Oscillates between plainspoken narrative and bold, italicized dialogues between Gish and her kvetching dead mother. The conceit is risky but pays off. The imagined colloquies punctuate the prose like counter melodies ... The exchanges are edged with humor and skepticism: the mother scoffing at or replying brusquely to her daughter’s reminiscences, questions, speculations ... What transforms it into a transcendent work of art is Jen’s empathy for all her characters.
Jen grapples with structure, presenting Bad Bad Girl as a collaboration cobbled from decades of psychological checkmates and physical abuse. The book’s power derives from a deeper tension: Jen is interrogating not her mother so much as the gulf between Chinese immigrants and their Americanized children, questioning whether an uneasy truce is even possible amid the long shadows of communism and diaspora ... The story of what it means to be American in an era of sweeping demographic change enlarges Bad Bad Girl, sweetened by comic touches and a final note of grace. If memory is the mother of the muses, as the Greek poet Hesiod observed, then perhaps a difficult mother is just the right muse for a memorable tale.
Remarkable and heartbreaking ... [A] marvel of a mash-up ... Wistfully, unsparingly commemorates...a punishing mother ... A heroic effort ... A heart-piercingly personal work that also imparts universal truths about the immigrant experience ... If there is such a thing as an intimate epic, this is it ... Jen has brilliantly structured Bad Bad Girl so that invented exchanges with her mother — post-death, printed in bold type and interspersed throughout — keep returning us not only to the relationship between mother and daughter, but to the present. That dialogue is conversational and often funny ... How rich this book is, and how humane.
Jen addresses her own contentious relationship with her mother in her new novel ... Jen writes conversations with her mother in bold typeface that range from a few sentences to a few paragraphs and give the story extra depth.
A stunningly executed genre-bending book ... This remarkable author does not write about her mother to bestow forgiveness; that would be a generous but one-dimensional response. She does not write to seek revenge; that would be a small-minded and easy response. In forthright and profound ways, Jen sought the most difficult path: to understand.
Really very good ... Shocking, illuminating and in places truly heartbreaking. When a book contains all of that, does it really matter which category it falls into?
Bad Bad Girl is shocking, illuminating and in places truly heartbreaking. When a book contains all of that, does it really matter which category it falls into?
This novel grapples with the tensions between mothers and daughters, generational trauma, and the immigrant experience. It is heartbreaking and stunning.
Singular ... Empathetic ... The historical context of Jen's family's journey is seamlessly integrated, providing a dynamic backdrop without ever overwhelming the personal narrative. Bad Bad Girl is a powerful reminder that while death may silence voices, it cannot extinguish the conversations that continue in our hearts and minds. This book is imperative for anyone interested in immigrant experiences, the complexities of family, and the art of writing personal history.
Original and slyly surreal ... What makes Bad Bad Girl a pleasure is the deft plotting and the sympathetic portraits of the main characters, even when they’re behaving their worst. It’s one of the best tales of mother-daughter relationships you’ll encounter.
Ultimately, this remarkable author does not write about her mother to bestow forgiveness; that would be a generous but one-dimensional response. She does not write to seek revenge; that would be a small-minded and easy response. In forthright and profound ways, Jen sought the most difficult path: to understand. Because of her courage, Bad Bad Girl is an extraordinary book.
A great novelist distills the truth of her mother’s life, and her own ... Who cares what genre this is; as portraits of tough mother-daughter relationships go, it’s as moving as they come.
Astute and revelatory ... Throughout, the author blends sharp-witted autofiction with powerful images, such as Loo’s mother throwing her placenta in the Huangpu River where it floats away, prefiguring the sense of drifting that Loo would later experience. This is striking.
