Such a good read, especially in time for the holidays. I really related to this book and am so happy I picked it up. Such great writing and kept me interested throughout.

How many of you have graduated high school and not looked back … quite literally, as in putting as much pavement between you and your former life as you can and never returning again? As someone whose life is very intertwined in that of my family’s, it is almost inconceivable to me that people just up and leave their loved ones and strike out on their own without roots nestled firmly in the ground. But of course it happens and is the subject of Delia Cai’s debut Central Places, which I must confess, I LOVED.

This validating, resonant novel tells the story of Audrey Zhou, who is named for the starlet Audrey Hepburn, but that’s where the similarities end. Audrey, a second generation Chinese American, felt stifled by her upbringing in her small midwestern town of Hickory Grove, Illinois. Subjected to feelings of just not fitting in or being understood throughout her childhood, Audrey couldn’t wait to leave her isolated hometown and make a new life for herself in New York City.

It’s been eight years since Audrey has returned home to Hickory Grove. She found success in New York City and is engaged to a professional photographer, Ben, a white man who grew up on a mountain of privilege in stark contrast to Audrey’s own upbringing. But as much as she would like to, Audrey can’t avoid her hometown and her parents forever - her dad is scheduled for a medical procedure over the Christmas holiday and has asked Audrey to be there. With Ben in tow, Audrey ventures home for the holidays, but is unprepared for the ways that her past confronts her in the most surprising and unexpected ways.

Central Places is a novel that speaks to me, and what’s funny is I can hardly personally relate to Audrey and her plight, but Cai’s writing is so authentic and thought-provoking that I can’t help but feel connected to her character. Audrey is such an interesting person to read about and reflect upon - it is obvious that she considers herself so mature and over the people and places of her past, yet that couldn’t be further from the truth. Audrey ran from her former life, never looking back, but also without ever coming to terms with everything that she left behind. Back home in Hickory Grove, she is still that same little girl looking for acceptance, but afraid to show her true self to those that matter most. She is one of the most fascinating main characters I have encountered in some time; unconsciously stuck in the past and self-destructive to a fault. I loved observing her redemptive character arc throughout this novel and felt genuinely satisfied by the course her life took through these pages. Cai did not write Audrey to be likeable, but she did write her real, and I appreciate that.

Aside from Audrey’s personal struggle within herself, Central Places also highlights the conflict that exists between Audrey and her parents, Audrey and her fiancé, and Audrey and her former friends and flames. Each of these plot points is played out to perfect pitch and timing and unfold intricately throughout this novel, showing Audrey that perhaps it is she who is the problem in each of these equations and giving her the opportunity to redeem herself as a daughter, lover, and friend.

Central Places comes highly recommended to the wistful dreamers out there; those who wonder what could have been or who have ever dreamed of another life. Central Places also focuses heavily on the theme of the dutiful daughter and will appeal to readers who are carers of aging parents.

3.5 stars

As a long-time fan of Cai's work, I was thrilled to have the chance to read this debut novel. Prospective readers interested in getting very familiar with a relatable main character will enjoy this quiet, tightly structured effort.

Audrey, the m.c., is leaving New York with her partner, Ben, to visit her parents in her hometown: Hickory Grove. Though she's been gone for years, it really feels like Audrey left a whole other self behind, and that's apparent throughout every detail in the novel. Audrey's career, romantic life, and sense of self have all evolved apart from her parents and her high school friends and contacts, and those differences are only highlighted by her return to the scene of her origin story.

Anyone who has moved away from home, who has questioned their romantic relationship, who has a challenging relationship with their family that they manage best through distance, and especially who has set aside hurts from earlier in life will relate strongly to Audrey's encounters. This is not so much a novel about earth shattering events or tremendous realizations, though these crop up, as happens in life. This is, instead, a quiet look at both Audrey's past and at a slice of her present: who she is, who she was, and how one informs the other.

Cai does employ detail, spare language at times, and pacing that force readers to feel and experience Audrey's pivotal moments in what can feel like real time. This isn't a speedy or a quirky read, both of which are expectations I had as an incoming fan. Instead, it's a focused and thoughtful read that I expect many audiences will find relatable in more ways than one.

