How much did I love this book?!? This will be a heavy contender for one of my favorite books of the year. First, I love the diversity of this novel, opening my life up to experiences that are not my own yet are (to varying degrees) relatable. Second, though I will never be able to fully relate to the experiences of the first American-born child of immigrant parents or to anyone that identifies as non-white. But, as I mentioned, Delia Cai managed to relay those experiences in a way that any reader can find something to relate to. Also, Delia Cai pulls off something I find very rare in giving me a main character that isn’t wholly likable but who you can’t help but root for. I think, as a 40-something year old, it’s easy to forget what it’s like in your 20s. Nobody has it all figured out at that age. But this novel perfectly captures that point in every person’s life where they learn that their parents are not perfect and all the animosity we built in our teens has been misplaced bc we never really understood our parents. It’s a conflicting time. And this book, more than once, made me tear up seeing the MC and her parents start to bridge that gap of misunderstanding and causing me to reflect on that same time period with my parents. Such a BEAUTIFUL, beautiful, moving novel that I will be recommending all year long.

If I had one “critique” it would be the verbosity of the book. At fewer than 300 pages, this book has A LOT of words and made it a slower read than I expected and that I normally like. But, after getting my expectations adjusted and buckling myself in, I found myself savoring every word. Not a one was wasted on this reader!

I loved this book! As an Asian-American daughter of an immigrant I could relate to Audrey’s feelings of isolation and not understanding or getting along with her parents. The interracial relationship commentary is subtle and wonderful as well. I love how much Audrey grows from being forced back to her hometown and how much the reader gets to follow along for this journey. Wonderful book, great, calm, slower pacing that really let me sink into her perspective and feel like I was there. Recommend this to all my part-Asian friends.

Way back in November, 𝗖𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗟 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗦 by Delia Cai was the first 2023 book I read. I was hoping this story of a twenty something Chinese American woman taking her fiancé home to meet her immigrant parents would start my reading year off right. Audrey Zhou had not stepped foot in her midwestern hometown since the day she left for college, had only seen her parents a handful of times, and had lost touch with all her local friends. Audrey liked it that way, but her fiancé wanted to know her parents and glimpse the place she came from.⁣
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While that was all well and good, a nice set up even, for me it got bogged down in Audrey, herself. She was just so dogged on her mother and the people she went to school with, so unable to see things from anyone else’s point of view. She had such little faith in herself that even after success in NYC, Audrey still constantly doubted herself and anyone who cared about her. It grew tiresome…and repetitive. I wanted to shake her! While this is a debut novel with strong writing, the story itself felt a little too YA for my tastes. So, my 2023 reading year didn’t begin on the high note I’d hoped for, but I was left interested enough that I’d definitely try Delia Cai again.⁣
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Thanks to #BallantineBooks for an ARC of #CentralPlaces.

The description drew me in, and I was curious as to what would be explored and at stake within the novel. I am not one who believes a protagonist needs to be "likable" (nor do any of the characters) in order for the book to be successful, but sometimes it's nice to have a sense of what we are rooting for--an understanding, a transformation, etc. The protagonist and her fiancee are a pair of selfish characters who come off, initially, as good people, though never do they make outright awful choices so much as there are quiet tantrums throughout. The mother and daughter never change the way they interact--it's unpleasantness all around. There is a shift towards the end of the book, but I don't feel the sequence of events that lead up to it are deserving of that shift.

Going home for the holidays can be stressful for anyone, but for Audrey there's an added layer, or 12. She hasn't seen her parents in YEARS, and she's returning (reluctantly) so she can not only introduce them to her new fiance Ben, but also so she can be there for her father who has to have an unexpected medical procedure.

As we go home to Hickory Grove with Audrey, we share some flashbacks to what life was like growing up as an asian woman in a very white town. We see the stress of living with a demanding mother, and live the present day tension of trying to maintain some semblance of a relationship with the woman that pushed her so hard when she was growing up.

I could FEEL Audrey's pain while I read this. I found myself clenching my jaw more times than I can count. It took me back a few years and reminded me of how life felt when I was younger and everything seemed so complicated and I felt like I had to figure it all out on my own. I really enjoyed the way Cai brings you into the story and makes you empathize with Audrey as she navigates being home for the holidays.

I really wanted to like Delia Cai's debut, Central Places, but that main character was absolutely insufferable. I'm all about have an unlikeable protagonist, but she was so immature and self-absorbed, I almost couldn't take it anymore.

Of all the things to love about this novel, the pace was my favorite. The plot was lovely, the characters were real and raw and vulnerable, and the setting was familiar to anyone who has ever tried to “go home again,” but the true beauty for me was the comfortable reading pace. I kept telling myself I would just read one more chapter and, while nothing terribly exciting ever happened, I just wanted to stay wrapped up in the story a little bit longer. A sparkling debut!

