The Wangs vs. the World : A Novel
Author(s): Jade Chang
A hilarious debut novel about a wealthy but fractured Chinese immigrant family that had it all, only to lose every last cent--and about the cross-country road trip that binds them back together.
Charles Wang is mad at America. A brash, lovable immigrant businessman who built a cosmetics empire and made a fortune, he’s just been ruined by the financial crisis. Now all Charles wants is to get his kids safely stowed away so that he can go to China and attempt to reclaim his family’s ancestral lands--and his pride.
Charles pulls Andrew, his aspiring comedian son, and Grace, his style-obsessed daughter, out of schools he can no longer afford. Together with their stepmother, Barbra, they embark on a cross-country road trip from their foreclosed Bel-Air home to the upstate New York hideout of the eldest daughter, disgraced art world it-girl Saina. But with his son waylaid by a temptress in New Orleans, his wife ready to defect for a set of 1,000-thread-count sheets, and the rest of them involved in an epic smash-up in North Carolina, Charles may have to choose between the old world and the new, between keeping his family intact and finally fulfilling his dream of starting anew in China.
Outrageously funny and full of charm,The Wangs Vs. the World is an entirely fresh look at what it means to belong in America-and how going from glorious riches to (still name-brand) rags brings one family together in a way money never could.
Review(s):
“A fresh Little Miss Sunshine.”
“One of the best debut novels of 2016.”
“Jade Chang is unendingly clever in her generous debut novel.”
“Recession-era Little Miss Sunshine meets Arrested Development. . . . A fun debut that offers something a little bit different.”
“[A] brash, bighearted debut smartly recasts what the definition of a quintessentially American story can be..”
“Jade Chang grabs hold of the American Dream and turns it upside down in this brash, ebullient, riches-to-rags comic novel. A series madcap adventures that prove there is more to life than money.”
“Sharply comic, The Wangs vs. the World is a hilarious take on the road trip novel.”
“Funny, brash, honest, full of wit and heart and smarts. This is a novel I wish I could write, have been dying to read, and hope everyone else reads, too.”
“Richly entertaining.”
“Jade Chang’s debut novel is a heartbreaking, hilarious, and honest American epic: a road trip that’s an ultimate escape from our parents’ American dream, toward an unknown destination that’s both more vulnerable and hopeful.”
“Fresh, energetic, and completely hilarious, The Wangs vs. the World is my favorite debut of the year.
“Jade Chang’s firecracker of a debut knowingly and refreshingly breaks every unwritten rule of the Asian-American family saga, making for a blistering, high-energy read that’s worthy of its pre-publication hype.”
“[A] jam-packed, high-energy debut . . . . Head-spinning fun.”
“Chang is unendingly clever in her generous debut novel about the comedy of racial identity.”
“[The Wangs] is unrelentingly fun, but it’s also raw and profane—a story of fierce pride, fierce anger, and even fiercer love.”
ISBN: 9781443448062