I really wanted to like Delia Cai's debut, Central Places, but that main character was absolutely insufferable. I'm all about have an unlikeable protagonist, but she was so immature and self-absorbed, I almost couldn't take it anymore.

Of all the things to love about this novel, the pace was my favorite. The plot was lovely, the characters were real and raw and vulnerable, and the setting was familiar to anyone who has ever tried to “go home again,” but the true beauty for me was the comfortable reading pace. I kept telling myself I would just read one more chapter and, while nothing terribly exciting ever happened, I just wanted to stay wrapped up in the story a little bit longer. A sparkling debut!

Central Places is a coming of age tale told by Audrey Zhou, who is returning to the rural small-town of Hickory Grove, Illinois that she couldn’t wait to leave, with her shiny new fiancé Ben in tow. Audrey and Ben live in NYC, where he works as a too-hip photojournalist who can’t find coffee that meets his standards for taste and fair-trade certification. In the way of a fairy tale, in coming home for Christmas for her father’s endoscopy, Audrey discovers that her parents are not hopelessly embarrassing, and that Hickory Grove may just be a central place to which she will be forever connected. Happy and sad, Audrey has a great sense of humor about her circumstances, and you really root for her to find a place where she belongs. 4.0 out of 5.0 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a courtesy advanced copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Delia Cai, and publisher Ballantine Books for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

Central Places had the potential to be a book that I loved, but unfortunately, it fell a bit flat for me. I adore books about women in their twenties who have complicated relationships with both their family and their hometowns, as that's something I can relate to first-hand. I also love reading diverse books, and Cai's writing has such an authentic voice that came through in a lovely way. The book started out strong and engaging, but for my personal taste, it got a bit too wrapped up in the melodrama. I wanted to see more about Audrey's confliction about who she was and even how her relationship was with her parents, but instead, the book was mostly focused on a strange love triangle situation between her present-day fiancé and her high school crush. It seemed a bit immature overall, and I got tired of reading about the back and forth. The self-awareness was not there for Audrey at all, and she wasn't really called out for her behavior (which was increasingly negative) until towards the end. Even then, it seemed like things wrapped up neatly without Audrey really having to focus on exactly who she was-- things just kind of worked out while still allowing her to be pretty much the same person with no major growth. This book definitely had potential, and there were parts that I really enjoyed, but it needed to be a little longer and a lot more developed in terms of character relationships.

I loved this read - the culture, the palpable pain and angst that jumped off the page. It's a journey of self discovery, family, love, and inner turmoil. I'm stingy with five stars, but Central Places earned them all!

Audrey Zhou grew up in the middle of nowhere Illinois. After high school, she runs off to Chicago and ends up NYC. She hasn't been home in years. After 8 years away, she comes back with a white fiancee. She's not keen on introducing him to her family but here we are. This book is about wanting to run away from who you are and going back to realize how much you have (or maybe haven't?) changed.

I didn't expect to connect with this book as much as I did. I grew up in Chicago in a fairly diverse community but I could still feel Audrey's shame of having immigrant parents that just weren't like the white kids' parents. Your mother making you "weird" food while your father tries to make "American" food and not quite succeeding. It harkened back to my time growing up and made me realize what a jerk I had been growing up. I should have embraced my upbringing, It wasn't easy for my parents to give up everything and start all over in Chicago and I should have loved and admired them even more for taking on that challenge. It's hard to see that when you're a kid and even when you're an adult just wanting to fit in so badly. The little details are what nailed it for me, I'm not sure who else will get emotional reading about folding up a used paper towel to use 3 more times. I still do this and know where this habit came from.

book surprised me — beginning set me up for one thing, middle threw me for a ride and I hated the MC, and then I found myself rooting for her wellbeing in the final third of the book. the narrative storytelling was enticing, introspective, and captures the heartfeltness of well-meaning people who love us no matter how much we screw up.

Central Places follows Audrey Zhou, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, as she travels with her fiancé to visit her family in Illinois over the winter holidays. When she gets home she struggles with facing her strained relationship with her parents, her high school crush, her former best friend, and everything she hated about growing up in her small town.

I was really looking forward to this book, but the reading experience I ended up having was incredibly anticlimactic. There wasn’t anything in Central Places that I haven’t already seen in a million other books. Usually that would be fine. I don’t think every book has to have something brand new and unique to it. But I do think it should’ve been at least a little entertaining. Or educational. Or SOMETHING! Instead it was just chapter after chapter of a story I felt like I’d already read. I would have DNFd it if I didn’t need to write a review.

