Wang's sumptuous new novel The Satisfaction Cafe beguiled me so fiercely I wanted, once finished, to un-remember it so I could relish it again for the first time. In no way the Hallmark-card rom-com its title may suggest, this deft, sharp, funny, poignant chronicle delights and surprises: modern, complex, credibly absurd. Traveling skillfully across one woman’s lifetime, readers will feel up-close and personal — both to that trajectory and to all the lives it touches. One of the richest, prickliest, wittiest contemporary sagas I can recall, Satisfaction is — I’m sorry, no other words work — profoundly satisfying.
Winsome ... Sharp ... The plot of The Satisfaction Café is relatively muted as it leaps through the decades of Joan’s life. In any case, the real attraction of this novel isn’t its plot but its voice. Ironic but rarely biting, Wang’s narration moves nimbly just above Joan’s perplexed perspective while catching the notes of absurdity and hypocrisy around her.
Wry, observant ... A collection of linked stories that offers the...satisfaction of a novel ... Wang’s writing is both tightly observed...and vast, almost epic ... Since the novel’s vignettes cover half a century, collectively they make us feel like we understand exactly how Joan’s thorny mind works ... Not incidentally, Joan might be my favorite literary character since Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge. Like Olive, Joan is far from perfect ... Wickedly funny ... Wang’s short, graceful chapters are like brushstrokes, and Joan is the resulting work of art.
The device is similar to the one in The White Lotus, where the first episode foreshadows something that will happen, so we concentrate even harder on situations that seem to be leading us to that event. Wang doesn’t use this device for suspense — we all know the arc any human’s life must take, so the ending of The Satisfaction Café isn’t exactly a surprise. Instead, the looks ahead situate each small event in Joan’s journey as part of the larger picture of who she is.
Wang’s writing is sharp, comical, and quietly heartbreaking. Perfect for readers who love an emotional slow burn, The Satisfaction Café is a poignant, darkly funny story about how we survive—and even sometimes thrive—after life doesn’t go as planned. At its heart, it is a moving portrait of how starting over can be its own kind of victory.