Audrey Zhou, a dutiful Chinese-American daughter, has achieved in school, graduated from a prestigious university, found a job in New York and a “perfect” fiancé. She has not been back to her small Illinois hometown for years and is dreading the holiday meeting of Ben, her fiancé, and her parents, especially her mother. Having spent a great deal of time with his parents who are liberal and welcoming, she has doubts about bringing someone home. In the years away she has missed a wedding, a reunion and a death. This does not surprise anyone who knew her since she spent her school years promising she would leave as soon as possible and never return. She turned away from former friends. Now, face to face with her past, she sees her life both past and present in a different light. At first reluctant, she starts to open up to misunderstandings that have crippled her for years. Delia Cai’s protagonist, Audrey, is not likable at first. As she discovers the truth, however, I found myself cheering her on.

Ch 1-5

This one is tough. I already know I’ll have a love hate relationship with it.

Growing up, I felt the same sort of internalized racism Audrey clearly feels. I like that she’s named for Audrey Hepburn. Did I also let people mispronounce my name for years? Oh, why, yes.

She has left her Midwest hometown for Brooklyn, engaged to Ben, a white man of means. When they go back to her childhood home for the holidays, so he can meet her parents, secrets begin to unfold.

I couldn’t imagine getting engaged to someone if they hadn’t met my parents, but I suppose I have a better relationship with mine than Audrey does.

The boy she had a crush on in high school that burned her CDs of indie and pop punk songs? I was violently attacked by that. My face is flaming right now. All of the references are gold. I knew I’d love this one.

Ch 6-10

This is some Sweet Home Alabama bullshit. I never understood why Reese’s character went with the hometown boy, but here, it seems the shared experiences trump what you think you want. I have trouble with that, too. No, I would not like to get into that.

I’m starting to feel like everything is Audrey’s fault. Her failed relationship with Kristen. Her falling out with everyone in town. Less so her relationship with her parents. I get that’s tough. Adapting to a new language and culture is tough. It’s really not for everyone.

I feel like something is going to happen with hometown boy, but we’ll see. I won’t hate it if it does. Not that I condone cheating. But the fiancé has to start compromising. I don’t care if his parents are helping them pay for the house. They don’t have to live there.

Ch 11-15

A lot of you think Audrey is unlikeable. That’s true. I do empathize with her, and get where she’s coming from. I have a good relationship with my parents, but I haven’t always. Call me spoiled like Audrey’s own mom says to her, but different immigrant generations experience different things. People are also different. But experiences can feel very similar.

Who called it with hometown boy? Probably all of us. It’s fine. I’m neither rooting for him nor the fiancé. I just need Audrey to make it out of this town alive. I’d also like her dad to make it out. However, before we think dad is so much better than mom, Asians moms typically have the stereotype of being the mean tiger mom. Dad isn’t laidback. He just ignores. These little things add up over time before someone eventually explodes. I feel that coming. Not that I’m condoning mom’s behavior. She needs to cool it. I don’t care if you’re not happy in your own life. Stop projecting.

Ch 16-20

I'm glad we got some resolution before the end. And unlike Sweet Home Alabama, I'm glad Audrey chooses herself. Sometimes, really, more often than not, we should. Ben was a bad choice for her. I'm not saying Kyle is a great choice.

That Alphabet City studio sounds teeny, but like any person that was obsessed with moving to New York in her early 20s, it sounds like the dream. That obviously never happened. But I will still talk about it forever.

The men are unimportant here. I'm glad Audrey sort of made up with her former bff. That's rough. I tend to be done with people once I drop them, but I know this isn't the case for everyone. Even better than that is her reconciliation with her mother. Some truths needed to be told, and they were. Asians tend to let things bubble up before they blow up. I'm guilty of this in my own life. Conflict is not something I was made for.

You all are hit or miss on your reviews, but this is one of my favorite books I've read this year. It's not for everyone. But it was for me.

The writing is good and includes reflections on being a woman of color in the U.S. that I haven't read in other places. These moments are what I kept reading for, because despite the protagonist's realness and nuance she was difficult to like, and the story dragged. This is one of the better treatments on dating/marrying a white partner that I've read, though that theme has become very tiring. Overall a good book, but not for me.

Central Places is about a Chinese-American woman named Audrey Zhou, who is bringing her white fiancé Ben home to meet her overbearing parents for the first time. Having built a successful life in New York and long ago cutting off all ties from her hometown and old friends of Hickory Groves, Illinois, this trip is Audrey’s first time coming home in eight years.

