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Family Trust: A Novel
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HarperCollins 2018
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Description

"A globe-trotting, whirlwind, tragi-comic family saga that wrings tears from absurdity and laughter from loss. A joy to read from start to finish."
— Andrew Sean Greer, author of Less, winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize

The Nest meets Crazy Rich Asians in this sharp comedic novel about a Chinese-American family's attempts (or not) to fulfill its dying patriarch's final bequest.

Some of us are more equal than others....

Meet Stanley Huang: father, husband, ex-husband, man of unpredictable tastes and temper, aficionado of all-inclusive vacations and bargain luxury goods, newly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. For years, Stanley has claimed that he's worth a small fortune. But the time is now coming when the details of his estate will finally be revealed, and Stanley's family is nervous.

For his son Fred, the inheritance Stanley has long alluded to would soothe the pain caused by years of professional disappointment. By now, the Harvard Business School graduate had expected to be a financial tech god – not a minor investor at a middling corporate firm, where he isn't even allowed to fly business class.

Stanley's daughter, Kate, is a middle manager with one of Silicon Valley's most prestigious tech companies. She manages the capricious demands of her world-famous boss and the needs of her two young children all while supporting her would-be entrepreneur husband (just until his startup gets off the ground, which will surely be soon). But lately, Kate has been sensing something amiss; just because you say you have it all, it doesn't mean that you actually do.

Stanley's second wife, Mary Zhu, twenty-eight years his junior, has devoted herself to making her husband comfortable in every way—rubbing his feet, cooking his favorite dishes, massaging his ego. But lately, her commitment has waned; caring for a dying old man is far more difficult than she expected.

Linda Liang, Stanley's first wife, knows her ex better than anyone. She worked hard for decades to ensure their financial security, and is determined to see her children get their due. Single for nearly a decade, she might finally be ready for some romantic companionship. But where does a seventy-two year old Chinese woman in California go to find an appropriate boyfriend?

As Stanley's death approaches, the Huangs are faced with unexpected challenges that upend them and eventually lead them to discover what they most value. A compelling tale of cultural expectations, career ambitions and our relationships with the people who know us best, Family Trust skewers the ambition and desires that drive Silicon Valley and draws a sharply loving portrait of modern American family life.

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Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
10/30/2018
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780062855275
ASIN:
B077M9R84W
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APA Citation (style guide)

Kathy Wang. (2018). Family Trust: A Novel. HarperCollins.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Kathy Wang. 2018. Family Trust: A Novel. HarperCollins.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Kathy Wang, Family Trust: A Novel. HarperCollins, 2018.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Kathy Wang. Family Trust: A Novel. HarperCollins, 2018.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
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Date Added:
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Date Updated:
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fullDescription

"A globe-trotting, whirlwind, tragi-comic family saga that wrings tears from absurdity and laughter from loss. A joy to read from start to finish."
— Andrew Sean Greer, author of Less, winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize

The Nest meets Crazy Rich Asians in this sharp comedic novel about a Chinese-American family's attempts (or not) to fulfill its dying patriarch's final bequest.

Some of us are more equal than others....

Meet Stanley Huang: father, husband, ex-husband, man of unpredictable tastes and temper, aficionado of all-inclusive vacations and bargain luxury goods, newly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. For years, Stanley has claimed that he's worth a small fortune. But the time is now coming when the details of his estate will finally be revealed, and Stanley's family is nervous.

For his son Fred, the inheritance Stanley has long alluded to would soothe the pain caused by years of professional disappointment. By now, the Harvard Business School graduate had expected to be a financial tech god – not a minor investor at a middling corporate firm, where he isn't even allowed to fly business class.

Stanley's daughter, Kate, is a middle manager with one of Silicon Valley's most prestigious tech companies. She manages the capricious demands of her world-famous boss and the needs of her two young children all while supporting her would-be entrepreneur husband (just until his startup gets off the ground, which will surely be soon). But lately, Kate has been sensing something amiss; just because you say you have it all, it doesn't mean that you actually do.

Stanley's second wife, Mary Zhu, twenty-eight years his junior, has devoted herself to making her husband comfortable in every way—rubbing his feet, cooking his favorite dishes, massaging his ego. But lately, her commitment has waned; caring for a dying old man is far more difficult than she expected.

Linda Liang, Stanley's first wife, knows her ex better than anyone. She worked hard for decades to ensure their financial security, and is determined to see her children get their due. Single for nearly a decade, she might finally be ready for some romantic companionship. But where does a seventy-two year old Chinese woman in California go to find an appropriate boyfriend?