I think a common complaint people will have about Central Places is that Audrey is unlikable. In my opinion she has no good qualities. Had Audrey been a more likable person I think it would’ve been easier for me to be invested in her life. A lot of Central Places is focused on Audrey trying repair or find closure for some relationships from her past, but I didn’t think she deserved either closure or repaired relationships. Not everything that happened to Audrey was her fault, but she definitely was a terrible friend and fiancé, so whenever she broke down about her friends or her fiancé being upset with her I didn’t care. I’m not someone who needs likable main characters, but I think a book like this one needs to give the reader a reason to care about the main character’s happiness.

I want to end by acknowledging that this book was likely not written for me. I believe it was intentionally written for American POC (especially Asians) who are children of immigrants. So I don’t think you should place very much weight on my opinion when deciding whether or not you want to read this.

Central Places by Delia Cai is a thoughtful debut that explores what it means to come home again after being away for so long. Audrey Zhou left her small town 2 hours outside of Chicago after graduating high school without looking back. After college she moved to New York City and became the *NYC version* of herself, quickly forgetting the Hickory Grove Audrey she once was. In Manhattan she meets her now fiancé Ben, a born and bred New Yorker, who has shown her a version of life that she can't wait to grow together towards. When they fly to Hickory Grove to visit Audrey's parents, who she hasn't been home to see in 8 years, it becomes quickly clear that the person she tried so hard to leave behind can't truly be forgotten. The future that she was planning for may no longer fit the person she is confronted with.

I enjoyed the premise of this book - as a child of immigrant parents there was a lot of this that I could relate to and find connection with. I found Audrey to be hard to relate to - I wanted her to be more self aware and empathetic throughout which complicated the reading experience for me. Overall this felt fresh and interesting and it gave me a lot to think about.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Ballantine for the ARC. Central Places is out now!

Central Places by Delia Cai

This book involves a 25-year-old Chinese American woman, named Audrey and the struggles she has with her parents, mostly her mother, who are Chinese immigrants. After high school and college, Audrey moves to New York City to help her forget her past life in Hickory Grove, Illinois. She leaves behind her parents, who she rarely visits as well as her best friend Kristen and Kyle, who she had a crush on forever. She tries to forget that life moving forward. She found a well-paid job working for a magazine, she is currently engaged to Ben, a photojournalist whose parents are exactly who Audrey always dreamed of when growing up. When Audrey’s father begins to have some medical issues, she is forced to return to her childhood home. She brings with her her Manhattan raised fiancé Ben to meet her parents and to see where she came from. Ben knows very little about her life before. She is embarrassed about her parents and their immigrant ways. While taking Ben around town, Audrey happens to meet up with Kyle. Have her feelings towards him changed? Does she still have that crush on him? During this week at home, Audrey is forced to confront many issues. How she deals with them is the heart of the story. At times, I had empathy for her, at other times, I considered her to be a bratty little child who always needs to get her own way. As her Manhattan life begins to unravel, Audrey needs to look inside herself and make major decisions.
I appreciated that by the end of the story, Audrey begins to grow up and act more like an adult.
The flow of the story made this book an easy read. The author grabbed you from the start and you wanted to continue to discover how Audrey confronts her many issues.
Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC of Central Places in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Central Places is a well-written story about a second generation Chinese immigrant daughter who finally returns to her parents' home in small town Illinois from New York City. Audrey Zhou is 28 and has built a life for herself in New York. For the first time in 8 years, she returns home to see her parents and confront her past. Her experience is very relatable and Delia Cai does a wonderful job illustrating the regression many of us go through when we're with our families.

Her parents moved to Illinois from China before she was born, seeking better lives. Audrey has always felt stuck between two cultures (American and Chinese) and now two places (New York and Illinois). At the suggestion of her white fiancé, affluent New Yorker, Ben, she returns home for her father's medical procedure and to introduce them.