From the start of the book, it is clear that Audrey has a lot of unresolved personal issues tied to her past in Hickory Groves that impede her relationship with Ben. She is reluctant to open up about her past and shares very little about her family.

Even though I tend to enjoy books with unlikeable characters, I found Audrey to be unlikeable in an unbearable way. She didn’t have a single redeemable quality and easily (and unfairly) blamed others for her unhappiness. I found the resentment she had against her mother to be extremely immature, and it irked me that she was so rude to her sometimes. Audrey was also incredibly ungrateful and selfish, and while I tried to sympathize with her, I ended up sympathizing with other characters more (her parents and Ben).

The topic of racism was done well. My only complaint is that Audrey seemed to tether a lot of her personal issues to issues of race, even though the base of her problems was actually rooted in her lack of ability to confront her own mistakes. I would have enjoyed the commentary more if its integration into the novel was less forced and more integral to Audrey’s character development.

Despite these issues about the novel, I did enjoy the prose and story pacing. As a debut, Central Places is well done and a solid piece of work that gives you something to think about. I especially liked the parts that contrasted Audrey’s relationship with her father and her relationship with her mother; these bits were the realest and most relatable portion of the book. I look forward to reading whatever the author puts out next.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC: Newly engaged, Audrey Zhou, the protagonist, returns to her small Illinois town after an 8 year self imposed exile. Audrey has cut off her parents and childhood friends in her quest to achieve a new life. Over the course of a holiday visit to her aging parents, she slowly confronts her anger over her childhood where she did not feel included or welcome one of the few Asians in her town and at her parents--notably her mother. Audrey shows little capacity for empathy, and it's difficult to muster empathy towards her as she embarks on a slow odyssey of reconnecting to her parents and hometown friends. Her unnamed parents have hurt her, but her father adores her and her mother considers her to be "both my heart and my liver." As befits a woman who is emotionally frozen in adolescence and is the star of her drama, the other characters are sometimes mere outlines. Ultimately, Audrey comes to a deeper understanding of her family, childhood, current "success" and goals in her life. The final third of the book had much more momentum. I struggled to "grade" it but it was a book that made me think and it's a debut. I'd assume a semi-autobiographical novel. It's well written and thought provoking.

I originally started to read this book because I though that the story would be funny, especially when I read that the boyfriend was meeting the parents. But instead, the story was about becoming a grownup and facing ones childhood memories and righting wrongs when you can. The story to me was about living ones life the way you want and not just following someone and letting them make decisions for you because you don't want to be seen. I also think the story is about trying to see someone's else point of view and not thinking the story in your head is the true version.

I like that when Audrey went back to Hickory Grove that she was able to mend fences with her best friend Kristen and finally engage with Kyle, who she care for her whole life, and see the true friendship she had with him, and I was hoping the relationships with both Kristen and Kyle would continue after she returned back to New York.

I found the book very easy to read and the way the author describe Audrey's childhood made me feel things I haven't felt in years about being uncomfortable with incidents that brought me shame and made me feel small and insignificant, but in the end when you face what makes you uncomfortable it becomes less of an obstacle.

I want to thank Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books and NetGalley for an advance copy of a book that deals with the past

This book touched a chord in me as my parents are from outside Peoria (as Audrey is) and many things that the author described, I have seen and can understand. Good for Ms. Cai for researching the name of the main department store that everyone went to (Bergner's) and the towns around it. However, this story could have happened anywhere and even through Audrey was Asian, the midwest often is not extremely receptive to people that are "different", This may have changed as the book explored Audrey's school days 8 years before, but I still think central Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, etc. is still as she describes it and is not particularly welcoming to those that are a different ethnicity, gender, or religion...

I have mixed feelings about this one. Parts of it were interesting, growing up Chinese in a very white Midwestern town. and then re making her life in NY. She goes back home with her fiance to introduce him to her parents. She has a very complicated relationship with them, unresolved issues with former best friend and crush. It was all her talking, stream of consciousness, little action. The main problem I had with it, was she seemed so young, immature for her age and had left all this unresolved stuff and hadn't worked it out inside herself in all these years.

The book touched upon many important topics, some of them very relatable to me. I didn't click with the writing style at first, but I grew to like it later. The characters, while frustrating at times, made me feel an array of emotions. The story in general was different from what I usually read, but I really enjoyed the change.

