Well this is a disappointing read. It sounded like it would be something I would enjoy but unfortunately I got bored and forced myself to read it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a beautifully written tribute to mothers and daughters. The characters are imperfectly perfect. They make mistakes and mess up and find love and find themselves. I laughed, I cried. I related; both as a daughter and as a mother. Perfection.

The Duong family are cursed to only bear daughters. This delightful novel of 4 generations of a Vietnamese family is a delight. The women settle in California after leaving Vietnam and have a reputation of dramatic, screaming arguments. They put their faith in fortune tears, especially one in Hawaii. Will her predictions come true? Will this family find peace and happiness?

I liked this book so much! It’s a compelling story of women whose lives are blighted by a curse delivered by a vengeful mother-in-law to the women’s ancestor for daring to leave her husband.

Each subsequent female-filled generation experiences marital difficulties, and never has a son. The current group of women featured have similar problems, with difficulties committing to relationships, adultery, broken relationships with their mothers, and general unhappiness.

All that sounds like it would be grim reading, but this is actually an lively and entertaining book. The dialogue felt real, and so did the difficulties each woman had conversing or relating to her mother or sisters, and how that had caused much damage to their families was well characterized. At the same time there was a lot of humour, despite the many unhappy womens’ lives.

I thoroughly enjoyed this multigenerational story of how the current generation learned to not only live with the curse, but to embrace its effects.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Simon & Shuster Canada for this aRC in exchange for my review.

I really wanted to like this book but the large cast of characters made it hard for me to get inside the head of any one of them. I also found the writing style distracting: so many exclamation marks, italics and adverbs that my head ached. Being a writer myself, these things jump out at me and make reading for pleasure a workwoman's holiday at times. Having said that, I can think of many readers who aren't so picky and would love this book. There's laugh out loud humor and outrageous scenes and a whole lot of highlight on the difficult challenges of being Asian and female.

I loved this book. I was nervous with the amount of main characters going into it, but I happily admit that I was wrong, there were not too many characters at all. The fact that Carolyn Huynh was able to juggle this many characters for us with such ease is worth five stars alone! She made our job as readers so easy for us!

This is a story about a very messy and cursed family. But, more than that, it’s a story about how no matter how messy (or cursed) a family is, it always comes back to love. The story is multi-generational, every member of the family has her own personal and family issues, and no two are the same. But, it all comes back to love. It made me laugh, made me cringe at times (in a good way), and it warmed my heart.

I also loved the representation of East and Southeast Asian cultures in the book. Another review mentioned that if you grew up with a Vietnamese American friend some parts may resonate, and I think that applies to me, as I grew up with Vietnamese Canadian friends and could recognize a lot of what the book was talking about. Further to that, I feel that a lot of cultures will be able to appreciate the overbearing parenting, the family dynamics, and the love we have for family.

This book made me appreciate my own messy family a lot more. We may be a wreck half the time, but the love we have for each other always comes first. I adored this novel. I will be recommending it all over the place!

I really enjoyed The Fortunes of Jaded Women! It was a familial tale, that takes you on an in depth look into a family of women who have been cursed. We get to see their pain, the grief, and how each woman handles the cards they've been dealt and the consequences of their actions. You'll never get a different result if you continue to do the same actions.

I love multi-generational, family sagas, and THE FORTUNES OF JADED WOMEN was really well done.
All due to their ancestor leaving her marriage for love, the Duong sisters and their familial line are cursed. They will only give birth to daughters and they will never find love or happiness. When the eldest Duong sister receives a surprising prediction from her psychic, she knows it is time to try to make amends before it is too late.
This story is told from multiple family member POVs, highlighting the complicated family dynamics, yet shining a light on each individual family member. I thought the author did a great job of letting you see how everyone's stories overlapped, yet developing the individual characters as well.
THE FORTUNES OF JADED WOMEN is heartfelt, messy, complicated, touching, and with a few laughs to break the tension. I could really visualize this family and felt connected to their stories and invested in the outcome.
Thank you Simon & Schuster Canada for the e-galley through NetGalley in exchange for the honest review.

