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Contemporary Fiction Views: Family dynamics, outsiders and a small-town restaurant [1]

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Date: 2023-03-07

When it comes to big things that greatly affect a life, the three Chao brothers have hit the jackpot. They are part of a complicated, messy family in which they struggle for autonomy. They grew up being expected to work in the high-stress restaurant owned by their parents. They are the children of immigrants who knew they are set apart from their mainly white small town, yet don't feel tightly connected to their parents' culture.

In Lan Samantha Chang's novel, The Family Chao, all three factors work together and against each of the brothers. The oldest, William, known as Dagou (Big Dog), tried to become a professional musician but ended up coming back to the small Wisconsin town in which he was raised to work at his father's restaurant. Dagou's mission is to use the best fresh ingredients and expand the stolid menu. His father, a loud and coarse man, of course resists and puts his son down whenever possible. And often in the most public way possible.

Dagou has been engaged to a Chinese woman who was adopted at birth by a white couple. Katherine is sometimes accused of holding on to Dagou and his family as her way to feel Chinese. They have been engaged for more than 10 years, even though she is a successful Chicago attorney. Dagou reunites with Brenda, his high school crush, a force-of-nature blonde, but Katherine keeps the ugly jade ring, a family heirloom, that he gave her.

The middle son, Ming, has spent most of his life in retreat from the family. Being bullied as a child by the white boys didn't endear his family to him. He escaped into numbers and is obsessed with making enough money to create a peaceful existence for himself away from everyone. But family keeps calling him back to Haven. Like his two brothers, he has a very soft spot for his over-worked mother, Winnie who has endured decades of working in the restaurant, raising them and ignoring her husband's drinking and infidelities.

The youngest son, James, is midway through college and plans to become a physician. He'll move back home to serve his community. That his childhood crush, Alice, still lives in Haven and works at her mother's Chinese food store, is as much a draw as his admiration for his oldest brother and love of his mother.

No matter how they try to carve out their own lives, the three keep coming back to their core family. They recognize what they are doing and appear to fight against what they are doing.

Our inner selves exist. They're unique, and they're meaningful and mysterious, even if they are secret sometimes even from ourselves.

None of the boys understand their mother. Winnie finally left their father and lives as a nun in a spiritual house. They want to be happy for her, but feel abandoned. She even left her beloved dog, Alf, with Leo. James manages to lose Alf one snowy night.

As James heads home, he encounters an elderly Chinese man in a train station. The man collapses and is taken away by paramedics. James scoops up his suitcase. It will play an important role in upcoming events. Dagou's unending need for respect and money, to become a partner in his father's restaurant after he came back to town six years ago, is reaching its apex. To honor his mother, he is planning the most extravagant Christmas Eve dinner the restaurant has ever served. He has put a deposit down on a fancy penthouse apartment for Brenda that he cannot afford.

After the dinner, an act that at least one of the brothers has dreamed of doing for years takes place. But did he do it? And whether he did or not, will he be held responsible? The other brothers are certain he doesn't stand a chance of being exonerated, because he is Chinese. A cruel prank is played on the three sons that highlights a horrific stereotype and contributes to the hatred some in the white part of town regard them. The ways in which the brothers are outsiders and yet an integral part of a community are laid out, and propel the novel toward its conclusion.

At the same time, family ties play a major role in what actually happens. The brothers figure things out but don't always take actions that are in their best interests. Regardless of their good hearts, best intentions and moments of insight, they aren't capable of fixing the situation in which they find themselves. They are too entrapped in their family dynamic. And none of them can leave the past alone. As one character asks another, "Do you think we'll ever talk about anything except our parents?'

Even the family member most like an outsider recognizes that "it's something to know (the other relatives) exist, living their own flawed, desirous lives."

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