What a great story! It unraveled like a Christmas gift. A Christmas gift with multiple layers of wrapping paper. Each layer just built in wonder and excitement for the contents inside. The story resonates with people who are born of immigrant parents. The parents leave the motherland for a better opportunity for themselves and then start a family. Suddenly the child(ren) are tasked/pressured with becoming the very best they can since this first generation has resources the parents never had. It’s a blissful, bittersweet story.

I cringed, laughed, and almost cried as Audrey Zhou navigated complex family relationships, a fiancé, a successful career and reconnecting with her high school friends in this understated coming of age story. What does it mean to come home again after severing ties? Is reconnection with old friends possible? What does love and healing look look? What is success? These are a few of the issues that Audrey grapples with.

**I received an electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review of this book.

This is the story of a first generation Chinese American who brings her fiancé home to meet her parents after staying away from her small midwestern town for 8 years. I thought this book was uneven--the first half was slow and the main character's anger toward her parents, particularly her mother, overwhelms her and the book. About midway through, the story picks up and the second half of the book is very good.

This is the story of Audrey, a young, hip New Yorker, who returns to her small midwestern hometown for the Christmas season eight years after she graduated high school and got away as fast as she could. She brings her fancy New York fiancé with her and before she's been back long, she runs into her high school crush and discovers that her boyfriend is a bit of a dud. But this is not a Hallmark movie. As the daughter of Chinese immigrants, Audrey always felt distanced from her peers both by her appearance (and the casual racism that went with that) and her parents's lack of knowledge of how to be American parents. She also rebelled against her mother's expectations and refused to learn Mandarin or eat the foods her parents prepared. Returning isn't something she's happy about. But as she runs into people she knew, spends some time with the guy she had a crush on and fights with her mother, she's learning about herself and how impossible it is to truly leave the past behind.

This novel started slowly, but by the halfway mark, I was having trouble putting it down. I'd be thrown out of the story by the tension between the author mentioning specific places that exist in Peoria, Illinois, but then having other specific places, like the sizable airport, not exist. The author grew up in this area and her own experience makes Audrey's adolescence feel very real. As she struggles against the ideas about her past that she's told herself, she begins to see that the truth might be more complex than she's imagined and that having a central place to call home, no matter how often or infrequent the visits is important. The writing in this novel was good, with the light touch that gradually gives way to a deeper exploration of Audrey's complicated relationship to where she grew up.

Read it in one day and basically one sitting, then went to a book release event with the author where she said part of why she wrote the book was to have something to hold up to other people and say “do you feel this way too?” Safe to say that my answer would be a definitive yes.

As a first generation ABC, this book was relatable on so many levels for me - I even live in Brooklyn and have the same initials as the main character. The dynamics of filial piety, feeling othered in your home country, feeling distant from your “home self” all resonated deeply with me. Part of me wished that the love triangle hadn’t been such a big part of the plot as I felt it distracted from the diaspora themes that resonated with me more, but I recognize that it was also a plot device for the purposes of the main character’s growth. Overall, this was an excellent and deeply moving debut and I look forward to reading whatever Delia Cai writes next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Audrey Zhou hated growing up in small town Illinois. She hated being one of a little handful of non-white students at her high school, hated how her parents were thoroughly immigrant Chinese, hated how her mother seemed to expect Audrey to fulfill all of her mother’s own unrealized dreams, and conform to unrealistic expectations. She couldn’t wait to get out of there. Once high school was over, she spent one last summer hanging out with the boy she’d been crushing on for years, and then sped away. Now she lives in New York. She’s successful, a sales rep at a high end magazine, with a gorgeous fiancé whose parents not only adore her, but own homes in upstate New York and are helping them buy a brownstone.

Her father is having a relatively minor medical procedure and asks his only child to come. Audrey’s fiancé is up for a week in Illinois, so what can she do? Reluctantly they go for what ends up being a life-shattering week, one in which Audrey is forced to examine her conclusions and view her origins in a fresh light.

Central Places is at its core a coming-of-age novel–although not in the way that’s usually meant. It’s really about that moment in young adulthood when we have enough distance to look back at our childhoods and our parents and see them whole, and see that (in most cases) our parents were never as powerful nor as impossible as we believed them to be, and our circumstances were hard but maybe not as unique as they seemed at the time. Delia Cai does an excellent job of showing a young woman going through these realizations. Audrey is relatable, with plenty of all-too-realistic blind spots about her own reality, and a strong arc of growth. A timely and well-written story.

This novel does not explore the complexities between mothers and daughters, but an immigrant identity as well. While confronting her past after moving away as far as possible, Audrey wonders which version of herself is the real one.

