I loved the cover, title and synopsis and was excited to read this. The writing is top notch, and some parts of it were interesting, particularly the present time period. The past was not as engaging, and at times the transitions felt jarring. Chang is a good writer, however, and I would read her work again. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I enjoyed the two different stories of two generations in this novel and how they impact one another - the story of Rita and Jing from Taipei, who emigrate to the U.S; and the stories of their daughters, Narisa and Eleanor, who grow up in New York.

Eleanor quits her PhD program in neuroscience; Narisa disappears for good while a teen, after one too many fights with her disapproving parents. Only Eleanor and her mother Rita are left after her father Jing leaves the U.S. and forms a new family in Taipei.

I am left with amazement and dismay at the family dynamics, especially that created by the parents. I wondered how Eleanor would cope with that history of people leaving and with her mother Rita, who is left alone with the girls in the U.S. when Jing leaves.

The novel tells two stories - the history of the parents and their extended family in NY, and that of the girls raised in the U.S. I found both stories fascinating.

A Quitter’s Paradise features two major storylines - one in the present where Eleanor is seems to be making increasingly poor decisions after quitting her PhD program and another focused on her parent’s and childhood.

I really liked the present day plot and wished the story had focused more on the present Eleanor including the future of her work, her relationship with her best friend, her relationship with her husband, and her grieving her mother’s recent death. I would recommend this to anyone looking for great writing and a story of family dynamics.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

I found this book on NetGalley and decided to give it a try because it was available in my region and I didn't need to apply to get approved for a copy.

I thought part of it were interesting, while others dragged. The present time storyline was definitely more engaging, and I wished the book had focused more on that (Eleanor's relationship with her husband, her affair with their co-worker Samir, and the rodent she stole from the lab).

The book alternates between this present timeline and a past timeline focused on Eleanor's parents and her childhood. The past timeline was not as engaging. It was confusing because the timelines would switch at random, and the back and forth jumps meant most of the character development was lost. Some storylines gets resolved off the page or with a throwaway sentence.

The writing was very good however, and I would definitely read another book by this author with a more linear storyline. However, I think there are readers who will still enjoy "A Quitter's Paradise", since the writing flows well and is very accessible. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for making the copy widely available!

This novel is a lovely addition to the genre of reflections on domestic life. I was most interested in the present-day portions, absolutely drawn to the Eleanor and the ways in which she was navigating grief and life. Early on, where the book looks at the dynamics between Eleanor and her mother were really captivating, and I would have liked more exploration of that relationship throughout the book. The flashes back to her father's story were least compelling to me--as a character, he felt predictably terrible, aloof, abusive, and absent.

I love a book heavy on ambiguity--it lets my imagination roam--and this book was generous in this regard. I appreciated how few answers it gave despite the myriad questions it raised. I also enjoyed how it portioned out information--dropping consequential answers as though they were nothing, just laid out alongside the mundane or that which we should already know. The way Chang did this added a compelling rhythm to the book--interspersing the minute with the high-magnitude. It felt like a reflection of how, when we're living our lives, we so often don't know which moments will be major.

Eleanor as a child and as an adult was really fun to read about. I didn't always understand her motivations (and why should I?) but I loved cringing along with her decisions that often made a mess of things. Chang's concept of the Quitter's Paradise and Eleanor's journey there were compelling. I don't know what to make of the last third of the book--her voice seems muted and her relationships lose their contour. Because of that, the book ended with a fizzle for me. But the first 2/3 were a captivating and quick-paced read.

Eleanor Liu is working for her husband's lab. She is perfectly fine, even though she dropped out of her Ph.D program and has a lot less autonomy then she thinks. As she tells her story, there are insets of her sister, mother and father's stories as well. It's a wide reaching story about an Asian family and the choices they make. As Eleanor is the most impulsive she is more or less the star. It's a quick and enthralling read for anyone interested in contemporary fiction stories!
#Zando #AQuittersParadise #ElyshaChang

A Quitter’s Paradise is one of those books that I’m not entirely sure I liked, but I will think about for a while. It transcends enjoyment.

Eleanor gets married to Ellis, her mother dies, and she drops out of her PhD program. Ellis hires her as a lab assistant at his postdoc, where she officially helps him and unofficially conducts her own research. And everything is fine, until she accidentally sets the lab on fire, steals a marmoset, and tries to make sense of her life without her mother. Alternating with the story of her parents’ migration to the US and her childhood, Eleanor is just trying to figure out who she is amongst all of the chaos.

Eleanor is kind of a flat character, but it works well: she’s accommodating, quiet, and probably a little depressed. She makes terrible and inexplicable choices, but her air of casualness about everything is more endearing than obnoxious. This is a book in which lots happens and also nothing at all. It’s impressive how Chang manages to elude any concrete statements in the novel, to match with how I felt about it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.
Unfortunately I didn't feel moved by the book. I would have liked it more had it been only focusing on Eleanor and her mother. The different povs shifted my interests and I didn't enjoy it. The writing is at times smooth yet superfluous at times. It's one of the books that doesn't have a definite plot.