Audrey was living a fulfilling life in New York. Together with her fiancé, she went to Chicago to see her parents. While in Chicago Audrey reunites with old friends in the past. This book has so many things about the past and everything else. It's a pretty good read.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this book in exchange for a review.

Although I was initially captivated by this book but the 3rd chapters I had lost all interest in characters, plot and outcome.

Audrey Zhou left her small midwestern town and her immigrant Chinese parents, and started a new life in New York. She is engaged to Ben, and he wants to meet her parents and see where she came from, and so talks her into going back to spend Christmas with her family. She resists but they go, and it does not go well. He makes the best of it, but Audrey has a hard time dealing with her family, and then meets up with some of her high school friends who she has completely left behind. It's a good story about family love, childhood dreams and memories, and adult relationships. #centralplaces #deliacai #bookstagram #reader #lovetoread #booksbooksbooks #takeapagefrommybook #bookblog #readersofinstagram #bookloversofinstagram #bookrecommendations #bookreview #netgalley #advancedreaderscopy #familyrelationships

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A young woman faces her feelings head on about her parents and her relationships.

This is easily one of the best books I've read this year. There's so much I shouldn't have liked: it's told in first person and present tense, and the plot plays off overdone tropes. And yet, it immediately felt different. Delia's writing makes you care about characters so quickly and so deeply, and it was effortless to just fall into Audrey's head.

'Central Places' is about a Chinese-American woman raised in small town Illinois, who leaves her town and old life fully behind her after graduation, ready to run from her impossible-to-please mother, unrequited crush and a town where she just doesn't fit in. Audrey moves to New York and creates the perfect life, with a well-paying job, perfect fiancé and Williamsburg apartment. Her fiancé convinces her to return to Illinois, and over the next few days/weeks, all of Audrey's perceptions about her family, relationships and identity are brought into question. It had big Sweet Home Alabama vibes, but with an added exploration of how having immigrant parents plays into all of it.

I loved Audrey's dad. I loved how much there was to emotionally confront about her upbringing and parental expectations. I loved Kyle and Zadie. I loved having Audrey work so realistically through so many major things. I do think her dramatic flip happened a little too quickly, but it made sense enough and I loved the way it ended up playing out.

I was also really impressed with the way the book read as compelling contemporary fiction. It's fast, it's not overly flowery and generally just easy to read. But I can't remember the last time I highlighted this much in a book. The language was stunning in the way of the best literary fiction.

Overall, just phenomenal. Already preordered and will be rereading.

I also always get stressed when a book is by either a friend, or a friend of friends in this case, because I don't know what to say or do if it ends up being a flop. Very grateful that didn't happen here.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Audrey Zhou grew up in a small Illinois town and left it once she graduated high school
for college and eventually a life in NY. It isn't until her fiancé Ben believes it's time for him to meet her parents that she goes back after an eight year absence. On her return, she encounters former classmates and has to deal with the past, what caused her to leave and if the current life she has is really what she wants.
While I can identify with Audrey's feelings and her dealings with racism, she was an unlikeable
character.
#CentralPlaces #NetGalley

If you've ever wondered what a Hallmark Christmas movie would be like if it had no guarantee of a happy ending, POC lead characters, and fully realized characters, Central Places is the book for you. In Central Places, Delia Cai puts the reader into Audrey Zhou's mind, all stream of consciousness energy with occasional flags that make you think perhaps therapy was in order for everyone involved. Just reading about Audrey's mom made me clench my jaw in sympathy. There are relationships and they are complicated, and I was absolutely gripped by the full spectrum of emotions that I went through while reading this book. (I received a free ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.)

Book Title: Central Places
Author: Delia Cai
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group ~Ballantine. Ballantine Books
Genre: Contemporary/ Family Drama
Pub Date: January 31, 2023
My Rating: 3 Stars

Audrey Zhou and her fiancé, Ben, return to her hometown Hickory Grove, Illinois for a Christmas visit. Audrey is Chinese and Ben is Caucasian. Audrey and Ben need to leave NYC to face their situation with her parents.
Audrey is caught between who she was in the past and who she thinks she is now.

Have to admit I was drawn to this story when I read Celeste Ng’s review. (She is an author I just love)
Hmm this story didn’t quite live up to my expectation. However, I know the right audience will love it!

Want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group ~Ballantine. Ballantine Books for this early uncorrected proof.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 31, 2023