I have a huge problem yet understanding of Audrey and what she feels. Perhaps it is a reflection of myself and how I cultivated a life far removed from my past and I chose to close that door. That being said, I felt Audrey is complex and hard to like. She blames everything on everyone. Something I do not do, thankfully. Similar to me, she walks the line of dual heritage. Being Asian and conforming to the old Chinese beliefs, and being as far removed and trying to fit into a world where our parents do not quite comprehend and do not seemingly want to is hard.

It is hard for me to write a full review at this moment because so many things are going through my mind. It would make for an excellent book club read because it will spark many conversations. Love Audrey or hate her, she is a reflection of all those with immigrant parents, and still struggling to fit in.

Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Writing Style: 4/5
Predictable and full of cliches: 4/5
Entertainment - 4/5
Recommend: 4/5

Many thanks go to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for my digital copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I like what Delia Cai did with this novel. As an Asian-American reader myself, I think it's important for us to have flawed, imperfect, even unlikeable representation. While I found Audrey to be generally unlikeable, I appreciate the way the author portrayed her and even felt seen by some aspects of her characterization and growth. I also liked how coastal elitism was depicted. The characters in this story were well-developed and realistic, and the pacing was very consistent as well. Although the ending wrapped everything up a little too quickly and nicely, I did enjoy the uplifting feeling it brought. Overall, I'd recommend this book if you don't mind a frustrating protagonist and want to read something that hits almost too close to home.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an e-ARC of Central Places, available everywhere now.

Alexa, play "tis the damn season" by Taylor Swift.

It's been eight years since Audrey was last in Hickory Grove, Il., and what better time to re-open old wounds than at the holiday season? When her fiancé suggests a trip back to her tiny hometown, she begrudgingly agrees, seeing it as a chance to show her parents and the community that she became someone of substance, a feat that would have been impossible to achieve had she stayed home. When she gets there, however, she understands why people say you can't go home again. Being surrounded by the remnants of her past simply becomes another way to make new, more hurtful mistakes.

In New York, she could pretend that she no longer cared about the weight of her mother's slights and expectations, that she no longer thought about the friendships she abandoned, and of course, she had her fiancé -- why would she think about an unrequited crush from high school after all this time? But at home, her old life and her new self are on a collision course to derail everything she's worked hard to achieve. Will she be able to escape the trip with minimal damage to others and most importantly, herself?

Like many other readers, I thought Audrey was an unlikable character. Oftentimes, she was more upset that she was being held accountable for her decisions rather than understanding how her choices hurt someone. This was particularly evident in her interactions with her mother. There was a scene in the novel where Audrey spent the night at a friend's house, unconcerned that her parents would be worried when they couldn't reach her during a blizzard because her phone had died. When her mother confronted her about what happened, Audrey used the fight as an opportunity to begrudge her mother about all the ways she'd failed her. I wanted to shake her for the lack of consideration she showed her family, fiancé, and friends. What was encouraging about Audrey, though, was by the end of the novel, she seemed to be showing signs of growth and coming into adulthood. Despite her age (25), the novel felt like a real coming-of-age story.

I appreciated the author for the way she tackled an extremely messy character as well as the complex family dynamics of an immigrant family. I'd definitely give her work a try again.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest rating and review.

This book was angsty, messy, emotional, and, at times, difficult to read. That being said, the characters were all so incredibly real and believable. While I didn’t especially love any of the characters, they all made me feel extremely real emotions. The first half of this book dragged on and felt a bit repetitive, and the second half was just a big ball of emotional turmoil. I did very much enjoy the end of this book, as there wasn’t any sort of clear resolution, rather a showing of growth and development amount several of the characters.

Audrey Zhou is a 27 year old Chinese American woman who grew up in a small town in central Illinois. Wanting to get far away from her hometown and her parents, she left for college and then later moved to New York to build the life she always wanted. After getting engaged, she returns to Hickory Grove after 8 long years to introduce her fiancé, Ben, to her Chinese immigrant parents and also to be there for her father's medical procedure.

As a Vietnamese American, I was naturally drawn to the premise of this story. When Audrey returns home, she runs into her high school friend and crush, Kyle. This brings with it a lot of suppressed emotions and feelings Audrey chose to avoid rather than confront. Add to that the fact that she didn't keep in touch with any of her friends when she left Hickory Grove, and also having a very strained relationship with her parents, particularly her mother, it makes for a stressful trip back home and one that causes Audrey to contemplate her life choices.

The writing is good as is the flow of the dialogue especially since it was Delia Cai's debut novel. The author also did a great job of writing the difficult relationship between Audrey and her mother. I could feel the tension between them.