As Stanley's death approaches, the Huangs are faced with unexpected challenges that upend them and eventually lead them to discover what they most value. A compelling tale of cultural expectations, career ambitions and our relationships with the people who know us best, Family Trust skewers the ambition and desires that drive Silicon Valley and draws a sharply loving portrait of modern American family life.

reviews
      • premium: False
      • source: Andrew Sean Greer, author of Less, winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize
      • content:

        "A globe-trotting, whirlwind, tragi-comic family saga that wrings tears from absurdity and laughter from loss. A joy to read from start to finish." — Andrew Sean Greer, author of Less, winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize

        "An old plot device gets a fresh life in this debut novel about a family gathering around the impending death of its patriarch in Silicon Valley." — Washington Post

        "Guaranteed jackpot for book clubs." — People, Book of the Week

        "Addictive....a story about families and what connects everyone to one another, about the ties that bind and what the comfort that financial security can bring to people inside the hamster wheel of American consumerism." — NPR.org

        "Astute...[Wang] brings levity and candor to the tricky terrain of family dynamics, aging, and excess [and] expertly considers the values of high-tech high society." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

        "American literature knows family about as well as anything else....By now the clichés write themselves. Yet debut author Kathy Wang confidently leans into them, spicing up old stories — the tense reunions and fatal betrayals and dying fathers — with fresh faces." — Entertainment Weekly

        "Readers who enjoy complicated novels about family issues will find this engrossing work impossible to put down." — Library Journal (starred review)

        "FAMILY TRUST reads like a brilliant mashup of The Nest and Crazy Rich Asians (with a soupçon of Arrested Development for good measure). It's dark and funny and entertaining and thoughtful all at once. The best kind of family drama. I loved every page." — Cristina Alger, author of The Banker's Wife

        "This social satire is Kathy Wang's debut, and it bristles with wit." — Toronto Star

        "A mash-up of Crazy Rich Asians and the TV series Silicon Valley, with elements of Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire Of The Vanities and Jane Austen's comedy of manners and family dynamics." — Irish Times

        "Appealing, warm and witty...Family Trust is the perfect title, though Crazy Rich Asians (alas, already taken) would describe this deliciously entertaining novel just as well." — AARP Magazine

        "At once a Chinese-American story, a Silicon Valley story, and a family saga with great characters and robust storytelling. It's smart and wickedly funny, too, which is a winning combination." — Bookreporter.com

        "Funny and compelling." — Southern Living

        "Dryly cynical...the hook, however, lies in Wang's relatable portraits of the various members of the Huang family." — The Globe and Mail

        "Insightful, witty and acutely honest....[Wang's] dissection of the glamorous appeal of this superficial slice of life succeeds on many levels." — BookPage

        "Wang speaks with authority, insight, and irony about the ethnic and socio-economic realities at business school, in Silicon Valley, in mixed-race relationships and marriages. A strong debut." — Kirkus Reviews

        "[Wang] explores Silicon Valley subculture with wit and ultimately reveals a deep understanding of her feckless strivers." — Booklist

        "Silky in satire, the writing is biting, bristling, intelligent; this is a detached story of modern family ties, frequently funny but seldom warm." — Irish Times

        "It's a story of trust in both senses of the word,...

      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        Starred review from July 2, 2018
        A Taiwanese-American family faces the realities and indignities of living in Silicon Valley in Wang’s astute debut. Stanley Huang is dying of pancreatic cancer and his reassurances to his family about his millions in savings are falling on increasingly suspicious ears. His first wife, Linda, received nearly nothing in her divorce and is determined that her children have more financial support than she received. As Stanley’s health deteriorates, his far younger second wife, Mary Zhu, becomes frustrated with caring for him. Meanwhile, Stanley and Linda’s son, Fred, toils as a middle manager in an investment firm and waits for a promotion that will surely make his career. Their daughter, Kate, suffers under a high-maintenance boss at a multinational tech company and has two young kids and a husband who works at a start-up that hasn’t started up. Everyone in the family agrees: the money Stanley has vaguely promised them would be a huge relief. But as they attempt to secure their inheritances, questions emerge: How much of Stanley’s respect have their loyalties and successes won? Who is acting in Stanley’s best interest? And what will life look like after Stanley dies? The author brings levity and candor to the tricky terrain of family dynamics, aging, and excess. Wang’s debut expertly considers the values of high-tech high society.

