I know that life comes at you nasty. But for as much and as many times as I have read JOAN IS OKAY, the ultimate comfort book of the late pandemic. I was not ready for this swerve of a title from Weike Wang.

And sure, her debut CHEMISTRY could be seen as the origin story for this one. But those earlier books have lightness and hope, levity. And I was so excited to get approved for the ARC of this title.

Also I had 2024 Covid when I got approved, which just proves my point about how getting the galley of JOAN IS OKAY in 2021 was the novel version of the vaccine. Even though I wrongly sometimes associate reading it with the 2020 of it all, like it’s the LAUGH NOW CRY LATER Drake video and a bottle of SUNNY SIDE UP eau de toilette from Juliette Has A Gun.

So my 2024 Covid read of this book was bed bound, but that doesn’t account for me reading all three of Weike Wang’s novels in a day. What it does say is that no matter when I read this book, I still would’ve stopped less than halfway through to read the others, because I just needed a break from this bleak novel.

I love this author. I just really hated this plot. I usually thank the publisher at the end of my reviews for the ARC but this time I want to thank Weike Wang. I reserve the right to change my mind on how much this novel wounded me, which is why I am giving it 5 stars.

I liked this book and would recommend it to people, but probably not to the college students at my library because I am not sure they are old enough to relate to it. I liked the family relationships and felt irritated or angry at people at the appropriate times because the descriptions were good. The end left me wondering about the future of their relationship.

This is a book in which nothing and everything happens - one of my favorite types of books when done well, which it emphatically is!

Rental House is a vivid, sharply rendered character study of a married couple - Keru, the only child of well-educated Chinese immigrants who hold her to impossibly high standards, and Nate, whose white working-class family is less than enthusiastic about his intellectual pursuits and "foreign" wife. At the heart of the book are complex, deeply entrenched family dynamics - both within their marriage and between their own families and in-laws. The plot, which centers on two different vacations years apart - arguably three, considering the first is shared first with Keru's parents and then with Nate's - is fairly straightforward; the drama comes entirely from the characters, the tensions and contradictions and resolutions of their own needs. In other words, the messiness of being human!

I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll keep this vague - I really enjoyed the whole book and am still mulling over the ending, which in my opinion was ambiguous leaning hopeful. I'm curious how other will interpret it!

I found Rental House absorbing and memorable, and I'll eagerly recommend it to readers looking for a character-driven story that's insightful, provocative, and at times quite funny (less ha-ha and more sardonic). Thanks to NetGalley and Riverhead Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.