While I understand where the author was going with regards to the topic of racism, it was written with a heavy hand causing it to feel more stereotypical, and I prefer these topics to feel more authentic. For example, while waiting for their flight at LaGuardia, Audrey strikes up a conversation with a woman. The woman states how Audrey's skin is stunning and says, If you don't mind me asking, where are you from? Audrey gets all flustered from this question and Ben says, "If you're wondering what kind of Asian she is, that's really none of your f*cking business". This is just one of many examples like this. Honestly, I had to reread this because their reaction to this simple question was so over the top and uncalled for in my opinion. I have been asked this question so many times in my life and NEVER have I taken it to be a racist question. I even asked my Vietnamese mom what she thought of it and she laughed and said it has never bothered her either.

The story is told solely from Audrey's POV, but she was my biggest issue. I found her unlikable to the extreme. I wanted to root for her, I wanted her to redeem herself but in the end it was just too late because by that time, I despised her. She was immature, petulant and loved to blame everyone else for everything that happened to her despite her failure to communicate openly with anyone. Although her mother was a tough pill to swallow and not necessarily likable herself, the way Audrey spoke to and treated her parents was disrespectful and appalling. Trust me, I know it can be difficult growing up with an immigrant parent or in her case parents. I definitely didn't see eye to eye with my mom growing up especially given the differences in our cultural upbringings, but at least I tried to understand where she was coming from and would never speak to her in such a way.

All that being said, I liked the story and the point the author was trying to get across. I just prefer a more genuine and realistic delivery. Despite my issues, I liked the book and would definitely read another by this author. 3 stars.

This sort of reminds me of if Sweet Home Alabama was replaced with all Chinese representation and make it Midwest. I really liked this book, I think some of the hometown stuff was a little cheesy but anyone who has left small town will appreciate that.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Audrey left home for college and then stayed away, to get away from the midwestern town she railed against and from her parents, particularly her mother. Now she's living the high life in NYC, with a high flying photojournalist boyfriend from a wealthy family, ready to get married. Although she hasn't been home in 8 years, it's time for Ben to come and meet the parents.

Things don't go particularly well, either with her mother or with Ben dealing with her old friends(?) and the town. Sadly, the more we get to know of Audrey, the less I liked her. We hear how her best friend came to see her at college on her birthday, and she brutally made fun of her in front of her new cooler friends. And, sadly, it doesn't appear that she has grown at all - she still seems to be a terribly self-centered, unthinking child. I found it hard to believe that she wasn't an immature high schooler! And, while Ben was acting all sweet and solicitous of her parents for awhile, I didn't much care for him either - particularly when he just decided that his parents were going to buy them the house that HE lked and that she had already said she didn't like. Sorry, they just seemed like a pair of self-centered kids.

I guess I'm just not the audience for this book. If there had been any real growth, I might have found Audrey growing on me, but I just disliked her more and more as the book went on.

Audrey Zhou left Hickory Grove, the small midwestern town where she grew up. Audrey, a child of Chinese immigrants, struggled with her identity in the predominantly white town. When she finished high school, she left and established the life she'd always wanted in New York City. However, she is soon called back to Hickory Grove to introduce her fiance, Ben, to her parents. Her carefully buried past and perfectly constructed present collide in this heart-wrenching reckoning.

This story explores the notion that we can't go home again. It hones in on the idea that no matter how hard we try to escape the places and people who form us, we can't really get away. Many of the impacts the places and people made will linger and rear their heads in unexpected moments. At the end of the day, the things that bore us are in our DNA. How we handle this reality, well, depends on the person we are.

I really enjoyed this story and, as someone who was desperate to get out of a small town and then never really went back, I related to it. I read some reviews that said Audrey was annoying and critical. I thought she had moments of this, as we all do, but I thought it was mostly a defense mechanism. Her eagerness to leave meant to didn't fully let anyone in so she wouldn't have anyone or anything to miss. What Audrey learns is that this doesn't always work as intended.

I think readers who have ever lost friendships, left and returned to their hometown, or got what they wanted only to find it wasn't what they needed will enjoy this and resonate with the story.

I received an advance review copy for free and am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you @Netgalley for my gifted copy.

Central Places is an amazing story that takes the reader on an adventure through the past. Decisions made, regrets, the reality that we are shaped by our past no matter how much we don't like it. This book does an excellent job of exploring complicated relationships, family tensions, embarrassing events from the teen years, and lost friendships.

I liked Audrey and Ben's dynamic but could tell something was amiss the more I read. While Ben is a really nice guy, accomodating kind of guy, he doesn't really listen to Audrey's wants. Insert Kyle (the one who got away) and more tension builds as Audrey questions what might have been. Being back in her home town and unable to hide who she had become from those who knew her, the more she doesn't like the person she's become.