      • premium: True
      • source: Kirkus
      • content:

        August 1, 2018
        Members of a Chinese-American family based in Silicon Valley deal with the passing of their patriarch.As news of Stanley Huang's bleak diagnosis settles in, his ex-wife and adult children all face other complications in their lives. Linda Liang, 72, has been enjoying peace and quiet since her divorce from the ill-tempered Stanley. Always the brains of the outfit, she continues to ensure her comfort with smart investments and, now, a subscription to a high-end online dating service. Her fear is that whatever resources Stanley has managed to hang on to are being cornered by his young second wife, Mary Zhu, who caters to him with foot rubs and indulgent meals that she may well realize are doing nothing for his longevity. Meanwhile, offspring Fred and Kate, like debut novelist Wang, belong to a generation of Chinese-Americans grappling with the complicated effects of their high achievement and assimilation. Fred, groomed for success with a Harvard Business School degree, has gotten stuck at a middling firm where he's making a mere $325,000 per year. The woman who's hoping to be his second wife is another gold digger, a Hungarian beauty with a job selling jewelry at Saks. Fred's vistas open up when he gets an email from a former classmate: "Jack Hu, the lone male scion of a billionaire family in Hong Kong. They shared a circle because they were both Asian men, a minority whose numbers at Harvard were carefully and deliberately contained each year by the administration." Invited for the first time to the Founders' Retreat, a luxurious networking opportunity for captains of industry, Fred is determined to do whatever it takes to cash in. Back home, his sister, Kate, is suffering from Superwoman syndrome: Her paycheck supports her family of four, but she also carries the heavier burden as both parent and child. And she's about to find out what her entrepreneur husband really does all day.Wang speaks with authority, insight, and irony about the ethnic and socio-economic realities at business school, in Silicon Valley, in mixed-race relationships and marriages. A strong debut.

        COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

      • premium: True
      • source: Booklist
      • content:

        September 1, 2018
        Wang's sardonic first novel dissects the role of class and the quest for money in Silicon Valley from the points of view of five members of the Huang family. Patriarch Stanley, who has hinted that he's worth millions, is dying of pancreatic cancer, and his prospective heirs are genteelly probing to see how much they might profit by his death. Stanley's marginally successful venture capitalist son Fred would like more respect from his peers, while daughter Kate, a middle manager and harried housewife, wants some relief from her constant stress, and Stanley's second wife, Mary, feels that she deserves a reward for years of catering to him. Stanley's first wife, Linda, doesn't expect anything for herself, but she's fierce in her desire that her children get their due. While Wang tosses out more plot threads than she finally reels in, and the connections among the stories of the five characters aren't always as apparent as they might be, she explores Silicon Valley subculture with wit and ultimately reveals a deep understanding of her feckless strivers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

      • premium: True
      • source: Library Journal
      • content:

        September 15, 2018

        Terminally ill and reputedly worth millions, Stanley Huang has his Silicon Valley-based family in an emotional tangle. Caretaking second wife Mary is harried, first wife Linda wants her children to get a big slice of the pie, son Fred could use some cash, and daughter Kate is crushed by tending to everyone but herself. A big debut with a 200,000-copy first printing.

        Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

      • premium: True
      • source: Library Journal
      • content:

        Starred review from September 15, 2018

        Stanley Huang is dying of cancer. He is the patriarch of a first-generation Chinese American family, all of whom have been successful in Silicon Valley. Then again, their achievements are questionable. His daughter Kate and son Fred are both dealing with failed marriages. His second wife, Mary, wants to make sure she inherits as much as possible, while his first wife, Linda, worries about her children's inheritances. Everyone is jockeying for Stanley's pile of money, which may or may not exist. As Stanley's health continues to deteriorate, Fred loses his job, Kate discovers her husband's mistress, Linda meets a man on an online dating site, and Mary searches through Stanley's files for bank statements and credit cards. While many are comparing this novel to Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians, it's much more about family relationships than about the wealth the Huang family displays. It's also about the machinations of Silicon Valley, where start-ups fight one another for proprietary rights and scam artists are constantly working the Internet. VERDICT Readers who enjoy complicated novels about family issues will find this engrossing work impossible to put down. [See Prepub Alert, 4/9/18.]--Andrea Kempf, formerly with Johnson Cty. Community Coll. Lib., Overland Park, KS

        Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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"A globe-trotting, whirlwind, tragi-comic family saga that wrings tears from absurdity and laughter from loss. A joy to read from start to finish."
— Andrew Sean Greer, author of Less, winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize

The Nest meets Crazy Rich Asians in this sharp comedic novel about a Chinese-American family's attempts (or not) to fulfill its dying patriarch's final bequest.

Some of us are more equal than others....

Meet Stanley Huang: father, husband, ex-husband, man of unpredictable tastes and temper, aficionado of all-inclusive vacations and bargain luxury goods, newly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. For years, Stanley has claimed that he's worth a small fortune. But the time is now coming when the details of his estate will finally be revealed, and Stanley's family is nervous.

For his son Fred, the inheritance Stanley has long alluded to would soothe the pain caused by years of...

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