Ch 1-5

This one is tough. I already know I’ll have a love hate relationship with it.

Growing up, I felt the same sort of internalized racism Audrey clearly feels. I like that she’s named for Audrey Hepburn. Did I also let people mispronounce my name for years? Oh, why, yes.

She has left her Midwest hometown for Brooklyn, engaged to Ben, a white man of means. When they go back to her childhood home for the holidays, so he can meet her parents, secrets begin to unfold.

I couldn’t imagine getting engaged to someone if they hadn’t met my parents, but I suppose I have a better relationship with mine than Audrey does.

The boy she had a crush on in high school that burned her CDs of indie and pop punk songs? I was violently attacked by that. My face is flaming right now. All of the references are gold. I knew I’d love this one.

Ch 6-10

This is some Sweet Home Alabama bullshit. I never understood why Reese’s character went with the hometown boy, but here, it seems the shared experiences trump what you think you want. I have trouble with that, too. No, I would not like to get into that.

I’m starting to feel like everything is Audrey’s fault. Her failed relationship with Kristen. Her falling out with everyone in town. Less so her relationship with her parents. I get that’s tough. Adapting to a new language and culture is tough. It’s really not for everyone.

I feel like something is going to happen with hometown boy, but we’ll see. I won’t hate it if it does. Not that I condone cheating. But the fiancé has to start compromising. I don’t care if his parents are helping them pay for the house. They don’t have to live there.

Ch 11-15

A lot of you think Audrey is unlikeable. That’s true. I do empathize with her, and get where she’s coming from. I have a good relationship with my parents, but I haven’t always. Call me spoiled like Audrey’s own mom says to her, but different immigrant generations experience different things. People are also different. But experiences can feel very similar.

Who called it with hometown boy? Probably all of us. It’s fine. I’m neither rooting for him nor the fiancé. I just need Audrey to make it out of this town alive. I’d also like her dad to make it out. However, before we think dad is so much better than mom, Asians moms typically have the stereotype of being the mean tiger mom. Dad isn’t laidback. He just ignores. These little things add up over time before someone eventually explodes. I feel that coming. Not that I’m condoning mom’s behavior. She needs to cool it. I don’t care if you’re not happy in your own life. Stop projecting.

Ch 16-20

I'm glad we got some resolution before the end. And unlike Sweet Home Alabama, I'm glad Audrey chooses herself. Sometimes, really, more often than not, we should. Ben was a bad choice for her. I'm not saying Kyle is a great choice.

That Alphabet City studio sounds teeny, but like any person that was obsessed with moving to New York in her early 20s, it sounds like the dream. That obviously never happened. But I will still talk about it forever.

The men are unimportant here. I'm glad Audrey sort of made up with her former bff. That's rough. I tend to be done with people once I drop them, but I know this isn't the case for everyone. Even better than that is her reconciliation with her mother. Some truths needed to be told, and they were. Asians tend to let things bubble up before they blow up. I'm guilty of this in my own life. Conflict is not something I was made for.

You all are hit or miss on your reviews, but this is one of my favorite books I've read this year. It's not for everyone. But it was for me.

The writing is good and includes reflections on being a woman of color in the U.S. that I haven't read in other places. These moments are what I kept reading for, because despite the protagonist's realness and nuance she was difficult to like, and the story dragged. This is one of the better treatments on dating/marrying a white partner that I've read, though that theme has become very tiring. Overall a good book, but not for me.

Central Places is about a Chinese-American woman named Audrey Zhou, who is bringing her white fiancé Ben home to meet her overbearing parents for the first time. Having built a successful life in New York and long ago cutting off all ties from her hometown and old friends of Hickory Groves, Illinois, this trip is Audrey’s first time coming home in eight years.

From the start of the book, it is clear that Audrey has a lot of unresolved personal issues tied to her past in Hickory Groves that impede her relationship with Ben. She is reluctant to open up about her past and shares very little about her family.

