NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • A witty, piercingly insightful new novel about a marvelously complicatedwoman who can’t be anyone but herself, from the award-winning author ofChemistry
“A deeply felt portrait . . . With gimlet-eyed observation laced with darkly biting wit, Weike Wang masterfully probes the existentialuncertainty of being other in America.”—Celeste Ng, author ofLittle Fires Everywhere
Joan lives on her own terms. And she is okay. Really. Caught between the cultural expectations of her Chinese heritage and her American upbringing, Joan has chosen instead to make her home at work. As a successful doctor at a busy New York City hospital, she finds comfort in being just another cog in the vast, orderly machine of the ICU. Joan has happily optimized her life in service of her job, despite all the talk about work/life balance. Her carefully calibrated existence challenges the notion that your professional self can’t be your true self. But to those who know her, Joan can be a puzzle. Her brother, living out the American dream in a mansion in Connecticut, can’t believe she doesn’t want to settle down and start a family. Her neighbor, incredulous that she has never heard ofSeinfeld, buys her her first TV. Her colleagues at the hospital mistake her dedication for naked ambition, while HR tries to force her to take a “wellness” break as she logs more and more hours. Life, unlike medicine, doesn’t always follow a prescribed set of procedures, of course. Family turmoil and loss start to permeate the boundaries Joan has drawn around her. And all the while, cases of a new virus keep rising, and the world hurtles toward lockdown and an uncertain future. Will Joan be okay? Witty and perceptive, disarming and emotionally resonant, here is a fully realized portrait of a woman so singularly focused that she can’t help being anyone but herself.