The entire time I was reading this book, it felt like it was trying to say something profound: about race, class, grief, privilege, internet culture, privacy, and the tech industry, but besides the sprinkling of social commentary (even the title has several underlying meanings) through one liners every 3 pages, this book didn’t really say much. There also isn’t really a plot: the synopsis centers around 2 coworkers, Margo and Lucas, who steal data from their company’s server after Margo gets fired. Weeks later, Margo gets hit by a car and dies and Lucas spends the entire book trying to piece together the parts of her life he doesn’t know about. I’m not completely sure what the purpose of this book was. It seemed to be framed like it would be a murder mystery, but I kept reading it to see if something happened and ultimately, in my opinion, nothing did, but I actually enjoyed Nguyen’s writing style- is that weird? I didn’t love this book, but I kind of liked it, but I can’t articulate completely why...

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of New Waves.

I was intrigued by the premise, and because the author is Vietnamese and I'm looking to read more books by authors of color.

Lucas and Margo are friends; he is an underachieving Asian slaving away at customer service, she is the one of the few African American female computer programmers. Together, they are old souls, bonded by their race, gender and societal expectations.

And, together, they concoct a scheme to get back at their unfair employer. Revenge has never tasted so sweet.

But, when Margo dies in a tragic accident, Lucas is left floundering; no friend, hating his job and unsure of his next steps in life, wondering "Where do I go from here?"

To be honest, I thought New Waves was a murder mystery, but it was something more, something deeper, perhaps too philosophical for what I was really looking for.

It was hard to like Lucas. I didn't hate him, but I didn't like him; not because he was an underachiever, but because he lacked ambition. He didn't seem to want to do anything or demonstrate skills or talent in anything.

He spent most of his time in a dead end job, drinking himself senseless (more so after Margo's death), and just living, not thriving.

There are many themes in this book, not the least being race, companionship, how technology has made society less communicative and sociable, not more; the pros and cons of social media, grief, sorrow and feeling like an outsider in a society that has you typecast a certain mold just because of your gender and race.

The writing is great, and the short sci-fi stories that pop up serve to remind the reader the type of person Margo was, though the appearance of the stories could be distracting to some readers, throwing them out of the main narrative.

I felt the characters lacked individuality; in fact, they sounded hollow, especially Lucas. Why should I care about him when he barely cares about himself?

I wasn't sure what the author was trying to say; there are a lot of themes and each get lost in the shuffle.

I enjoyed the writing, and the author clearly had a lot to say, but there was a lot of heavy topics and none of them were fully fleshed out.

This was a decent debut and I look forward to the author's next book.

This was an absorbing story about how people connect in our digital world. Lucas and Margo work in the tech field for a company that has developed messaging software. In a company that doesn’t value black women who have opinions, Margo is pushed out. Margo moves onto another company that has developed software that is much like Snapchat. The messages are sent and then disappear. She negotiates having Lucas work for the company as part of her hiring. The two have a special bond; one that began as an anonymous connection through a message board. Early on we find out that Margo has died (not a spoiler, it’s in the book synopsis). Lucas struggles with the loss of his dear friend. When Margo’s mom asks Lucas to delete her Facebook profile, Lucas discovers Margo had other people in her life in a meaningful way that Lucas didn’t know about. This creates a dissonance for Lucas.

Also considered in this story is the level of privacy technology users should have. What starts out as an program to allow censored citizens and whistleblowers to inform on hierarchies without retribution morphs into how to protect people from online harassers and danger.

Short sci-fi stories are intertwined among the threads of the story to make a full picture of connection. This is a book that will make you think about so many different ideas and is very unique in its’ premise.

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book publishes March 10, 2020.

A brilliant, cleverly structured debut novel from Kevin Nguyen. What starts off ostensibly as a murder mystery soon turns into a platform for the author's ruminations on race, sex, technology and technology's impact on our daily life. Lest you get the wrong idea, it's still a fun ride, populated with quirky characters in the Dave Eggers mold, and driven in no small measure by the author's rather caustic wit. Highly recommended.

A very unique concept with a unique voice. This book made me do all the things I love about a book: think, laugh, and cry. I don't want to spoil too much, because they are unexpected twists and turns, but also a lot of literary value. Pick this up!

A terrific read a novel that will engender alot of tak.This is a modern well written novel will be recommending to friends and my book club an author to follow.#netgalley#randomhouse

What starts out as a scathing take-down of start-up culture becomes....something entirely unexpected. Not only is New Waves an important book for our time, it's a compelling and fun read.

Kevin Nguyen has crafted an engrossing page turner of a read in New Waves. Well worth the time of the read!

