Two vacations five years apart. A married couple from (very) different backgrounds invite their parents to join them for vacation number one.. Keru’s Chinese immigrant parents are post-Covid germaphobes with a suffering-suffused view of life, while Nate’s are outwardly friendly xenophobes from rural Appalachia. On vacation number two, nobody is invited … but some interesting people show up anyway. The whole thing is an incredibly perceptive description of what happens when people of multiple (and often conflicting) worldviews come together.

I read this shortly after reading Tamim Ansary’s “The Invention of Yesterday,” a book blaming most of history on the clashing of misunderstood worldviews (he’s not wrong). Rental House looks at this same problem at the personal level — clashing individual worldviews and the resulting problems and miscommunications. Keru’s observations and incisive analysis gets to the root of how we understand (or don’t) each other — what each person values, perceives, prioritizes and feels entitled to — things people often don’t take the time to understand even about themselves.

I found this to be a remarkably non judgmental book. The clashes developed across the board — political affiliations, race, socioeconomic class, choice of profession, and family expectations — but each person had both different opinions and different levels of investment in those opinions. Did the clash cause mild irritation or offend deeply held principles? Did one person try to understand another, or just get upset at how stubborn the other person was? Keru applied her analytic blade to herself just as often, noting when she may have overreacted to perceived slights, as an example. I appreciated the analytic vs emotional drive for understanding. Reading through someone’s pain allows an empathetic connection for the reader, but doesn’t teach anything about understanding why that someone is in pain, or how he or she (or the reader) might prevent similar pain in the future.

I like Wang’s writing style — clear, insightful, wry, and thought provoking. I also appreciate how thoroughly drawn her characters are — I feel I understand these people in ways that would take years in real life.

Just a few quotes — don’t want to give too many away :
“… An exercise that was like, shoving a square peg into a round hole, but with enough force, and with every neuron dedicated to the problem, he could smash the square peg through.”

“and this led to a heated discussion that characterized the early years of their dating – the aggressive comparison of their worldviews, which ultimately led to clarifications in their basic English vocabularies. Expats left wealthy nations to humble themselves at the altar of the world, immigrants escaped poorer nations to be the workforce of the rich. “

“…because suffering is required. To suffer is to strive and to set a bar so high that one never becomes an obstacle a a complacent. to become complacent is to become lazy and to lose one’s spirit to fight, and to lose one’s spirit to fight is to die. So, to suffer is to live. “

“Then his father chirped back a safe retort, next his mother, and Keru wondered if all white families in public acted like a set of affable birds.“

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy in exchange for honest feedback.

RENTAL HOUSE by Weike Wang (Chemistry and Joan is Okay) is another introspective and reflective look at the experiences of a young woman, Keru who generally felt, "these were her duties. To assimilate, work nonstop, make money, and provide." She and her husband, Nate who is an academic, offer separate times at their Cape Cod rental house to their parents and that proves an instructive contrast between their families and even their worldviews; for example: "Expats left wealthy nations to humble themselves at the altar of the world, immigrants escaped poorer nations to be the work force of the rich. For Nate, the word immigrant sat closer to migrant or refugee, and though an expat did move overseas for work opportunities, much like immigrants, the term also seemed to imply vacation and adventure..." The couple clearly struggles to meet the expectations of their own parents and to form connections with their in-laws in the first part of the book. In the second, they are more established in their own careers and patterns, but something is still lacking as evidenced by the uncomfortable relationship with neighbors at a second vacation home in the Catskills. "They were co-dependent, she and Nate. Without her, he lost grounding, but without him, she could be relentless and too focused." Despite the affection they show for their dog, Mantou, neither is prepared to have children, another aspect that feeds feelings of inadequacy. Like Wang's other novels, book groups would have much to discuss, including gender roles, white privilege, misogyny, and xenophobia. RENTAL HOUSE received starred reviews from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly as well as praise from book reviewers at The New York Times (perceptively noting, "Even as you flee a family, you carry it along with you, in memories of how and who you learned to be in the past.") and The Washington Post ("As in any good novel, the answers are few, but the questions multiply.").

It's wonderful when you encounter a book that gives you insight into a human experience other than your own and also makes you feel incredibly seen. That's what happened when I read Rental House by Weike Wang. It's a slim, funny, and astute novel about an interracial marriage between Keru and Nate, who are approaching their 40s and, by choice, don't have children. As a woman in my mid-30s who is married without children, I couldn't help but love Wang's portrayal of this dynamic in a marriage. She explores the question of what makes a family when you decide not to have children. I loved that despite having to explain their child-free status repeatedly (relatable), these characters stand firm in what is right for them. I loved the representation of that dynamic and think we need more empowering stories like this as folks think critically about whether parenthood is for them.

