I received an advance review copy for free and am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you @Netgalley for my gifted copy.

Central Places is an amazing story that takes the reader on an adventure through the past. Decisions made, regrets, the reality that we are shaped by our past no matter how much we don't like it. This book does an excellent job of exploring complicated relationships, family tensions, embarrassing events from the teen years, and lost friendships.

I liked Audrey and Ben's dynamic but could tell something was amiss the more I read. While Ben is a really nice guy, accomodating kind of guy, he doesn't really listen to Audrey's wants. Insert Kyle (the one who got away) and more tension builds as Audrey questions what might have been. Being back in her home town and unable to hide who she had become from those who knew her, the more she doesn't like the person she's become.

I liked the writing style and will definitely read more from this author!

𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙫𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙮 𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙮 𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙬𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚-𝙩𝙤-𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨, 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝘾𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨, 𝙬𝙝𝙤𝙢 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙜𝙜𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚. 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙖𝙬 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚- 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙃𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙂𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚- 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙖𝙬 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣?

Audrey Zhou grew up with the high expectations of her ‘very’ Chinese immigrant parents, exacerbated by coming of age in Hickory Grove, a ‘blot of the map’ kind of place. She never felt fully understood and returning now, after an 8-year absence with her fiancé, New York native Ben in tow, she is afraid of the impression her parents will leave. It is impossible to hide her roots, to forget her mistakes, the scenery, even the roads she used to travel, the former friends she turned her back on are dredging up the girl she used to be. Then she runs into her high school crush, Kyle, the last person she wanted to see and the weight of her feelings for her so long ago is something she never quite admitted to Ben. Not the small humiliations and irrational belief that they shared an affinity, even while he was dating her friend. Her college years and New York life were a rebirth for her, but coming back feels like blowing up the new person she has created. Marrying Ben is the life she is meant to want, with his family money and class, so why do the old feelings for Kyle return, the boy her mother thought of as ‘low quality’. Audrey spends a lot of time examining class, how some people never have to struggle to rise above their station, that the best things and places are a guarantee, and they don’t have to measure every choice, like she does, also feeling she owes her parents, who came to America to give their child a better life. Her mother, though, never seems to be satisfied with her accomplishments, the two just cannot connect, without disappointing each other. There was a time she was beloved of her, before she was old enough to become ‘a project’, as the story moves along, it’s easy to see why her Chinese parents push her to reach for the best, knowing all too well what struggles they have faced. The mechanics of parents’ marriage is another inexplicable part of her life, a curious love that she often misunderstands.

What works best in this story are the assumptions and judgements people make about Audrey based on her ethnicity. It’s the little things that make her feel like she doesn’t quite belong, identity is multifaceted when your cultural differences are on display. That there is judgement within one’s own people is just another added layer, when she doesn’t speak Mandarin and therefore appears to lack her Chinese worth. In the quote I shared she ponders if Ben will never see her the same way again after meeting her parents, where she came from, it is a tell how how fresh the pain of being different still is, that despite all her climbing and hardwork Audrey still doesn’t value herself, sees Ben as being somehow better than her. Growing up in a small town, where most people are the same, one’s ethnic background can feel like something to be ashamed of. It’s wrong, of course it’s wrong, but when you’re young the truth is most people just want to fit in somewhere. When she was young, she struggled with self-worth, in many ways her rise and success are another form of disappearing. Audrey is embarrassed by who she used to be and has a lot of unresolved issues with her parents and old friends. Kristen in particular, her best friend from childhood, isn’t about to make it easy on her. They have been out of each other’s lives since Audrey cast aside her past. Ben begins to catch wind of something more to the story between Audrey and Kyle, not understanding why she hates and has buried her past so deeply. It drives a wedge between them and gives her ample time to think about the way she sees her past and how she will move forward with her future. Does she want the life she has built, what exactly is she reaching for? How bad was her hometown and the life she all but vanished from? Just as revealing is the way she misunderstands so much about her own parents. What is the true measure of success and how does one’s culture and family mold who we chose to be or, more to the point, who we are often forced to become? Central Places is a rich debut, charged with insight that penetrates how we see ourselves and our family, particularly a child of immigrants. Yes, a good read.