Even though I tend to enjoy books with unlikeable characters, I found Audrey to be unlikeable in an unbearable way. She didn’t have a single redeemable quality and easily (and unfairly) blamed others for her unhappiness. I found the resentment she had against her mother to be extremely immature, and it irked me that she was so rude to her sometimes. Audrey was also incredibly ungrateful and selfish, and while I tried to sympathize with her, I ended up sympathizing with other characters more (her parents and Ben).

The topic of racism was done well. My only complaint is that Audrey seemed to tether a lot of her personal issues to issues of race, even though the base of her problems was actually rooted in her lack of ability to confront her own mistakes. I would have enjoyed the commentary more if its integration into the novel was less forced and more integral to Audrey’s character development.

Despite these issues about the novel, I did enjoy the prose and story pacing. As a debut, Central Places is well done and a solid piece of work that gives you something to think about. I especially liked the parts that contrasted Audrey’s relationship with her father and her relationship with her mother; these bits were the realest and most relatable portion of the book. I look forward to reading whatever the author puts out next.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC: Newly engaged, Audrey Zhou, the protagonist, returns to her small Illinois town after an 8 year self imposed exile. Audrey has cut off her parents and childhood friends in her quest to achieve a new life. Over the course of a holiday visit to her aging parents, she slowly confronts her anger over her childhood where she did not feel included or welcome one of the few Asians in her town and at her parents--notably her mother. Audrey shows little capacity for empathy, and it's difficult to muster empathy towards her as she embarks on a slow odyssey of reconnecting to her parents and hometown friends. Her unnamed parents have hurt her, but her father adores her and her mother considers her to be "both my heart and my liver." As befits a woman who is emotionally frozen in adolescence and is the star of her drama, the other characters are sometimes mere outlines. Ultimately, Audrey comes to a deeper understanding of her family, childhood, current "success" and goals in her life. The final third of the book had much more momentum. I struggled to "grade" it but it was a book that made me think and it's a debut. I'd assume a semi-autobiographical novel. It's well written and thought provoking.

I originally started to read this book because I though that the story would be funny, especially when I read that the boyfriend was meeting the parents. But instead, the story was about becoming a grownup and facing ones childhood memories and righting wrongs when you can. The story to me was about living ones life the way you want and not just following someone and letting them make decisions for you because you don't want to be seen. I also think the story is about trying to see someone's else point of view and not thinking the story in your head is the true version.

I like that when Audrey went back to Hickory Grove that she was able to mend fences with her best friend Kristen and finally engage with Kyle, who she care for her whole life, and see the true friendship she had with him, and I was hoping the relationships with both Kristen and Kyle would continue after she returned back to New York.

I found the book very easy to read and the way the author describe Audrey's childhood made me feel things I haven't felt in years about being uncomfortable with incidents that brought me shame and made me feel small and insignificant, but in the end when you face what makes you uncomfortable it becomes less of an obstacle.

I want to thank Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books and NetGalley for an advance copy of a book that deals with the past

This book touched a chord in me as my parents are from outside Peoria (as Audrey is) and many things that the author described, I have seen and can understand. Good for Ms. Cai for researching the name of the main department store that everyone went to (Bergner's) and the towns around it. However, this story could have happened anywhere and even through Audrey was Asian, the midwest often is not extremely receptive to people that are "different", This may have changed as the book explored Audrey's school days 8 years before, but I still think central Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, etc. is still as she describes it and is not particularly welcoming to those that are a different ethnicity, gender, or religion...

I have mixed feelings about this one. Parts of it were interesting, growing up Chinese in a very white Midwestern town. and then re making her life in NY. She goes back home with her fiance to introduce him to her parents. She has a very complicated relationship with them, unresolved issues with former best friend and crush. It was all her talking, stream of consciousness, little action. The main problem I had with it, was she seemed so young, immature for her age and had left all this unresolved stuff and hadn't worked it out inside herself in all these years.

