The family Chao follows the Chao family who own a chiens resturant and the challanges that come with owning a family buisness with some murder mystery sprinkled into it.

1.5 stars. I had most issues with the main character, he’s a horned up teenager who only thinks about sex. Actually I felt no connection to any of the characters, they all fell flat and it felt as if i did not know any of them at all. The whole murder mystery part came out of nowhere and was a bit odd to me. There was no indication of that happending before and then you’re just hit with it… nope.

Interesting multigenerational family saga of a Chinese American family set it Wisconsin. Slow in the beginning but picked up in the second half and kept me intrigued.

When James heads home from university for his Christmas break, he is eager to see his family. But he finds chaos when he gets there. His mother Winnie has moved out and is living at a Buddhist temple, tired of her husband's temper and infidelities. His oldest brother, Dagou, returned home six years ago becoming the head chef and expecting to take over the restaurant. Now his father is refusing to make him a partner and wants to continue underpaying and overworking him. Ming, the middle brother, lives in New York where he works in finance and can barely stand to be home for a few days. The source of the family chaos is in the father, Leo, who is a bully, a miser and a control freak.

When Leo is found frozen to death in the basement meat freezer, it is unclear if it is an accident or murder. The police come down on the side of murder and all of the Chao family secrets start to surface. There are the two women that love Dagou and the rivalry between them. There is the matter of inheritance. A long-time employee harbors resentment and anger. Who killed Leo?

Lan Samantha Chang is a Chinese American author who writes about the Chinese experience. This novel won numerous awards and is a compelling read about the immigrant experience and about toxic family relationships. It is told mainly through the eyes of the youngest son James who loves everyone in the family and has a hard time believing the things about his family that he discovers. He must in the end, make a moral decision that will affect everyone. This book is recommended for readers of multicultural literature and family relationships.

This was a. well written family saga.with mystery elements. This is definitely not a thriller or a story with the mystery being the forefront. The story moved slowly and was definitely more character driven. I enjoyed getting to know each son and the dynamics of the family.

(3.5)
This wasn’t a favorite of mine but it was okay. It took me a long time to get into the story and care about the characters but it did happen and I enjoyed it more after that.
In this book, you are getting a glimpse into the life of a family in Wisconsin who own a Chinese restaurant. The food is Americanized Chinese food and the place has been in business for 35 years now. Although there are things that the community has heard about, unsavory things, they choose to ignore it all for the delicious food. One day, though, the charismatic, brash, very tyrannical patriarch of the family, Leo Chao, is found dead and it’s thought to be murder. Now, his sons discover that they have drawn the gazes of the entire town.
The trial begins and the three brothers all have motive. There is Dagou, the restaurant’s head chef who happens to be quite reckless. There is Ming, the one with the money who is successful but feels personally tortured. Lastly, there is James, the youngest who is on the gentle side but is also a lost college student.
This book shows you a Chinese American family living in a small town dealing with so many different things you really need to pay attention to the book. The book is funny, heartbreaking, weird, has a touch of suspense, and is very well written.
I think that this is a good story but it took me too long to really get into it. I just didn’t click with the story for a bit but when it did pick up it turned into a very good story.
I definitely recommend giving this book a shot if it looks or sounds good at all to you. The writing is fantastic.
I was lucky enough to receive a copy of this audio book from Netgalley. I really enjoyed the narrator and if you like this form of media I would say it's a good way to go.

I'm sure I would have enjoyed reading the print version of this book, but I was mesmerized by Brian Nishii's voice and the added personality it imbued in these characters. When I picked up the book,I did not realized it was a retelling of the Brothers Karamazov. In the end, I'm not sure how I felt about the book.

The audio narration is average, but it feels over the top at times. I can see some listeners loving that and others being turned off by it - for me it was a turn off. This is a character driven story that explores a Chinese American family that runs a restaurant in Wisconsin. They’ve been part of the community for 30 years, but are still viewed as outsiders and subjected to casual racism. There are complicated family dynamics at work. The father is horrible - a narcissist, he’s cruel to everyone, but especially the eldest son. I didn't like this audiobook or story

Well this was sitting on my ng shelf collecting dust until Obama put it on his reading list. I will say I understand why it is and it touches a million relevant topics (immigration, racism) but it wasn’t the story for me. I enjoyed some pieces but overall didn’t totally capture my attention on audio.