Racial, cultural and class tensions come to a head as a young couple vacation with their families. This is a darkly comedic look into the complexities of marriage, xenophobia, and societal expectations. It simmers until it boils.

"She and her parents had a finite amount of time left together, and from now until one of their deaths, that time would be cut up and concentrated into these tiny bursts. She wanted these bursts to be laced with happy memories, yet the three of them seemed unable to pull it off. Possibly because none of them really believed in happiness. They believed in unhappiness because they had lived it. To be unhappy together was a comfort."

I've often felt that if a marriage can survive the in-laws it can survive anything. Parents provide overwhelming pressure with their constant nudging: "Be more like us. Why can't you get a better job? Why don't you visit more often? When are you going to have children? Everyone else my age is a grandparent."

I enjoyed this slyly humorous novel, though I still don't understand what the "happy" couple saw in one another. What on earth kept them together all those years? Ennui? I didn't really like ANY of the characters (even, truth be told, the dog), but I DID find them interesting, and that's what matters. Wang provides a fascinating look at a modern marriage.

I enjoyed this novel about a couple and their very different in laws, and the ways these relationships informed their own. The protagonists felt a bit flat at times, but that also was a reflection of the stress and strain they felt under the familial gaze. Every character in this novel was absolutely relatable as was the story!

I was not previously familiar with this book or author, when I came across Nancy Pearl recommending it on social media. Nancy’s review intrigued me enough to give it a shot, and Rental House by Weike Wang did not disappoint. This is a delightfully weird book that explores race, wealth, society, status culture, traditional familial gender roles, all the BIG TOPICS, without taking itself too seriously. These are familiar characters that you feel you know or may see a bit of yourself in. This novel doesn’t end in a way that give you a solid conclusion, rather it’s a little slice of life, where onlookers get a small glimpse into the lives of what on the outside seems to be normal upper middle class couple. Bonus points for the lovely dog who is, in my opinion, a starring character.

Rental House by Wang is a compelling short novel that delves into the complexities of marriage and family dynamics. Keru and Nate, coming from vastly different backgrounds, navigate the challenges of blending their lives and their in-laws' expectations. The story explores thought-provoking themes such as racism, finances, and the decision not to have children, making it a deeply relatable and layered read.

Wang's sparse, concise writing style may not appeal to everyone, but I found it fitting for the narrative, allowing the emotions and conflicts to resonate without unnecessary embellishment. This unique approach added to the book's charm and impact. An enjoyable and insightful read!

Keru and Nate are an interracial couple: she the child of Chinese immigrants, he from an Appalachian family. After coming out of COVID isolation, they rent a vacation home and invite first her parents, then his. Fraught with cultural, political, and generational differences, these stays highlight the awkwardness and difficulty of coexisting with each other’s–and their own–families. Years later, Keru and Nate, feeling the tensions of growing apart and remaining childless as their friends become parents, rent a vacation home again–which becomes another crucible for familial and personal discovery.

RENTAL HOUSE is filled with astute social observation, subtle character insights, and dry humor. It skillfully plumbs the tension experienced by a Chinese American woman who remains in thrall to her parents and her limited sense of self-worth–and her white husband’s efforts to do better than his family, while remaining poisoned by an inability to take full responsibility for his life. As an Asian American, I recognized the microaggressions and cultural tensions, while also chafing at the characters’ oversensitivity and inability to get past political preconceptions. Weike Wang has the skill to deftly delineate characters and situations, all the while pushing cultural and emotional buttons for her characters–and for us. Well worth a read!

An incredible slice of life novella. It sucked me in so quickly. I love a good peek into a marriage, and this delivered. Can't wait for the lit fic girlies to get to this one.

This is an interesting view of a marriage and family relationships. Keru is the daughter of Chinese immigrants. Nate is from a blue collar family in the Blue Ridge Mountains. They met at Yale and married despite of their differing family backgrounds. Each year they vacation and invite the parents to join them - on separate weeks of course. We see the views of the parents and children as they navigate this cultural mash up.

i love weike wang: her sharp and clean writing, her deft incorporation of grand-scale themes and commentary, her very weird and very real characters. this leaned much more into that middle one, and i really enjoyed it — it felt like equal parts hearing gossip about a couple you kind of know, or catching up with a good friend at a coffee shop, and reading a long and clever article.