The book touched upon many important topics, some of them very relatable to me. I didn't click with the writing style at first, but I grew to like it later. The characters, while frustrating at times, made me feel an array of emotions. The story in general was different from what I usually read, but I really enjoyed the change.

Audrey was living a fulfilling life in New York. Together with her fiancé, she went to Chicago to see her parents. While in Chicago Audrey reunites with old friends in the past. This book has so many things about the past and everything else. It's a pretty good read.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this book in exchange for a review.

Although I was initially captivated by this book but the 3rd chapters I had lost all interest in characters, plot and outcome.

Audrey Zhou left her small midwestern town and her immigrant Chinese parents, and started a new life in New York. She is engaged to Ben, and he wants to meet her parents and see where she came from, and so talks her into going back to spend Christmas with her family. She resists but they go, and it does not go well. He makes the best of it, but Audrey has a hard time dealing with her family, and then meets up with some of her high school friends who she has completely left behind. It's a good story about family love, childhood dreams and memories, and adult relationships. #centralplaces #deliacai #bookstagram #reader #lovetoread #booksbooksbooks #takeapagefrommybook #bookblog #readersofinstagram #bookloversofinstagram #bookrecommendations #bookreview #netgalley #advancedreaderscopy #familyrelationships

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A young woman faces her feelings head on about her parents and her relationships.

This is easily one of the best books I've read this year. There's so much I shouldn't have liked: it's told in first person and present tense, and the plot plays off overdone tropes. And yet, it immediately felt different. Delia's writing makes you care about characters so quickly and so deeply, and it was effortless to just fall into Audrey's head.

'Central Places' is about a Chinese-American woman raised in small town Illinois, who leaves her town and old life fully behind her after graduation, ready to run from her impossible-to-please mother, unrequited crush and a town where she just doesn't fit in. Audrey moves to New York and creates the perfect life, with a well-paying job, perfect fiancé and Williamsburg apartment. Her fiancé convinces her to return to Illinois, and over the next few days/weeks, all of Audrey's perceptions about her family, relationships and identity are brought into question. It had big Sweet Home Alabama vibes, but with an added exploration of how having immigrant parents plays into all of it.

I loved Audrey's dad. I loved how much there was to emotionally confront about her upbringing and parental expectations. I loved Kyle and Zadie. I loved having Audrey work so realistically through so many major things. I do think her dramatic flip happened a little too quickly, but it made sense enough and I loved the way it ended up playing out.

I was also really impressed with the way the book read as compelling contemporary fiction. It's fast, it's not overly flowery and generally just easy to read. But I can't remember the last time I highlighted this much in a book. The language was stunning in the way of the best literary fiction.

Overall, just phenomenal. Already preordered and will be rereading.

I also always get stressed when a book is by either a friend, or a friend of friends in this case, because I don't know what to say or do if it ends up being a flop. Very grateful that didn't happen here.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Audrey Zhou grew up in a small Illinois town and left it once she graduated high school
for college and eventually a life in NY. It isn't until her fiancé Ben believes it's time for him to meet her parents that she goes back after an eight year absence. On her return, she encounters former classmates and has to deal with the past, what caused her to leave and if the current life she has is really what she wants.
While I can identify with Audrey's feelings and her dealings with racism, she was an unlikeable
character.
#CentralPlaces #NetGalley

If you've ever wondered what a Hallmark Christmas movie would be like if it had no guarantee of a happy ending, POC lead characters, and fully realized characters, Central Places is the book for you. In Central Places, Delia Cai puts the reader into Audrey Zhou's mind, all stream of consciousness energy with occasional flags that make you think perhaps therapy was in order for everyone involved. Just reading about Audrey's mom made me clench my jaw in sympathy. There are relationships and they are complicated, and I was absolutely gripped by the full spectrum of emotions that I went through while reading this book. (I received a free ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.)