Central Places is a coming of age tale told by Audrey Zhou, who is returning to the rural small-town of Hickory Grove, Illinois that she couldn’t wait to leave, with her shiny new fiancé Ben in tow. Audrey and Ben live in NYC, where he works as a too-hip photojournalist who can’t find coffee that meets his standards for taste and fair-trade certification. In the way of a fairy tale, in coming home for Christmas for her father’s endoscopy, Audrey discovers that her parents are not hopelessly embarrassing, and that Hickory Grove may just be a central place to which she will be forever connected. Happy and sad, Audrey has a great sense of humor about her circumstances, and you really root for her to find a place where she belongs. 4.0 out of 5.0 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a courtesy advanced copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Delia Cai, and publisher Ballantine Books for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

Central Places had the potential to be a book that I loved, but unfortunately, it fell a bit flat for me. I adore books about women in their twenties who have complicated relationships with both their family and their hometowns, as that's something I can relate to first-hand. I also love reading diverse books, and Cai's writing has such an authentic voice that came through in a lovely way. The book started out strong and engaging, but for my personal taste, it got a bit too wrapped up in the melodrama. I wanted to see more about Audrey's confliction about who she was and even how her relationship was with her parents, but instead, the book was mostly focused on a strange love triangle situation between her present-day fiancé and her high school crush. It seemed a bit immature overall, and I got tired of reading about the back and forth. The self-awareness was not there for Audrey at all, and she wasn't really called out for her behavior (which was increasingly negative) until towards the end. Even then, it seemed like things wrapped up neatly without Audrey really having to focus on exactly who she was-- things just kind of worked out while still allowing her to be pretty much the same person with no major growth. This book definitely had potential, and there were parts that I really enjoyed, but it needed to be a little longer and a lot more developed in terms of character relationships.

I loved this read - the culture, the palpable pain and angst that jumped off the page. It's a journey of self discovery, family, love, and inner turmoil. I'm stingy with five stars, but Central Places earned them all!

Audrey Zhou grew up in the middle of nowhere Illinois. After high school, she runs off to Chicago and ends up NYC. She hasn't been home in years. After 8 years away, she comes back with a white fiancee. She's not keen on introducing him to her family but here we are. This book is about wanting to run away from who you are and going back to realize how much you have (or maybe haven't?) changed.

I didn't expect to connect with this book as much as I did. I grew up in Chicago in a fairly diverse community but I could still feel Audrey's shame of having immigrant parents that just weren't like the white kids' parents. Your mother making you "weird" food while your father tries to make "American" food and not quite succeeding. It harkened back to my time growing up and made me realize what a jerk I had been growing up. I should have embraced my upbringing, It wasn't easy for my parents to give up everything and start all over in Chicago and I should have loved and admired them even more for taking on that challenge. It's hard to see that when you're a kid and even when you're an adult just wanting to fit in so badly. The little details are what nailed it for me, I'm not sure who else will get emotional reading about folding up a used paper towel to use 3 more times. I still do this and know where this habit came from.

book surprised me — beginning set me up for one thing, middle threw me for a ride and I hated the MC, and then I found myself rooting for her wellbeing in the final third of the book. the narrative storytelling was enticing, introspective, and captures the heartfeltness of well-meaning people who love us no matter how much we screw up.

Central Places follows Audrey Zhou, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, as she travels with her fiancé to visit her family in Illinois over the winter holidays. When she gets home she struggles with facing her strained relationship with her parents, her high school crush, her former best friend, and everything she hated about growing up in her small town.

I was really looking forward to this book, but the reading experience I ended up having was incredibly anticlimactic. There wasn’t anything in Central Places that I haven’t already seen in a million other books. Usually that would be fine. I don’t think every book has to have something brand new and unique to it. But I do think it should’ve been at least a little entertaining. Or educational. Or SOMETHING! Instead it was just chapter after chapter of a story I felt like I’d already read. I would have DNFd it if I didn’t need to write a review.

I think a common complaint people will have about Central Places is that Audrey is unlikable. In my opinion she has no good qualities. Had Audrey been a more likable person I think it would’ve been easier for me to be invested in her life. A lot of Central Places is focused on Audrey trying repair or find closure for some relationships from her past, but I didn’t think she deserved either closure or repaired relationships. Not everything that happened to Audrey was her fault, but she definitely was a terrible friend and fiancé, so whenever she broke down about her friends or her fiancé being upset with her I didn’t care. I’m not someone who needs likable main characters, but I think a book like this one needs to give the reader a reason to care about the main character’s happiness.

I want to end by acknowledging that this book was likely not written for me. I believe it was intentionally written for American POC (especially Asians) who are children of immigrants. So I don’t think you should place very much weight on my opinion when deciding whether or not you want to read this.

