RaveNew York Times Book ReviewIn the hands of Weike Wang...Joan’s dry wit is downright hilarious, sometimes unintentionally, sometimes as a coping mechanism. Although she keeps it under wraps, Joan is angry ...Wang doesn’t mute Joan’s rage, but leaves it always bubbling under the surface ... As a child, Joan was sent to a school counselor because she \'answered questions strangely\' and did not smile. In adult Joan, Wang has given us a character so unusual and unapologetically herself that you can’t help wanting to hang out with her, knowing full well that she wants nothing more than to be left alone ... Wang writes Joan’s awkwardness and the tension it spawns so well, even the reader cringes ... Death and boxes feature prominently in Joan’s story, as she grapples with mortality and navigates both the safety and constraints of self-confinement ... Through funny, weird and touching moments, Wang depicts Joan’s and her mother’s grief as messy, nonlinear and palpable ... In taut prose, Wang masterfully balances the many terrors of this pandemic alongside Joan’s intimate, interior struggles. Reading the hospital scenes set in the spring of 2020, revisiting the devastating toll this virus has taken and continues to take, this reader was not OK ... Throughout the novel, Joan’s wry humor is sometimes punctuated by moments of unexpected tenderness ... Like Joan herself, Wang’s narrative is at once laser-focused and multilayered. She raises provocative questions about motherhood, daughterhood, belonging and the many definitions of \'home.\'