Book Title: Central Places
Author: Delia Cai
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group ~Ballantine. Ballantine Books
Genre: Contemporary/ Family Drama
Pub Date: January 31, 2023
My Rating: 3 Stars

Audrey Zhou and her fiancé, Ben, return to her hometown Hickory Grove, Illinois for a Christmas visit. Audrey is Chinese and Ben is Caucasian. Audrey and Ben need to leave NYC to face their situation with her parents.
Audrey is caught between who she was in the past and who she thinks she is now.

Have to admit I was drawn to this story when I read Celeste Ng’s review. (She is an author I just love)
Hmm this story didn’t quite live up to my expectation. However, I know the right audience will love it!

Want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group ~Ballantine. Ballantine Books for this early uncorrected proof.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 31, 2023

I liked this a lot! As someone who is also from an anonymous small town in the Midwest, many of the surface details here felt familiar (see: Menards, youth group, driving around just because), and on a deeper level, I enjoyed the way Cai explored the complicated nature of home and belonging, and the way hometown bonds (with both people and places) can feel lifelong and tenuous all at once.

Audrey lives the perfect life in New York City with her fiancé Ben. They are looking to buy a house and start a life together. She has been supporting him as a photographer while she works in advertising. She grew up in the midwest as the only child n a Chinese immigrant family. Her mother is very judgmental and domineering and her father is more laid back. Ben grew up with a silver spoon where everything came easy and his family was picture perfect blue bloods.

Audrey couldn't wait to get out of her small midwestern town and never look back. She has avoided returning home and spending time with her mother. Once she and Ben got engaged, Ben needed to meet the parents and Christmas time seemed like the best time to do it. Her father had a medical procedure and Audrey could be there for it. Returning home exposed all of Audrey's old fears and divisions. She hadn't kept in touch with any of her old friends including her best friend and her crush but of course she runs into them while in town. The effect of being in the same space as her mother exacerbates the divide and judgments and Audrey's self-loathing. It also pulls down Ben's façade and exposes his snobbery and self-centeredness. With her father's procedure postponed and the fissures exposed, Audrey re-evaluates her relationships with her friends, and family.

The book was very good about showing anti-Chinese, anti-immigrant hate. It is good at showing a judgmental, overbearing mother. It is good at capturing the insecurities that people feel with presented with constant signals that they are not good enough or they don't deserve their place in the world. The story was though provoking about what it means to go home again; how to forge adult relationship with your parents once you are an adult; and finding and using your voice,

The story is told through Audrey's perspective so we get all of her emotions, assumptions, perceptions, right or wrong. She comes across as whiney and childish. Because of the first person narrative almost all of the characters are one dimensional. The mother is the most fully fleshed out; Kyle, the old crush has partial substance. Ben and the father are flat and Kristen is a shadow. Dialogue was spotty. There were parts where there was some actual give and take, but then one character's statement would be in quotes and then Audrey's next statement would be narrative then back to the other character's dialogue in quotes. It was distracting and frustrating in points when the dialogue continued rather than just summarizing the rest of the conversation and moving on to the next part of the story.

Thank you Net Galley and Random House for the opportunity to read and review this book in advance for free in return for an unbiased review

Central Places is a enchanting novel that takes place over two and a half weeks that will pull you in and keep you reading. Audrey is the only child of Chinese immigrant parents who moved to the United States to provide opportunities for their daughter, including high expectations for her success. Raised in the rural heart of an Illinois agricultural area, Audrey faced many challenges but was very popular with her classmates. Now college-educated, living in New York, and armed with a successful job, her fiance Ben encourages the two of them to visit her hometown at Christmas. Audrey has not visited her home in eight years, but decides it's a good time to mend poor relations with her mother and connect with her past. The ensuing challenges, both with her parents and with high school friends drives this novel and keeps you reading until the end. Delia has written her first novel and her writing style shines through in Central Places, a book I highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an advance reading copy of this book.

There are some stories with complicated main characters who aren't perfect, but you enjoy their journey. I loved reading the way Cai handled the mother/daughter dynamic and the experiences of a 2nd generation individual and gives it a lot of heart. It wrapped up a little too nicely at the end, but it was a great story.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.