Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the advance copy of The Tiger and the Cosmonaut.

This book is so good and I am confident that readers will love this book regardless of your regular genre is.
Strictly speaking, this is a mystery/suspense book, but it checks so many other boxes.
From a mystery standpoint, there was no hokey, crazy, stupid storyline that makes you roll your eyes. Rather, it is laced within the social justice story within, making it both believable and relatable. There is one thing that is not believable. To not give away anything, I will say the not believable part below. For that one item, I am going to take away about half a star and call this a 4.5.

This is so well written, the family dynamic, the secrets within the family and within the town are pure gold.

Although a fairly easy read, the moment that the most significant twist occurs is so subtle that you would miss it. Even if you would miss it, the author fairly quickly ensures that you understood the twist. Even though I caught it, I went back to read it, wanting to consider how well it was worded.

As for my notes.
The language right from the beginning was beauty. For example
"Most people arrive from the coast along a road that clings to the edge of ancient boulders, wearing a lifetime of moss. After some time the road veers away from the sea into the endless forest. The sounds of the wind are muted by trees that reach into the sky,

Above highlights the wonderful writing throughout.

There is a sense of wonder so early in this.
Just two chapters in:
We know that the twin brother went missing many years ago and dad is now missing.
Is this a serial murderer, aliens, other criminal activity? Did Dad finally go looking for his son. Does the forest around them a play a part, or the nearby sea?
The reader is hooked to find out what happens next.

Then moving into the story, we start to see the theme of living in small town British Columbia, coming from Asia.
There are a number of situations where the minority Asian community tries to fit in.
Two that stuck with me
1. Mom always wanted to fit in with the group of ladies. She never could. She fought back in her feisty way.
2. Vince was beat up, white guys, no charges they were released.

And again, description and language:
"Did you know Mike owns a hardware store? The guy who thought north was whichever direction was right in front of his face. He's President of the town's business association. Ryan's married with kids, and Trevor's a volunteer firefighter. These guys are almost respectable, at least on the surface.
Doesn't that describe so many racist people?

Another theme: You only know what discrimination is if you have the lived experience.
I understand that, except what sometimes happens is allies are pushed away because of this sentiment. Allies that are willing to listen, learn and try to be a positive help are important.

Another theme is the story of 2nd generation Canadians trying to fit in and losing their culture to do so, and finally mom and dad who don't fit in Bruenei or British Columbia, what a very difficult life.

As indicated, so much going on here.
Now, below, a spoiler, because this must be said.



So, the big twist, different twin brother than we all thought. I can buy that to the public. However, the family (other than one member) never realized, did not know the difference between the two twins? Not believable. I know identical means identical. I have had identical twins in my class, it is a tough for me, however, the students knew the difference and their parents certainly knew the difference. I would have liked it better if during his reveal, the parents said they knew but allowed him to continue being the other twin for a variety of reasons.

I loved reading The Tiger and the Cosmonaut by Eddy Boudel Tan! I was so excited to read this novel since I loved both of his previous books. I loved the Vancouver setting in this book and the nuance of the Chinese Canadian family. The mystery element really propelled me to keep reading and the ending was so emotional that it made me cry. The writing really excelled at bringing forth those strong emotions and tension with tenderness and hope.

really liked this novel, the author's writing style was so captivating, sometimes I have this issue with books where by the end of the novel I feel like skimming sections and wanting to read only the dialogue but the prose in this novel?? I couldn't look away from any of the words. The novel perfectly captured the feelings of being an immigrant in Canada, having grown up here your whole life but still feeling like an outsider.

The final twist and the mystery was a little obvious, I suspected it from the start but I don't think that takes away from the book because the way it was revealed was still amazing, and I agree with the decision Casper made at the end of the novel.

Also, the way sleep paralysis was described in the novel was a little spooky too because I was reading this at 1 am and started getting scared that I would have a sleep paralysis episode lool.

Also loved that the chapters were short so I was flying through the novel!

Overall, I think this was a great read. Thank you to Natgalley for providing me with an ARC, all thoughts and opinions are my own.