Sometimes, a book is like good food – it just “hits the spot,” as they say. Sometimes, a book is just the perfect combination of our favorite things, making it unputdownable. (Is that a word? It should be, am I right?)
This week, I have a book that is chock full of things I love in a book: magical realism, meddling families, close-knit communities, and a sharp sense of humor. “The Fortunes of Jaded Women” by Carolyn Huynh is the story of the Duong sisters and their family curse. That’s right, everyone in Orange County’s Little Saigon knows that the women in the Duong family have been being punished for generations. It started with their ancestor, Oanh, who dared to leave her marriage in pursuit of true love. After this disgraceful choice, a powerful Vietnamese witch cursed Oanh, dooming her and all of the future Duong women to never find love and or happiness, and they will only ever give birth to daughters and never sons. Fast forward many generations to Oanh’s current descendant, divorcee Mai Nguyen, who knows this curse all too well. After an explosive disagreement a decade ago, Mai and her younger sisters have become estranged. Mai’s three daughters are very successful in their careers, but all have love lives that are in complete shambles. Convinced that they will all send her to an early grave, Mai pays a visit to trusted Hawaiian psychic Auntie Hua, who delivers a very unexpected prediction: this year, Mai’s family will witness a marriage, a funeral, and the birth of a son. This prophecy will reunite estranged mothers, daughters, aunts, and cousins – for better or for worse.
In this hilarious comedy of errors, Huynh paints a colorful picture of such a colorful group of women, managing to hit the nail on the head with how complicated our relationships as women can be with the other women in our families. I particularly loved the dialog (and occasional orange fight) between the older generation of sisters. I laughed out loud at their bickering and constant roasting of each other and loved every second of it. I also come from a family that is full of colorful, loud, annoying, loving, confusing, hilarious, dramatic, and slightly overbearing women who show love with a hefty helping of bickering - it is complicated and messy, but we wouldn't change it...usually.
I hope that “The Fortunes of Jaded Women” “hits the spot” for you as it did for me – or at the very least, you pick up another book that does – and that you pop over to my Instagram @allison.the.reader to tell me about it and to join me in my daily reading and rambling.
Allison Diegel is the Executive Chaos Coordinator at the Diegel Home for Wayward Girls. She has been reading since before she could talk, and now she likes doing lots of both.
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