Published January 31, 2023

Random House

Ballantine

Central Places captures all of the angst and emotion involved when one returns to the place where they grew up. It has a little bit of everything that we all can relate to: friendship, family tensions, and how it feels to grow up. I enjoyed it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this ARC.

I absolutely loved this debut novel from Delia Cai. Her use of language is enchanting, and the book really evoked a strong sense of place. I loved the brief time span covered and how that added tension to the narrative. And as someone from a small town who now lives in NYC, there were many emotions and moments I could relate to in Audrey's journey. Already bought this as a gift for my sister, eagerly awaiting Cai's next book!

literary fiction has always been hit or miss with me, but I'm always inclined to those written by nonwhite people, women especially. this is a gorgeous study in one woman's life left behind, at times indulgent but ultimately very compelling

4.25 I really enjoyed this read. Audrey is complicated and tough to understand and maybe tough to root for, but you do. Her relationship with her parents was written in such a nuanced, relatable way. Her relationship with her white fiance had me smirking or nodding my head. The writing was really great- I was underlining in my ebook like crazy. It's Tis the Damn Season without being a romance. Very comparable reading experience for me to White Ivy.

7/10

Audrey Zhou grew up in nowheresville, Illinois - the only child of Chinese immigrant parents. It was mostly a white town with a very small Asian population.

She had friends, she had a nice middle class life, but she felt like she didn’t belong. She looked different, her parents were different, her friends seemed so much better, so much happier. All Audrey wanted to do was leave.

So she left the town, went to college, moved to New York City and got engaged to Ben - a Caucasian.

The book starts with Audrey bringing Ben back to her little home town to meet her parents. She hadn’t been back for 8 years.

And so begins the journey of Audrey confronting the place she thought she was running away from.

Central Places is about the places we come from and the places inside of us. It’s about wherever you go, there you are - you can keep running but you can’t escape who you are.

It’s a really good exploration of the challenges in being a first generation Asian American - having to straddle two cultures and try to be accepted in both.

This is the debut novel from Delia Cai. She’s clearly a good writer though I believe most of her writing history is shorter form articles. Regardless, I thought the book started off well but then slowed down in the middle - as if it were belaboring the same points over and again. But then about 2/3s of the way through the book the characters began to unfold in much more vibrant detail and the book flourished.

Well done Delia.

#netgalley #centralplaces

i think that the “insufferable female lead” character can be done really, really beautifully. (i am not sure if that is what the author was aiming to achieve.) i don’t think that this hit that mark for me. i found it hard to invest in audrey emotionally because she genuinely is her own biggest issue. i just kept wondering when she would grow up and get out of her own way.

thanks to netgalley for a copy in return for an honest review!

Delia Cai's debut novel is a vulnerable and sharp rendering of what it means to go home and face your old self, your hometown, and your immigrant parents. I truly enjoyed reading this book and thought all the characters were well-written.

https://therumpus.net/2023/02/07/hometown-humbling-delia-cais-central-places/

I resisted starting Central Places and then once I did, I read it in one sitting. It's evocative of how hard it is for anyone to go home again, wherever that home is. Delia Cai does a great job capturing the descent into your high school self.

I enjoyed this personal and fictional story of Audrey, a woman born to Chinese parents who grew up in a small town in Illinois. Audrey always felt different despite having close friends and couldn't wait to leave the town and everybody in it. After university, she moved to New York to start the life she always wanted. After eight years, she finally went back for a visit and soon realized that you can never really escape your home or your past.

I didn't care very much for the character of Audrey and found her to be selfish, moody, immature, and self-absorbed. She ghosted her hometown friends and her own parents for almost a decade. When she finally returned home she seemed surprised that her former friends weren't that friendly toward her. Rich in descriptive wording, I did enjoy this Asian writer's take on what it was like living in the midwest USA and the mention of places I am familiar with. However, by the end of the book, I was tense and exhausted from the numerous conflicts throughout.

delia cai you will always be famous
i laughed i cried i called my mom. this is THE hometown story. i'm so thankful for this messy heroine and her big feelings and her screw ups and her fears. just gorgeous and unlike anything ever ever.