I was drawn in immediately, but Audrey's character could be incredibly frustrating at times. She thinks very selfishly and acts in self-destructive ways. I enjoyed her character arc and found it interesting that she couldn't mature until she examined her childhood and relationships with her parents. Though she is nearing 30, I would consider this a coming-of-age story as she learns to let go of things that are no longer serving her. I listened to the audiobook, which was perfectly narrated by Natalie Naudus.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

Central Places is witty and heartfelt, perfectly capturing the feeling of going home to a place that’s suddenly new and foreign. I could feel myself relating with the main character throughout and understood her struggles. My one criticism would be that it felt a little slow (not in a literary fiction way, but in a “it’s getting hard to continue” way). Overall a great read!

Audrey Zhou has worked hard to leave her high school persona behind. She's moved to New York City, gotten a high-paying job, and fallen in love. She also hasn't been home in years, so when her dad calls saying he's having a procedure she decides it's time to go back...with her fiancé. Back home, she regresses into her teenage self but also starts to examine how she got where she is. Can she rebuild her relationships without losing herself?

I really loved "Central Places" by Delia Cai. I found myself being able to relate to many parts of the story, and this was something that had intrigued me from the start. While the main character, Audrey, could be frustrating at times, it's important to acknowledge the array of emotions and cultural shifts she makes and feels per day. The amount of complexities that went into the writing of each character really stood out to me and made the novel shine. I recommend "Central Places" to anyone but especially those who have gone through or are in similar situations as the protagonist.

As the child of first generation immigrants, I found this book very enlightening. The experience of living in two worlds was very true to life. It is not always easy living in two different worlds - one world of school and friendships and another world of a native language and culture that you live in. I highly recommend this book for anyone who grew up that way.

Wow, I feel like Delia Cai took my entire adolescent experience right out of my brain. Although there are many differences between Audrey's life and my own in the smaller details, we have so much in common when it comes to the Chinese-American experience. Her tenuous relationship with her family and her uneasy feeling of never quite belonging anywhere are obstacles I have had to contend with. Audrey's voice conveys her inner struggles clearly and with a great deal of self-awareness.

"What was that like, to just confidently ask things of the world without wondering if someone would be annoyed by the burden of your needs?"

Throughout the book, there are times when Audrey comes across as bratty, which makes her a more unlikable character but also a more realistic one. Although she does have to contend with bigotry due to her race, particularly in her small town, she also possesses numerous privileges and displays a sense of entitlement.

Nevertheless, the author manages to capture the complicated family dynamics between Audrey and her parents perfectly, almost mirroring exactly what I've experienced with my own parents, and I'm sure many others as well. The language barrier and cultural gaps are difficult to overcome, even when both sides desperately want to understand the other better. I am familiar with the feelings of awkwardness and discomfort when speaking about emotions and vulnerable topics, and I have never learned to navigate or overcome them, so it is much easier just to avoid them completely. It's a sad cycle that is hard to break. I wish the dialogue said by Audrey's parents had been written in a more authentic way. It was much too fluent and grammatically correct considering they are not native speakers and still speak Mandarin primarily. If Mandarin was the language actually being spoken in many of these circumstances, that was not specified and Audrey's understanding would have been limited.

There were points in which the story moves fairly slowly, but for a debut, this was an impressive undertaking and a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience.

In Central Places Audrey Zhou and her fiancé, Ben, travel from NYC back to Hickory Grove, IL, the small town where Audrey grew up. When she graduated high school, Audrey left and never looked back. She has since built the life she wanted in NYC and hasn’t been home in 8 years. She’s tense, worried about her impossible to please Mom, and her well-intentioned but sometimes awkward Dad, the only family of Chinese immigrants in their small town.

While Audrey is anxious about Ben’s perception of her previous life and her parents’ perception of him, she is also tense about former friendships that ended by her abandonment when she left for college, and her high school crush, Kyle, who she and Ben run into at Walmart. This trip home forces Audrey to confront her past and consider what she wants for her future.

I felt for Audrey regarding her mom, who was distant, judgmental, and critical. Nothing seemed good enough for her, Audrey included. That said, I really did not like Audrey either! I wanted to see the story through but she didn’t grow on me. If anything, I came to dislike her more, largely due to her behavior and interactions with almost everyone at home, and had a hard time connecting to Central Places as much as I hoped to because of this dislike.

Audrey Zhou, the main character in Central Places by Delia Cai, has it all--the right fiancé, the right job, and residence in the best city in the world. Her life is far from that of her high school years as the daughter of Chinese immigrants, living in a midwestern, middle-class, predominantly white town, and striving not to feel like an outcast but doing everything she can to get out.

