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Book Summary and Reviews of The Expatriates by Janice Y. K. Lee

The Expatriates by Janice Y. K. Lee

The Expatriates

A Novel

by Janice Y. K. Lee

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  • Published:
  • Jan 2016, 336 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

From the author of the New York Times bestseller The Piano Teacher, a beautiful, transporting novel about motherhood, marriage, and friendship

Janice Y. K. Lee's blockbuster hit debut, The Piano Teacher, was called "immensely satisfying" by People, "intensely readable" by O, The Oprah Magazine, and "a rare and exquisite story" by Elizabeth Gilbert. Now, in her long-awaited new novel, Lee explores with devastating poignancy the emotions, identities, and relationships of three very different American women living in the same small expat community in Hong Kong.

Mercy, a young Korean American and recent Columbia graduate, is adrift, undone by a terrible incident in her recent past. Hilary, a wealthy housewife, is haunted by her struggle to have a child, something she believes could save her foundering marriage. Meanwhile, Margaret, once a happily married mother of three, questions her maternal identity in the wake of a shattering loss. As each woman struggles with her own demons, their lives collide in ways that have irreversible consequences for them all. Atmospheric, moving, and utterly compelling, The Expatriates confirms Lee as an exceptional talent and one of our keenest observers of women's inner lives.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"A captivating book about three American women living in an expatriate community in Hong Kong ... Lee's women are complex and often flawed, which makes the stories of their strength all the more compelling in this tale of family, motherhood, and attempts at moving on." - Publishers Weekly

"A richly detailed novel that rubs away at the luster of expat life and examines how the bonds of motherhood or, really, womanhood, can call back even those who are furthest adrift." - Kirkus Reviews

"Gorgeously wrought ... The first must-read of 2016." - Marie Claire

"We found ourselves racing through this exotic, sexy, heartbreaking book. ... We couldn't wait to find out what happens to each of the women." - Glamour

"An emotionally gripping page-turner." - Elle

"We imagine we know these [expatriate] women, who are distanced from their work, friends, and family, but we don't. Janice Y. K. Lee does. Set in Hong Kong, The Expatriates looks inside the lives of three women ... all in crisis, all needing one another in ways they, and we, can't imagine." - Vanity Fair

"Shine[s] a penetrating light on both the ups and downs of the expat experience and the resilience of the human spirit." - Literary Review (UK)

"Devastating and heartwarming, and exquisite in every way, this is a book you'll fall deeply in love with and never want to put down." - Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians

This information about The Expatriates was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Diane S.

The Expatriates
I was slow to warm up to this book, at one point putting it aside. Coming back to it a few weeks later, I found myself in a much batter place to appreciate what Lee has accomplished with this novel. Until this novel the only expats I had read about were Hemingway and his hard drinking partying crew, but they were expats by choice. This book follows three women who lives connect and affect each other in different ways. Except for Mercy, the youngest, a Korean American who had attended Columbia who comes to Hong Kong timescale the pressure of failing to find a career path, Margaret and Hillary come because of their husband's jobs. They live in the American Zone, where others like them live, with little or no contact with the native people of Hong Kong, with the exception of their servants. Lee, does a great job of describing this life, the expectations, the unrealistic aspect of it, the feeling that real life had stopped. The loneliness and isolation this type of life can have.

The three women, I neither liked nor disliked but it was their stories that make this book special. All are touched by an unexpected happening, something in their lives that causes grief, in Margaret's case a profound grief that is poignantly described. How they change in the face of these events is the main story. Each must make the decision to go on in whatever way they can. It is also a wonderful ode to mothers and their children. How big an impact a child can have on a mother's lives and what they will do for their children. This is a well written character study, a novel of quiet impact and a look into Amway of life many of us will never experience.

The ending, both happy and sad, maybe a little to pat but it seemed fitting after experiencing their stories. Sometimes, it is only the way forward that counts.

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More Information

Janice YK Lee was born and raised in Hong Kong. She received a BA in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard College. A former editor at Elle magazine, Lee lives in New York with her husband and four children.

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