I'm usually a fan of stories about family dynamics, but this one just wasn't for me. Maybe it has more to do with my mindset right now, but I didn't really enjoy a book so dark, with so much anger and hatred throughout.

Despite great excitement for this book, I am disappointed that the lack of character depth did not permit the heights one hopes in family drama. The book relies on caricature to establish the siblings, making them feel neither real nor worth caring about. The father is just generally terrible and cruel to all he meets. Add all of that to the casual racism the family has to live through and you have a recipe for a wildly depressing read.

The Family Chao is full of resentment, power, deceit, love and loss. I loved this book from beginning to end, The narrator of this book did a fantastic job. I highly recommend the audio book.

The Family Chao has an interesting premise and it is also the retelling of the Brothers Kramazov. The Chao family owns and operate a Chinese restaurant in Haven, Wisconsin. The first half of the book focused on introducing the characters and set up a murder mystery. The second half is the trial and the aftermath of a family member’s alleged murder. It was a fantastic read and it also touched on many heavy topics such as racism, immigration and identity.

Thank you to NetGallery and to RB Media for giving me a copy for my honest review.

This story just did not end up resonating with me. The writing style highlighted how awful (and crass) many of the main characters are, and I just could not get on board unfortunately.

I couldn't get into this story. I didn't like any of the characters and ended up DNFing it at 20%. Sadly, this one is just not for me.

I love a good family drama, and while this one provided a lot of crazy family and a whole lot of drama, I had a hard time connecting with it.

When I saw this was available to request as an ARC, I wasn't immediately drawn to it, but reading the description had me intrigued so I requested it anyway. I am fascinated by other cultures and love reading about them, so reading about a family of Chinese immigrants living in America was very eye opening to me but not shocking if that makes sense. The beginning of the book is a bit slow, but does a good job of developing the characters and giving a good baseline for the story. I really enjoyed this the entire way through and found it interesting, witty, and funny at parts. The three brothers were all great characters to follow and I was just trying to figure out where this was headed the whole time. When the climax finally came, I spent the rest of the book convinced I already knew who the murderer was and sure enough I was right. I thought it was a nice, yet predictable twist. My immediate thought after finishing is that this would make for an interesting book club selection because it gives so many different factors to talk about. I listened to this book, but I think it would have worked better if I had read it as there is so much detail in this that I simply couldn't absorb quick enough. Thank you to Netgalley and RB Media for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Did not finish the book. The narrator fit the story but getting to the root of the story took to long for me.

I was really looking forward to this one but unfortunately it just didn't work for me. I generally love a family story, but I think the characters felt a bit too much like caricatures to me, which made it really hard for me to feel invested in the story. I did think the narrator did a great job, and would definitely listen to another audiobook narrated by him.

The book does not live up to the hype. We are left in the end without clear answers. Was ambiguity the aim? Perhaps if the book centered around James, the third son, it would have been a better novel. However, I think the author was more worried about re-creating a classic in modern days, in an ethnic family and community. Not worth the time! Thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for the advance copy.

The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang⁣
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This reads like literary fiction/family drama with a slash of murder mystery. The murder storyline was introduced fairly late in the book, which was odd to me since it seems like a big part of the synopsis. This is a retelling of The Brothers Karamazov and the story is told from multiple POVs. I enjoyed the Chao kids' reflection of their experiences as the children of immigrants and how they internalized different situations. The food descriptions were done well and some scenes were quite memorable. I really enjoyed the look into being Asian in America, internalized racism, societal and familial expectations, as well as external influences that are limiting factors. ⁣
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However, not a single character in the book was likable and I found them to be fairly one dimensional. The oldest brother is stubborn and reckless, the middle brother is successful but lacks depth, and the youngest is naive and reserved. The father is narcissistic, crude, vulgar, and just makes you cringe when he's in any scene. There are many offensive sexual references throughout. I found that Asian stereotypes were exacerbated and derogatory and made this a really tough book to get through. (There is commentary on how yellow the skin color is, self hatred at being Asian, questioning if the restaurant is serving dog meat, comments on status and privilege in marrying a white woman, etc.) The more time away from the book I am, the more my takeaways are that this was a bit too problematic for me and too many cringey parts.