New Waves is a killer title incorporating many double entendres. Despite being Asian and the only son, Lucas is not a cliched millenial in that he is not exactly tech savvy or booksmart, and is performing at the lowest possible level for a startup. With only a community college education, he leaves his parents' home (a cosy east Oregon B&B), believing he can make a fresh start in Manhattan. Kevin Nguyen has crafted a truly original picture of millenial life, amazingly assured for a debut. There is so much to digest in this fast moving page turner, which deals with startups and toxic work places, intimacy in this age of screens, the effect of grief in that it can both pull people together as well as force them apart, and most importantly the eternal power of music in all forms. Thus the first meaning of new waves being bossa nova, the lush sounds that rose out of 1960's Brazil and the haunting history behind its most famous song as The Girl From Ipanema weaves her way to the shore. There is also insider's observations on the dopamine release of addictive game apps, why Japanese is considered the most premiere of cuisines and a side bar on the genesis of Benihana Restaurants. And much more. The only reason for a 4 instead of a 5 is there are interspersed transcriptions of stories supposedly written by a character who has died that really didn't work for me. They slowed the forward momentum and weren't necessary. It may have been preferable to include them at the end in an epilogue.

Feeling conflicted about my feelings on NEW WAVES. It’s a good debut novel, but found it somewhat unremarkable. It felt a bit unrefined, the writing predictable and forgettable for literary fiction. I read it fast though, I wanted to know what would happen and the story was unique. I love books set in the early 2010s in NYC, which is when I first moved to the city, and am always intrigued by books about the Internet and online relationships. I wouldn’t whole heartedly recommend this one though.

Lucas, the main character, is unlikable. He only has one friend, Margo, who dies early in the book. He drinks too much, is bad at his job at a start-up, and doesn’t have much of a backbone. He is Asian American, and this fact (along with Margo being a black women) pushes the theme of race to the forefront of the novel — how race and technology intersect, and how gender affects how you interact with the Internet. There is a lot presented in the book all at once, and it is sometimes hard to parse though. The themes the author wants you to recognize are not subtle, and this can often take you out of the book. I think this is due to the writing being a bit subpar — it may think it’s slightly smarter than it actually is.

Funny, sad, smart, modern, topical. This book will be talked about - without a doubt. Super edgy. Great debut by Kevin Nguyen!!

I thank Random House for this ARC.  "New Waves" refers to bossa nova, a music style that the main characters, Margo and Lucas, have in common.

Lucas' parents almost named him Kevin but didn't when they learned his cousin had the name--a cousin Lucas has never met. And this is an example of the humor in this book.  Kevin, the author, possibly or opaquely refers to himself and just as readily dismisses the guy.  

Much later, Lucas mentions another Kevin, Kevin from "Wonder Years," and critiques his egocentric way of comforting a grieving Winnie.

I won't recount the general story as it's amply available. For two days, I enjoyed the ride filled with chuckles and uh-huh's to his spot-on commentary on race, gender, etc.  I was not satisfied with the climax but that could be the most subjective part of the reading experience.  From reading this book, I would definitely read more of his writing.

This book has a combination of wit, keen social observation and ample reference of social media.  Social media binds the reader to the story because we can so relate to it:  the dynamics of using it as well as the strangely palatable dangers within it (hacking, being manipulated, undergoing facial recognition, etc.).  The arrogance of social media executives/founders features prominently here and, for better or worse, we readers recognize their inflated sense of themselves and their work.  (As an aside, I would suggest that their misguided notions and our earlier acceptance of such led us to tolerate the current foolishness and danger of the orange dunce and his so-called Administration.)

Several quotes:

"She could disassemble and reassemble anything, including the hubris of men."

"To be black is the most terrestrial form of being, the lowest level of Earthling in the eyes of other people. (Margo)"..."At least you're American," I said. Maybe it was a weak attempt to get her to change direction. Maybe I just wanted her to see me as equal. "You see black people on TV, in music, in politics, in some form every day. Asians are foreign, alien, otherworldly. We might as well be invisible.(Lucas)"

"Science fiction makes me nostalgic for the future," Margo used to say, cryptically, but here the evidence was everywhere. Her futures were informed by the past.

The music was good, but it had a higher currency: obscurity.

There is, instead, a mutual callousness among New Yorkers. Sometimes we see that hardened self in others, and we mistake that recognition for compassion.

...The strangest part of being Asian in America is that you never have to prove how hardworking you are.  People just assume you were born with a great work ethic, or that your stoic, disciplinarian parents beat it into you at a young age....

That's what racism in the workplace looked like. You could feel it everywhere--in your brain, in your heart, in your bones--but you could never prove it....

Venture capitalists were never interested in revenue--they were interested in the <i>potential</i> of revenue....

Okay, this is tricky because I can't name a single thing I authentically liked about this. Yet, like it I did, every second.