This book was sooooo good! I found myself laughing, and then crying, and then feeling happy! I saw so much of myself in the main character, it was just really heartwarming and important to read! I finished this book in one day, which is fairly unusual for me, and I believe other readers would do the same! Well done, I really appreciate the advanced copy!

This immigrant American story about the struggles of a Chinese family as they try to fit in, is thought-provoking and took time to read and contemplate. The narrative switches between three time periods were sometimes rather difficult to follow, partly due to the Chinese names which were unfamiliar to me. Likewise some of the secrets the family kept close were culturally different perhaps from the secrets more common in Western literature, but all of this is why it is so good to read well-written novels by people from cultures not our own. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an advance digital review copy.

6/10

Maybe I’m just not smart enough to understand this book. Maybe there’s a profound message or Pulitzer Prize like symbolic story hidden in here.

But probably not.

According to the description, this book is about Eleanor. But it isn’t really. It’s about Eleanor, and her sister, and her mother and her father and her uncle and niece.

And everybody gets their own stories.

I like the storyline about Eleanor. Actually, the first half of the book has a few interesting storylines, including how Eleanor’s parents met and got together. And how Eleanor massively failed in her drive to get a PhD.

Here are the problems though..

The chapters skip through time in seemingly random order so there doesn’t seem to be good continuity. At one moment it’s in Eleanor’s early adult life, the next moment it’s in her parents early adult life then suddenly it’s in Eleanor’s childhood.

Also, the stories just aren’t interesting after about half the book. I couldn’t wait for the book to just be over.

I’ve read many good books about Asian families and the cultural challenges they face both within their family dynamic and outside it - as a result of immigration to the US. This is not one of the good ones.

Pass.

Oh, the description also says it’s “hilarious”. I didn’t laugh once.

#netgalley #aquittersparadise

A Quitter's Paradise follows Eleanor, who is simultaneously experiencing failure in her professional life, conflict in her romantic relationships, and grief following the death of her mother. I enjoyed Chang's prose and character development, however the pacing was a bit strange (started out so slow but ended up fast). The dual timeline added to the reading experience and connects the past with the present.

A Quitter's Paradise is touching story of a daughter's journey through grief following the loss of her mother, as well as a portrait of one immigrant family's experience of life in America. Chang masterfully details the interfamilial tensions between first and second generation immigrants in breathtaking prose, allowing the reader to empathize with even the most flawed characters. I was drawn in right away and sped through this book.

I really liked the author's writing style, and the book was easy to read, but there were some things that I didn't enjoy that much. The book alternates between the past and the present and although it was interesting learning about the main character's family background, I felt like it took me out of the story since I liked more the chapters set in the present because I wanted to know what was happening with the main character and what she would do about the whole situation. Following this, I don't really see any character development where it could have been done.
However, despite that it was an interesting book to read and since I liked the writing style in this book, I will look forward for Chang's future works.

I really enjoyed the authors writing style, intimate yet expansive. Quitter's Paradise is as rich in laughter as it is in poignant exploration of grief and longing. Will definitely keep an eye on this writers future works.

Really enjoyed this book! The premise was very well crafted, which is something literary fiction novels sometimes lack in favour of character development but with A Quitter's Paradise there was a wonderful balance between the two. I read this book in one sitting because of how much I liked it, even though it was the weekend before my finals. I'm definitely going to look out for more works by Elysha Chang in the future!

Loved the flow and pacing on this one; I got through it pretty easily and thought that the language was accessible, even when talking about academia. The split POVs work really well to provide a context about the protagonist who's introduced at first, a PhD candidate who, in a nutshell, gives up. As someone currently in graduate school and an Asian-American, I could really appreciate a book like this because it's similar to what I lived through.

A story of an unhappy woman in a stuck place in life. Eleanor is a research scientist who bends to her husband's will over her own who loses her mind and steals a research monkey. I really enjoyed this book, however the alternating storylines in the past were a little confusing, but overall an interesting and funny at times novel.

A Quitters Paradise had many great moments in the beginning and finished strong in the end, but I found that the middle of the book, the largest section, took a lot of work to follow. The back and forth between past and present did not hold my attention. The writing is beautiful, and the depth of the characters redeems this slow-paced read about family secrets, loss, and how our paths meet with those who came before us.

Thank you, Zando Projects, SJP Lit, and NetGalley, for the chance to review this book before publication.

Wow, this book was fun! It's smart, dark, and very funny. The book has a dual timeline POV and I think both worked well, though I was most compelled by the present storyline. I really appreciated the nuanced and sometimes difficult choices the characters made when it came to relationships, secrets, and being vulnerable with one another, especially when it came to difficult families and estrangement. The surprise plot point at about 50% had me totally mindblown and was super well done (I won't spoil it for everyone else, but lol). I also love the cover!!