I absolutely adored this epic story about the crazy mixed-up world of several generations of Vietnamese women. It made me laugh. It tore at my heart, but it also reaffirmed my faith in the strength of family - even those who quarrel and battle more than they hug.
It's a story that fulfilled my expectations of those "crazy Asians" who figure in popular media but it rang true to my own big, nosy, often quarrelsome family and it warmed my heart as it kept me up reading late because I wanted to see what this crazy family would be up to next.
If you're looking for family drama that's a little different, this one should be high on your list of September new releases.

I will start off by saying that I think this is a book that you benefit from reading a paper version of (versus an eBook, like I read) because there is a little graphic at the beginning of the book that shows the lineage of the Duong family. It is the only way to be able to keep track of who is who because there are *a lot* of characters and they are often referred to by their last names and it took me a long time to keep everyone straight. That being said, the more I read it and the more familiar I became with the characters, the more I enjoyed it.

The three sisters who are at the centre of the book (Mai, Minh and Khuyen) are very quirky and from what I understand very strong stereotypes (in a loving way?) of older Vietnamese women. They are all so caught up in their own drama that they don’t have great relationships with their own daughters. It was interesting to me that there were at least 10 female characters in this story (that the plot centered on at least) and they were each unique in their own way—to some degree, anyway because some of the daughters didn’t really get much of a storyline. I really did like how we got to delve into each one of these ladies’ lives, but I feel like the story would have benefitted from having a few less characters to focus on. I can’t really talk about individual people because they get a little mixed up in my head. Plus, the drama got really soapy and farfetched at one point, which was kind of humourous, but also riduculous.

I liked reading about a culture that I knew very little about. The writer is Vietnamese herself, so I felt like I was getting insight into family dynamics that are different than me, but still kind of the same because all families are dysfunctional in their own way. The book was funny—I laughed out loud a few time—and I liked that it was a departure from the usual multi-generational drama. It was fun but overall I felt it would have benefitted from editing some people out for length and plot complications.

3.5 STARS

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

“Would you rather have your daughters crying in a Lexus or a Toyota?”
THE FORTUNES OF JADED WOMEN - CAROLYN HUYNH

Serious question though!! To be honest, I don’t think toyotas are that bad…

There were a LOT of mothers and daughters to keep track of! From the book: “Mai, the dramatic one; Minh, the quiet one; Khuyen, the headstrong one”. All three of these women contributed to the story in such a powerful way. It was funny reading about how much they fought and didn't get along, when in reality it’s because they’re basically all the same. They were brought up by the same mother, and had the same expectations of their own daughters. Isn’t that always how it is? You grow up to become your mother!

If you love family drama, fierce women, and sassy one-liners, this book is for you. It was also recently announced as the GMA Book Club pick for September!

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜, 𝚊𝚖 𝙸 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝?

This novel follows three generations of Vietnamese women who have been cursed to have only daughters. When the eldest sister gets a surprising prediction from her psychic, she must make amends with her estranged family before she risks losing them altogether.

This debut novel was hilarious and heartfelt! Following the Duong family from Vietnam to the West Coast, you get to experience the family's ups and downs and their (semi) good intentions which often lead to comically disastrous results.

I loved the multi-narrative format and the author does an expert job of portraying complex family dynamics while giving each family member an individual voice (you get chapters from the grandmother all the way down to each granddaughter). I loved the second generation sisters most of all- their sibling rivalry extends all the way down to their daughters accomplishments (how can you top John Cho's dermatologist?!)

I highly recommend this book which was fast-paced, funny and charming and full of family hijinks. Thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for an eARC in exchange for my honest review. I would rate this one a 4 and a half stars.

THE FORTUNES OF JADED WOMEN narrows in on the Duongs, a multi-generation of Vietnamese-American women who live in Orange County. Long ago, The Duongs are cursed by a witch, a curse that prevents them from giving birth to sons.

