative switched perspectives because there was no indication that that was happening, at least in the audiobook. It also felt like a lot of the storylines got wrapped up too quickly at the end, and no one had to face consequences for their actions.

I read this quickly and enjoyed the two main characters stories. If you are listening to this book, it's NSFW or young ears. Great descriptions of family and food. Thanks #netgallery for this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read and listen to this story. I did enjoy most of it. The book starts off and we learn about the Parks family and some of the residents of Santa Claus lane. There were some difficult moments in the middle that were cringe. I did like the ending and I don’t want to ruin it for anyone that reads it. This was the first time I read Sandi Tan and I will most likely read another book from her if I get the chance.

I did not enjoy this book as a whole. There were a few vignettes or characters that were really interesting but the overall plot of the intersection of lives on Santa Claus Lane was a miss for me. I appreciate the dark humor but the overall tone was too depressing. I didn't like any of the characters and found their selfishness unattractive. The one plus is that I really like the narrator. I thought her voice was perfect for this story.

Definitely an interesting story worth reading! Thank you for granting me access to this timely story in exchange for my honest review!

I was really happy to be able to review this book. The description sounded amazing.

For me, it was good but it was awkward and at times hard to follow what was going on. I enjoyed the narrator and parts of the story. There were too many awkward and inappropriate sexual instances that had me cringing for me to really get into the story. It grabbed me at first then I lost track.

Overall a very enjoyable work with good quality narration. I would listen to it again now that i have finished it.

Lurkers by Sandi Tan was not at all what I expected. It is unfortunate that I had to finally turn this off as it was an audiobook. There was just too much explicit sexual content for me. I don't mind romance but this was well beyond that. I gave this a generous 2 star. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity.

I reviewed this book on Goodreads as well, and I was very surprised and disappointed to see that the few other reviews that have been posted there are negative. I found this book to be highly entertaining and emotionally charged. While the fictional Santa Claus Lane of this book doesn't exactly resemble my neighborhood growing up, there were enough similarities that rang true to me. The main characters were all relatable, flawed people, just like everyday people around us. The comical situations depicted were made more funny (and sad at times) because of how plausible they are.

The narration of this book was great. The characters really came to life. Overall a very well done novel.

3.5 Stars
Lurkers follows the lives of three households on Santa Clause Lane, a street full of craftsman style homes in the suburbs of LA, during the 2000s.

There is Kate, the (now adult) adopted Vietnamese daughter or Mary-Sue; the Parks, a Korean family of four, who must adapt to life after the suicide of Mr Park; and Raymond, a
popular horror writer who cannot decide whether he is actually retired.

The novel moves along as Mrs. Park tries to find a solution to the dire financial situation provoked by her husband's suicide, and her daughters adapt to the changes in their family, and adolescent struggles- including first loves and the grooming behavior of a drama teacher. Along the lane, Kate deals with the return of an old high school interest, and Raymond is haunted by multiple break-ins at his home, unsure of whether he is dealing with a crazed fan of his novels or the paranormal.

The points of view appear disjointed at first, and the characters make some bizarre choices before the reader begins to see the threads that weave this story together (about halfway). The novel picks up from there, and I became much more interested and invested in each storyline.The final chapters expertly tie loose ends, while not completely satisfying the reader.

The fabric of this story is both dark and unsettling. Yet, Tan manages to make this novel light and weirdly funny. I found the characters completely original, which is perhaps why they also felt strange and at times unrelatable. A lot of that would have changed with a deeper dive into the characters' emotional states and inner worlds. Although Tan makes references to severe traumas and struggles facing the characters, it doesn't seem like any of the characters (or the author) are willing to take on the emotional labor to unpack them. Most shockingly the Park daughters seem to experience no emotional reaction at the loss of their father- no discussions of grief, guilt, shame, or fear make an appearance.

To me, the highlight of the novel came in the translated note from Mrs. Park. There, I saw the type of emotional exploration I felt was missing from most of the novel, and would have put Lurkers over the edge. Overall, this is a worthy read and utterly original novel!

The characters in this book are mostly residents of a Los Angeles neighborhood called Santa Claus Lane. They aren’t friends but they occasionally interact with each other and sometimes observe each other’s lives. Two of the houses hold mothers and daughters with normal, but somewhat complicated relationships. The third house holds a writer of horror stories who hoped that they would lure young boys to him. That didn’t really work out. Men come off particularly badly in this book. In addition to the author there is a man who preys on young Asian girls and an acting teacher who is grooming one of his students until she starts to have sex (a lot of graphic sex) with her acting partner. Then the teacher turns on her. The acting partner’s only storyline revolves around his state of arousal.

Sorry, but I didn’t enjoy this, although I didn’t abandon the book. I kept hoping that something interesting would happen to tie this together, but a plot never really developed. This was just a collection of not particularly interesting or likable people. There is also some blather about ghosts and poltergeists that I generally ignored. 2.5 stars

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher.

This book was very intriguing, and the narrator did a great job in representing each of the characters with their distinct personalities through her tone. Tan creates a set of characters that range in sexual identity, gender and ethnicity and emphasizes their individualism while also drawing the characters together through complicated, intertwined relationships. The lives of the Parks' foster the differences between immigrants' lives in America versus the second generation and emphasizes the socioeconomic differences between each generation and the society they live and how assimilation affects their family's relationship. Overall, the audiobook was refreshing and left me wanting to know how each character would fend for the rest of their lives.

I knew nothing about this author before listening to this audio book. It was unexpectedly great. The story intertwines one family with another and one individual with a neighbour. Certain themes emerge of older men with younger girls, appropriate and the immigrant experience for second generation kids. I appreciated the way that the female characters felt real as they were not stereotypes but multilayered complicated individuals. This is not a story that I have heard before and I found it refreshing that most of the main characters were Asian-American. It felt like the telling of a true crime story but over the span of years with all the details you would want to know.

I absolutely loved this book! I had been wanting to read it since I found out about it, and when I saw it on NetGalley I knew i had to request it. I was not disappointed! Lurkers follows the stories of several residents of a suburban neighborhood called Santa Claus Lane. This story is told from multiple points of view, and ties everything together beautifully in the end. What really makes this story intriguing is the exploration of what lies behind these suburban, ordinary facades. This story exposes the perverse and sinister thoughts and happenings hiding within these residents (tw: pedophilia, grooming, gaslighting, suicide). I was definitely pulled into this story quickly and had to keep listening to see what happens next. I would definitely recommend this book and will probably read it again.