Central Places by Delia Cai is a thoughtful debut that explores what it means to come home again after being away for so long. Audrey Zhou left her small town 2 hours outside of Chicago after graduating high school without looking back. After college she moved to New York City and became the *NYC version* of herself, quickly forgetting the Hickory Grove Audrey she once was. In Manhattan she meets her now fiancé Ben, a born and bred New Yorker, who has shown her a version of life that she can't wait to grow together towards. When they fly to Hickory Grove to visit Audrey's parents, who she hasn't been home to see in 8 years, it becomes quickly clear that the person she tried so hard to leave behind can't truly be forgotten. The future that she was planning for may no longer fit the person she is confronted with.

I enjoyed the premise of this book - as a child of immigrant parents there was a lot of this that I could relate to and find connection with. I found Audrey to be hard to relate to - I wanted her to be more self aware and empathetic throughout which complicated the reading experience for me. Overall this felt fresh and interesting and it gave me a lot to think about.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Ballantine for the ARC. Central Places is out now!

Central Places by Delia Cai

This book involves a 25-year-old Chinese American woman, named Audrey and the struggles she has with her parents, mostly her mother, who are Chinese immigrants. After high school and college, Audrey moves to New York City to help her forget her past life in Hickory Grove, Illinois. She leaves behind her parents, who she rarely visits as well as her best friend Kristen and Kyle, who she had a crush on forever. She tries to forget that life moving forward. She found a well-paid job working for a magazine, she is currently engaged to Ben, a photojournalist whose parents are exactly who Audrey always dreamed of when growing up. When Audrey’s father begins to have some medical issues, she is forced to return to her childhood home. She brings with her her Manhattan raised fiancé Ben to meet her parents and to see where she came from. Ben knows very little about her life before. She is embarrassed about her parents and their immigrant ways. While taking Ben around town, Audrey happens to meet up with Kyle. Have her feelings towards him changed? Does she still have that crush on him? During this week at home, Audrey is forced to confront many issues. How she deals with them is the heart of the story. At times, I had empathy for her, at other times, I considered her to be a bratty little child who always needs to get her own way. As her Manhattan life begins to unravel, Audrey needs to look inside herself and make major decisions.
I appreciated that by the end of the story, Audrey begins to grow up and act more like an adult.
The flow of the story made this book an easy read. The author grabbed you from the start and you wanted to continue to discover how Audrey confronts her many issues.
Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC of Central Places in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Central Places is a well-written story about a second generation Chinese immigrant daughter who finally returns to her parents' home in small town Illinois from New York City. Audrey Zhou is 28 and has built a life for herself in New York. For the first time in 8 years, she returns home to see her parents and confront her past. Her experience is very relatable and Delia Cai does a wonderful job illustrating the regression many of us go through when we're with our families.

Her parents moved to Illinois from China before she was born, seeking better lives. Audrey has always felt stuck between two cultures (American and Chinese) and now two places (New York and Illinois). At the suggestion of her white fiancé, affluent New Yorker, Ben, she returns home for her father's medical procedure and to introduce them.

I was drawn in immediately, but Audrey's character could be incredibly frustrating at times. She thinks very selfishly and acts in self-destructive ways. I enjoyed her character arc and found it interesting that she couldn't mature until she examined her childhood and relationships with her parents. Though she is nearing 30, I would consider this a coming-of-age story as she learns to let go of things that are no longer serving her. I listened to the audiobook, which was perfectly narrated by Natalie Naudus.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

Central Places is witty and heartfelt, perfectly capturing the feeling of going home to a place that’s suddenly new and foreign. I could feel myself relating with the main character throughout and understood her struggles. My one criticism would be that it felt a little slow (not in a literary fiction way, but in a “it’s getting hard to continue” way). Overall a great read!

Audrey Zhou has worked hard to leave her high school persona behind. She's moved to New York City, gotten a high-paying job, and fallen in love. She also hasn't been home in years, so when her dad calls saying he's having a procedure she decides it's time to go back...with her fiancé. Back home, she regresses into her teenage self but also starts to examine how she got where she is. Can she rebuild her relationships without losing herself?

I really loved "Central Places" by Delia Cai. I found myself being able to relate to many parts of the story, and this was something that had intrigued me from the start. While the main character, Audrey, could be frustrating at times, it's important to acknowledge the array of emotions and cultural shifts she makes and feels per day. The amount of complexities that went into the writing of each character really stood out to me and made the novel shine. I recommend "Central Places" to anyone but especially those who have gone through or are in similar situations as the protagonist.

As the child of first generation immigrants, I found this book very enlightening. The experience of living in two worlds was very true to life. It is not always easy living in two different worlds - one world of school and friendships and another world of a native language and culture that you live in. I highly recommend this book for anyone who grew up that way.