The description of New Waves calls it "a wry and edgy debut novel about a heist gone wrong, a secret online life exposed, and a young man's search for true connection." What actually made me pick up the book -- and what I feel describes it more accurately -- is at the very end of the description, where it is called a "pitch-perfect exploration of race and start-up culture, secrecy and surveillance, social media and friendship."

New Waves is told mainly from the perspective of Lucas, a Vietnamese, somewhat aimless community college graduate who works menial customer service jobs at very stereotypical startups (and who everyone assumes, based on his race, is an engineer). His bottom-of-the-ladder title and ethnic minority status makes him feel like an outcast -- but it lays the perfect groundwork for his complex and emotionally intense friendship with Margo, the only black, female engineer at his job. The two bond over their shared past on internet forums and, more importantly, their cynical outlooks on their workplace and its culture. The ping pong tables, free beer, and mock camaraderie mean very little once you realize you'll never fit in with a bunch of money-hungry white men with shaky moral compasses. Then, they bond over their decision to break into the company one drunken night and exact revenge: they steal their company's entire user database, its most valuable asset.

When Margo dies suddenly, Lucas is left grieving, lonely, and the sole holder of their stolen data. The story follows Lucas on his grief-stricken journey of figuring out who Margo was. He becomes addicted to keeping his only friend alive through learning new things about her by any means possible.

The novel tries to lay bare a lot of important and culturally relevant topics: racism, sexism, the toxicity of startup culture, the ambiguity of data ownership, the permanence or impermanence of our digital footprints, and the question of what is moral when it comes to privacy. This is what I loved about the novel: I work at a startup myself, and it surfaced a lot of situations that fall flat in other portrayals of startup culture. It was refreshing.

My criticism, though, is that it felt unrefined. A lot of the themes were very on-the-nose. As an example: there's a scene where Margo is rightfully outraged at a work situation, and considering she's the most seasoned engineer in the office, others should be taking her concerns seriously. Instead, they treat her like she's over-reacting -- the scene felt very true-to-life for black women, who are constantly being dismissed due to the "angry black woman" stereotype. She starts questioning whether she's being gaslit - if she really was over-reacting - and it's a very emotional scene. Then, for some reason, she explains this stereotype, the behavior of her peers, and her inner turmoil to Lucas in a bout of very unnatural-feeling dialogue, and the moment is a bit ruined. The reader does not need to be so spoon-fed; the scenes should show, rather than tell. There are several examples like this in the text.

That feeling is compounded by the fact that no character in the book has a strong voice or level of complexity. It almost feels as if each character is reduced down to their metadata -- Lucas is the Asian underachiever; Margo is the black nerd engineer, Jill is the hot, mysterious novelist. The dialogue is largely unbelievable and overly explanatory (for example, toward the end of the book, there's a Japanese character who somehow knows the English words for 'nuclear radiation' but not for 'fifty-thousand'). I understand the technique of using archetypes, but when you struggle to relate to any of the characters or lose yourself in their conversations, it starts to feel like everything is a vehicle for performing wokeness.

I actually felt the strongest part of the book was one chapter told from the perspective of Jill, a friend of Margo's who Lucas meets after messaging people from Margo's computer. During this chapter, we actually get to know Jill as a person; from Lucas's perspective, she (and Lucas, for that matter) felt very one-dimensional. On the other hand, though, the abrupt and very brief perspective shift felt clumsy.

I would have enjoyed this story a lot more if the interspersed bits of Margo's transcribed stories were cut out altogether. I understand they were there to show that we only know the tip of the iceberg of a person's life, even if we know them incredibly well, but in practice they just added even more social justice themes (poverty, war, environmentalism) which made the plot feel incredibly busy. Those pages can and should be spent rounding out the characters more thoroughly -- giving them the same treatment Jill got.

Lucas is a twentysomething working in customer service. He already feels stuck in his life, underappreciated at a tech company that sees his Asian-ness and assumes he must be a programmer. If Lucas is invisible at work, his best friend Margo is hypervisible as the only black woman. Together, they decide to take revenge on their company and leave. After their departure from the company, Margo is killed in a seemingly random accident. Lucas feels even more adrift in his life without Margo and soon finds information on her laptop that will make him wonder if he ever really knew her at all.

This book is Nguyen's debut, and I think it's a strong debut. The writing is mostly very good and Nguyen clearly has a lot to say. If you are interested in privacy or technology, this book would be excellent for you. I think that the discussion of race was less successful. Many of the observations I thought were fairly surface level, and I still feel that Nguyen's portrayal of a black woman rang slightly false, especially as blackness was often central to the story. This was a book of big ideas, and I also at times wish that I was connecting more to the characters. This was exacerbated by the fact that the book quickly switches from place to place in time, going from before Margo's death to just after, to before Margo and Lucas ever met, and it's difficult to discern any type of arc for Lucas because of this back and forth.

Still, I enjoyed this read, and I think many people will find a lot to admire here.