house of kwa is a very interesting family drama a la Pachinko, but with a strong sense of Knives Out-like familial relationships (though not a thriller)

Thanks to Harper Collins and Mimi Kwa for the chance to read ‘House of Kwa’! I went into this book unusually blind (distracted by the beautiful cover) and embarrassingly didn’t realize it was a memoir until almost halfway through the book. I was incredibly worried about the characters until then and I think that added to my enjoyment. I understand that this is the author’s family story and respect the vulnerability of how her story is told. That said, the absence of any type of consequences (even just emotionally) for some of the family members made me want to send some codependency self-help books to Australia.

It certainly is difficult to apply a star rating to someone's depiction of their life. This was a beautiful and heartbreaking story. My heart hurt for Mimi in different parts. I thank her for sharing her stories with us.

I find myself in the minority in my opinion about this book. It's important to acknowledge the author's remarkable life and family history, overcoming substantial odds. I struggled to connect with the story mainly because of her choice to use the present tense in the narrative of actual historical details about her ancestors. The initial sections felt hurried, marked by huge time jumps within paragraphs. There were a lot of seemingly irrelevant details that eventually led nowhere. At the same time, she skipped relevant information, making it challenging to follow the narrative. Thank you to NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book to review.