Audrey Zhou, the main character, is a mess. If you like books with likeable narrators who miraculously change their way then this may not be for you but I challenge you to explore this story to understand Audrey’s struggles; a self-centred, self-absorbed and selfish mess. Cai completely captures the emotions of going back to your home town, your Central Place, from lost loves to fractured friendships. She attentively explores the Asian American experience; in particular the strained relationship with her mother. Audrey is now a young adult questioning life decisions whilst also battling with her mother’s first generation expectations. This novel had such a great premise but the obnoxiousness was a drag which made me lose sympathy at times. Combined with a mundane visit it became tedious in the middle. I wanted it to delve deeper into ‘the why’ but got more of a ‘woe is me’ narrative. Maybe I missed the mark with this one. Would be a great discussion book!

Recommend if you don’t mind unlikeable characters. You may not agree with Audrey nor her choices but still a worthwhile read to understand a little about the second generation Asian American experience.

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House, and Ballentine for this advance copy!

What an incredible novel about identity and home. I loved this story of a Chinese-American woman coming home to her white, christian, small midwest town for the holidays with her new white fiance in tow. Aubrey is so many of us, raised in towns where conformity is everything and there is literally no way they can conform because of race or religion, who then take off for other places, only to come home and face our younger selves.

Audrey just can't seem to make things work with anyone and wanted to reach through the book and hug her. At times I also wanted to scream at her; she can only seem to take charge of her life by hurting people close to her. The prose was straightforward forward and the characters were varied and many of them rich in nuance. A few felt a little like stereotypes, but I appreciated that not everyone could be fully fleshed out with Audrey at the center.

A great coming home novel, I loved how it wrapped up, with things said and decisions made, but plenty unknown for the future.

This book was riddled with tension. Tension in relationships, tension between past and present, and tension in disparate future possibilities. The family dynamics were the most compelling part of the story and portrayed all the big and minuscule ways parents and kids hurt the crap out of each other.

When I came across this title in Netgalley, I wasn't sure if it was a book I would be interested in. I sat on requesting it for some time, Simply because I am trying to limit my DNF books. However, I took the chance on this debut author. I can not say how much I am glad that I did! I absolutely loved EVERYTHING about this book. From the writing style, to the story line of Audrey and Ben, even the relationship her mother and father had. I LOVED that her mother was not american but her dad was. I truly just loved this book. I keep thinking about Central Places even though I had finished reading it last week. I do not typically pick up a book to re-read, but this is one I think I could read multiple times and never get bored of it. Thank You to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for allowing me to read this e-book in exchange for my honest feedback. Also, want to shout out to the author Delia Cai on this book, I can not wait to read what comes next from Delia!!!

A lot heavier and dramatic than I was expecting - not sure if that’s me or how it was marketed. Loved the relationships and how real they felt.

This was a great book. It’s a multi-layered read exploring numerous relationships- the relationship we have to both our current self and our self childhood; the different relationship we have to each of our parents; romantic relationships; relationships with our high school friends. I thought the exploration of each of these relationships was well-written. I’d definitely recommend this book.

Audrey Zhou, the main character in Central Places by Delia Cai, grew up as one of the few Asian households in predominantly white middle American town and couldn't wait to get out of it. She's been living in NY with her white fiancé Ben, and hasn't come home for 8 years, but when her father needs to undergo a medical procedure, she finds herself back in her home town, and all the challenges that come with having to return to a place she worked so hard to get out of. The author does a great job of portraying the cultural differences involved in this story, which isn't always pretty. The relationships between the characters are varying levels of complicated. While Audrey's mom is difficult to please and doesn't seem to approve of anything, including Audrey, Audrey herself comes off as immature and bratty, while her fiancé comes across as snooty and snobby. Still, caught between who she was and who she thinks she is, she may find that the very thing she was running from is now the thing that she needs the most. This story encompasses what it means to try to embrace your past, which may mean letting go of certain people, and holding on to others. Thank you NetGalley for the 5-star read on a debut author.

The writing was beautiful and it felt vulnerable throughout the entire story. The story had such complex characters, which I absolutely looove! I was instantly captivated by the main character, Audrey, and her relationship with her Chinese immigrant parents and her white fiance.