Before she can proceed with her dream life, it's time to meet the parents, so she brings her fiancé Ben to her hometown of Hickory Grove, Illinois at Christmastime. She hasn't been back in years, finds it hard to reconcile her tough relationship with her parents, and pretty much avoided contact with her former friends and classmates. Will she be able to mesh her current cosmopolitan life with her former small town one?

I liked the premise of the book because I think many people can relate to moving away from their hometown and recognizing that they're different from the person they were in high school. This can be especially true if you've felt like an outcast or burned a few bridges along the way. You want to show everyone you're not that anxious, awkward person that didn't stand out and wasn't popular. But it isn't as simple as that, and this book demonstrates it.

Audrey may be successful and content with her status in life, but she's forgotten others along the way. She comes back uncomfortable with her family and friends and seems quite snobby in many ways. She's told everyone that she now associates with in New York that she hated living in Hickory Grove. Everything she experiences during her trip home seems tinged with scorn and not sentimentality. At times, she seems incredibly spoiled and ungrateful for what she has now and what she had then. Her fiancé who's a freelance photographer, possible trust-fund kid, from New York City, acts like the place is beneath him.

During the trip, Audrey meets up with her old crush Kyle who's now a teacher and living with his mom in town. She claims to have held a candle for him back in high school, and they spent a summer together as each other's closest friend before she went off to college. I just didn't see the chemistry or the connection they held together. And it seemed totally unlikely that they connected at all. I didn't buy this relationship.

Plus, I could relate more to her best friend Kristen who rebuffs her when they encounter one another at a Christmas concert at the local church, which serves as a social center for the townspeople as well. Audrey knows they didn't stay in touch but seems to think that they can pick up where they left off. She didn't treat Kristen well, so I couldn't feel empathy for her.

Towards the end of the book, she comes to some realizations about who she is and what she wants, but it's sort of out of the blue. It's not a gradual warming up to how and where she grew up. The book goes from her being embarrassed or sneering at the small town lifestyle to all of a sudden reconciling it. It was too abrupt a change, especially when she seemed to hate it so much. Her mom, though, was pretty horrible at times, so I can understand why she wanted to flee her.

I liked the book, the writing is very good, and I think this author has great potential. The fact that she's written for Vanity Fair sold me because everyone who writes for that magazine is phenomenal. But the main character was not likeable many times to me, her fiancé was a jerk, and I could not feel that much empathy for her when she seemed ungrateful and dismissive. Despite that, this is a solid debut, ends differently than I expected, and it kept me reading.

I enjoyed the first and last thirds of the book, but the middle dragged on. This was almost a DNF for me because of that. The main character did a lot of eye rolling, sighing, and sarcasm. etc., which was made her unlikable for me. Grant it, her mother was difficult, but her father made up for it. I hate giving a negative review, but there you have it.

I received an advance reader copy courtesy of net galley in exchange for my honest review.

"I'm at the top of the St. Louis arch, cracking under pressure as my mother screams at me to smile."

I thought I signed up for a cute story about young woman finally visiting home after 8 years and settling previous trauma.. but what I received was a seemingly well-adjusted woman who sets her life on fire over the holidays once faced with past demons. All in all, I'm still here for it and I found this book to be an extremely engaging read.

I'm very impressed with the organization and writing style, particularly given that this is Delia Cai's debut novel. This is a largely character-driven plot, but still paced very well, with just enough plot to keep your mind from wandering.

Cai perfectly captures the sense of bittersweet nostalgia upon revisiting adolescence; the surge of memories resurfacing, while at the same time the discomfort creeping in. Audrey's portrayed experience raise by immigrant parents was also intricately written and expertly executed. The awkward conversations where strangers try to gauge whether you were the "poor" immigrant, the "broke" immigrant, or whether your family came from money or for opportunity, and how regardless of the response to this, there is some type of undiscussed comparison of 'American Dream vs immigrant struggle' that many first gen children never signed up to be part of. I also loved how Cai portrayed the feeling of bringing friends/partners home to meet your immigrant family; whether during adolescence or into adulthood, there is a sense of vulnerability, or introducing judgement on your upbringing.

While the main character, Audrey, came off a bit overdramatic and immature for 27, I enjoyed following along her character development and growth across her completely chaotic holiday trip. Highly recommend this very tightly packed, deep dive into the examining one's past before moving forward.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for giving me the opportunity to read and review an advanced reader's copy.