I liked the writing style and will definitely read more from this author!

𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙫𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙮 𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙮 𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙬𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚-𝙩𝙤-𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨, 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝘾𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨, 𝙬𝙝𝙤𝙢 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙜𝙜𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚. 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙖𝙬 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚- 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙃𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙂𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚- 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙖𝙬 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣?

Audrey Zhou grew up with the high expectations of her ‘very’ Chinese immigrant parents, exacerbated by coming of age in Hickory Grove, a ‘blot of the map’ kind of place. She never felt fully understood and returning now, after an 8-year absence with her fiancé, New York native Ben in tow, she is afraid of the impression her parents will leave. It is impossible to hide her roots, to forget her mistakes, the scenery, even the roads she used to travel, the former friends she turned her back on are dredging up the girl she used to be. Then she runs into her high school crush, Kyle, the last person she wanted to see and the weight of her feelings for her so long ago is something she never quite admitted to Ben. Not the small humiliations and irrational belief that they shared an affinity, even while he was dating her friend. Her college years and New York life were a rebirth for her, but coming back feels like blowing up the new person she has created. Marrying Ben is the life she is meant to want, with his family money and class, so why do the old feelings for Kyle return, the boy her mother thought of as ‘low quality’. Audrey spends a lot of time examining class, how some people never have to struggle to rise above their station, that the best things and places are a guarantee, and they don’t have to measure every choice, like she does, also feeling she owes her parents, who came to America to give their child a better life. Her mother, though, never seems to be satisfied with her accomplishments, the two just cannot connect, without disappointing each other. There was a time she was beloved of her, before she was old enough to become ‘a project’, as the story moves along, it’s easy to see why her Chinese parents push her to reach for the best, knowing all too well what struggles they have faced. The mechanics of parents’ marriage is another inexplicable part of her life, a curious love that she often misunderstands.

What works best in this story are the assumptions and judgements people make about Audrey based on her ethnicity. It’s the little things that make her feel like she doesn’t quite belong, identity is multifaceted when your cultural differences are on display. That there is judgement within one’s own people is just another added layer, when she doesn’t speak Mandarin and therefore appears to lack her Chinese worth. In the quote I shared she ponders if Ben will never see her the same way again after meeting her parents, where she came from, it is a tell how how fresh the pain of being different still is, that despite all her climbing and hardwork Audrey still doesn’t value herself, sees Ben as being somehow better than her. Growing up in a small town, where most people are the same, one’s ethnic background can feel like something to be ashamed of. It’s wrong, of course it’s wrong, but when you’re young the truth is most people just want to fit in somewhere. When she was young, she struggled with self-worth, in many ways her rise and success are another form of disappearing. Audrey is embarrassed by who she used to be and has a lot of unresolved issues with her parents and old friends. Kristen in particular, her best friend from childhood, isn’t about to make it easy on her. They have been out of each other’s lives since Audrey cast aside her past. Ben begins to catch wind of something more to the story between Audrey and Kyle, not understanding why she hates and has buried her past so deeply. It drives a wedge between them and gives her ample time to think about the way she sees her past and how she will move forward with her future. Does she want the life she has built, what exactly is she reaching for? How bad was her hometown and the life she all but vanished from? Just as revealing is the way she misunderstands so much about her own parents. What is the true measure of success and how does one’s culture and family mold who we chose to be or, more to the point, who we are often forced to become? Central Places is a rich debut, charged with insight that penetrates how we see ourselves and our family, particularly a child of immigrants. Yes, a good read.

Published January 31, 2023

Random House

Ballantine

Central Places captures all of the angst and emotion involved when one returns to the place where they grew up. It has a little bit of everything that we all can relate to: friendship, family tensions, and how it feels to grow up. I enjoyed it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this ARC.

I absolutely loved this debut novel from Delia Cai. Her use of language is enchanting, and the book really evoked a strong sense of place. I loved the brief time span covered and how that added tension to the narrative. And as someone from a small town who now lives in NYC, there were many emotions and moments I could relate to in Audrey's journey. Already bought this as a gift for my sister, eagerly awaiting Cai's next book!

literary fiction has always been hit or miss with me, but I'm always inclined to those written by nonwhite people, women especially. this is a gorgeous study in one woman's life left behind, at times indulgent but ultimately very compelling

4.25 I really enjoyed this read. Audrey is complicated and tough to understand and maybe tough to root for, but you do. Her relationship with her parents was written in such a nuanced, relatable way. Her relationship with her white fiance had me smirking or nodding my head. The writing was really great- I was underlining in my ebook like crazy. It's Tis the Damn Season without being a romance. Very comparable reading experience for me to White Ivy.