This was a chaotic story with such a wide cast of characters. Each chapter focuses on specific Duong women, so you're able to step into and experience each perspective and situation. I really enjoyed reading the chapters that particularly focused on the daughters of Mai, Minh and Khuyen. Like any good satire, Carolyn Huynh hilariously showcases the issues and challenges that children of immigrants face, such as straddling two distinct cultures within the modern world, through these characters. It was fun seeing all of these ideas and themes interconnected with the magical realism of the family curse, and the satirical humour that stems from the author's portrayal of an Asian diaspora.

This book underlined the fetishization of Asian women so well that I began to feel my rage in my bones about this issue. The concept of "yellow fever" is so prevalent, and this book brought me back to several instances where I came face to face with boys and men who maintained this behaviour and devalued Asian women this way. It's so important for books to explore these issues in depth, and I'm so glad that this book nailed this one.

All in all, I enjoyed reading about these women. The writing flowed wonderfully, and I liked how it captured the messiness and drama of a big family of women, and women of colour at that.

3.5! This is such a lyrical, slightly magical book! It was such an easy read and I felt so invested in all the characters the whole time. I loved learning a little more about this world I had never really registered existing and I feel grateful to Carolyn Huynh for writing it so beautifully that I felt so involved. The only reason I gave it 3.5 and not higher is because until you understand the pace I did find it really confusing but maybe that was just me!

Huynh is an American author and the daughter of Vietnamese refugees. This is her first novel and in it she writes about an extended Vietnamese family who believe they are cursed to have only daughters. When one of three sisters visits her trusted psychic, she is told that the year will bring a death, a marriage and a pregnancy, but that she must bring her estranged family of women (mother, sisters and many daughters and nieces) together or she may lose everything. This is a humorous look at the Vietnamese American culture and "mourning, meddling, celebrating, and healing together as a family". It is wonderful recommendation for readers that are okay with lots (and lots) of characters. I really enjoyed it.

As someone of Vietnamese descent, I’ve always said that while the war is a huge part of Vietnam, it shouldn’t be the only thing that defines Vietnamese people. There is a plethora of stories about Vietnamese people that go beyond the war that need to be told.

Carolyn Huynh’s The Fortunes of Jaded Women resonated with me because I grew up surrounded by strong, busybody Vietnamese women, just like the younger generation in the book…

Full review can be found in the attached link.

This was a very interesting book. The cultural aspects had be fascinated and it was a overall entertaining book. Some parts did feel a bit dragged out and dry. The bitter family drama, generations long curse and the relationship dynamics were an interesting concept. Some of the writing lost me.

What a great well written read. I thoroughly enjoyed the story of these Vietnamese women through their generations. You are brought in to the history and cultural expectations with the author spinning a tale of a cursed family that follows every generation. The story centres around 4 sisters and all their daughters trying to in-still traditional values as the younger generation tries to leave them behind. It’s a story of healing for the family and acceptance. The story has many laughable moments and I could picture the scenes in my mind. This book is worth the read.

I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley and all opinions are my own. I would recommend this book to my friends and family and my book clubs.

Well-written story about a Vietnamese family of mothers, sisters and daughters living in the U.S. Each generation experiences the impacts of troubled childhoods while trying to find a balance between Vietnamese and American cultures. Themes of societal and familial expectations, struggles between immigrant parents and their first generation children, and trauma passed down through the generations are explored.

This reminded me somewhat of The Joy Luck Club in the way the story looked at relationships between immigrant mothers and daughters, the ups and downs, the misunderstandings, and the lack of communication. But underlying it, when all that is stripped away, is love and a strong sense of family.

A warm-hearted read, there were both emotional and funny moments in the book and a great ending that brought together a number of plot threads. I would note that there were many main characters and it was difficult at first to keep the names of them straight. 3.75 stars.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster Canada and Netgalley for an advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.

This book featured a multi generational family of Vietnamese women and it touched on a lot of issues that they might have faced. They were told in a comical way which I liked. There was a lot of characters which I didn’t think was necessary. And some parts felt a little dragged on. Overall, it was a good book that I can see would also make a good movie.