This is the story of a successful daughter of Chinese immigrants married to a white professor who was a first-generation college student. The book takes place at two different rental houses, both times with family members joining them. It is an interesting way to tell their fairly mundane story of the ups and downs of family and marriage.

Nate and Keru (like Peru, as she always says) are an interracial couple in their early thirties. They are professionals with young kids (but don’t call them DINKs!) who rent a vacation home on Cape Cod for a week. Their parents each visit on alternate weeks. Keru’s parents are Chinese immigrants, extremely cautious about Covid, and extremely hard on their only child. Nate’s parents are flippant about Covid, small-town and right wing, and not very understanding about why Nate gets upset with their viewpoints.

This book brought up interesting ideas: the dynamics between a couple where the breadwinner is a woman, how difficult it can be dealing with in-laws you don’t like, how to balance needing money with enjoying your job, and more. Yet somehow it didn’t quite work as much as I wanted it to. It did too much telling and not enough showing. Between everyone’s constant interior monologuing, plus the conversations between parent and child, I felt like I got the point pretty quickly and then was just left hoping that something exciting would happen.

This was written in the same style of Sally Rooney or Rumaan Alam books. Does anyone know a good word for it? Pared down, muted, not emotive, etc. And while I do enjoy some of Rooney’s books, that style often falls flat for me. So while I didn’t love this one, I would still recommend it to readers who enjoy that style of writing and I do anticipate this book being pretty popular.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I love character focused stories. They're some of my favorite books. This was a very character centered, slice of life story that I did really enjoy.... While simultaneously found somewhat unsatisfying.

The story revolves around a married couple. And while you get to know the wife, Keru, pretty well, I didn't feel like Nate as a character was fully developed all the way through. The story literally just involves two separate instances of them renting vacation homes and their individual families coming to see them in the vacation homes.

Both Nate and Keru were decently flawed. They were relatable though, and I enjoyed seeing them as characters. They had a good deal of depth to them that carried the story. Mantou the dog was my favorite overall though - she was the best. I do think the story was somewhat meandering and at the end, I couldn't quite shake the feeling that it was sort of a waste of time reading it. The end just sort of happened. There wasn't a clear plot so there wasn't really anything to wrap up, but I couldn't help feeling like I was missing something. I also thought at times the didactic nature of the story was a bit heavy handed. I felt kind of like I was getting a weird round about lesson without actually being taught. The humor made this less frustrating, though.

If you like stories that focus on issues like immigration and marriage and relationships, you'd probably enjoy this. The family and marriage dynamics were interesting and well done. However, if you need stories that wrap up neatly, this might not be the best choice for you. It definitely doesn't have a clearly delineated plot.

Keru and Nate are well off DINK (double income, no kids) couple in their 30s, who decide to rent a summer house. They have a large sheepdog and decide to invtie their parents on different weekends of their vacation. She is the child of Chinese immmigrants, and he is the son of working class Appalachians. It is set during two summers 4 years apart. It is an interesting view of contemporary marriage and how their families view their marriage compared to more traditional ideas. The dry humor and focus on the characters was enjoyable.

Rental House by Weike Wang follows a married couple during two family vacations separated by a decade. We see Keru and Nate first at a beach house in Cape Cod with their parents, and then 10 years later in a luxury bungalow in the Catskills intruded upon by Nate's brother and girlfriend. The book explores cultural differences, the intricacies of family relationships, and generational trauma. It also explores how personal goals and familial ties impact marriage. I enjoyed this character-driven novel written with such deliberate and delicious prose.

Rental House is Weike Wang's follow-up to 2022's Joan Is Okay. Sparsely written, Rental House details the differences in upbringing for Keru and Nate, a married couple who met in college. Dealing with the manifold issues that are familiar to anyone who has every experienced a vacation with your partner's family, using two trips as examples, Wang gets to the heart of what it's like bringing someone new into your family and being the new person in another.

While I enjoyed this rather sad novel of a marriage throughout, I liked the first half that concentrated on the in-laws more than the second half that related the Keru-Nate couple to other couples. The book does not portray marriage with much hope or joy. Nate and Keru do not seem to communicate or understand each other. They seemed destined for unhappiness and can only reflect what other couples are showing. The parents-in-law are slightly cartoonish, but they show potential futures for the central couple. I have been meaning to read Wang's other novels and this reading should spur me to do so.