Book 119 of 350 ~ 2025

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It wasn't a three star as some parts of the book were good, especially when it was read while listening to the excellent narrator.

It wasn't a four star either as Penelope felt like a teen versus an adult whose frontal lobe should be developed.

I was split about liking it and finding it borderline meh, so 3.5 it is.

I received a complimentary copy of the audiobook and ebook. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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I have a bad habit of needing to read any book that gets compared to Sally Rooney, but it usually works out for me in the end.

Gingko Season is about Penelope Lin. Penelope works at a museum cataloging bound-foot shoes of the Qing Dynasty. Penelope has a few close friends and has recently gone through a break up. She lives a quiet life, but her worldview expands as her friends' lives change and she meets new people.

Gingko Season is a quiet novel focused on Penelope and her relationships. While there is an element of romance in this story, it is really about friendship. It explores what brings people together and what keeps them apart. I loved how introspective and thoughtful this novel was. I also loved all of the random facts and ideas that get explored through Penelope’s thoughts and conversations she has with the people around her.

Like I mentioned before, I picked this up because it was “for readers” of Sally Rooney (who I love) and I was not disappointed. If you also love Rooney, I would highly suggest Gingko Season. I would also recommend this more broadly to anyone who enjoys character-driven narratives, introspective and reflective characters, and social commentary in their fiction.

I love Gingko Season and I cannot wait to read anything and everything I can find by Naomi Xu Elegant!

This is a hard review to write. I’ll say it. I wasn’t enamored with this book. It did have a few tidbits of memorable lines throughout, which was enough to keep me going and prevented me from DNF’ing it. But it was a serious struggle.

Penelope is living in Philadelphia, alone without family, but with several roommates. Her father is a famous Chinese artist, and her mother, well, she doesn’t know where her mother is. Penelope works at a museum in Philadelphia, where she is currently cataloging shoes from bound-foot women from the Qing Dynasty. Penelope meets Hoang by chance near her work, and the story ensues with her feelings and thoughts for Hoang dallying between “Do I want to be friends?” or “Do I want to date?” Her heart is still somewhat entangled with thoughts of Paul, her ex-boyfriend who she just can’t seem to forget…

If you love a slow burn story of friends and budding romances, this story is for you! Unfortunately, this was just too slow moving for me. I found myself struggling a lot at many points to get through it. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good slow-burn, character based book -IF- the characters have depth and meaning. Penelope’s character was not very interesting, and her musings were nothing to hook my attention. I did find her 2 best friends somewhat entertaining, as Apple is kind of a jerk to her, and left me irritated with how she treated Penelope. Inno, her other best friend, was a bit OCD, but aloof and also seemed rather uncaring towards Penelope.

The dalliances around the relationship Penelope was maybe trying to have with Hoang were just so back and forth. Does she care, or doesn’t she?

The writing was just ho-hum, nothing exceptional in my opinion, but I didn’t hate the book, so I gave it 3 stars, as there were a few good moments/situations.

Ginko Season really took my by surprise. I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting but the beautiful and prescient prose from Naomi Xu Elegant far exceeded anything I could have imagined. At once meditative and romantic, the writing and thoughtfulness behind this book will stay with me a long time. One part love story, one part found family, one part coming of age--this book has it all and is perfect for readers who look for reflective if not slightly metaphysical, thought provoking stories. It is also a perfect Asian American Heritage Month read. The narrator of the audiobook had a very calming, pensive presence and was authentic to the character.

If you’ve ever rebuilt yourself after heartbreak, Gingko Season will speak to you.

Set in present-day Hong Kong, this introspective debut follows Penelope Lin, a museum worker who has deliberately kept her world small and safe since the end of a relationship two years ago...UNTIL a chance encounter with a man named Hoang begins to unravel the walls she’s built.

Penelope’s voice is what really carried this story for me. She’s witty, observant, and quietly vulnerable in a way that feels deeply human. There’s romance here, but it unfolds naturally and never overshadows the richer emotional core of the book, like her relationships with close friends, her grief over her mother, and the moral friction she feels between her ideals and her everyday actions.

This isn’t a fast-paced story, but it’s beautifully layered and satisfying.

Thanks to W. W. Norton & Company and NetGalley for the ARC.

"Gingko Season" offers a delicate, introspective portrait of mid-20s existence through the eyes of Penelope Lin, a Chinese American woman carefully rebuilding her life after heartbreak. Set against the backdrop of Philadelphia, this novel excels in its character study rather than plot-driven narrative.
What makes this book stand out is its authentic portrayal of that peculiar phase of early adulthood many of us experience—that period of obsessive self-discovery and uncertain identity that author captures with remarkable accuracy. Penelope's work cataloging Qing Dynasty bound-foot shoes serves as a fitting metaphor for her own constrained emotional state before meeting the refreshingly direct Hoang.
The novel's quiet, flowing prose creates a meditative reading experience that mirrors Penelope's gradual reawakening. The rich depiction of Chinese American life adds cultural texture without overwhelming the universal themes of friendship, love, and personal growth.
Penelope's friend group—those complex, sometimes frustrating companions that seem uniquely characteristic of our twenties—will feel achingly familiar to many readers. These relationships are portrayed with nuance and honesty, reminding us of that formative time when our friends were both our greatest supporters and occasional sources of drama.
While "Gingko Season" won't satisfy readers seeking plot-driven excitement, those who appreciate thoughtful character studies and coming-of-age stories (even when the protagonist is technically already "of age") will find much to savor in this tenderhearted novel about learning to truly live again.

I really enjoyed this book -- kind of a slow burn but also just great internal thoughts. So cerebral but in the best way. I immediately fell into Penelope's orbit and didn't want it to end. This reminded me of Sally Rooney and others that I love. Also, I absolutely loved the ending!!

Gingko Season comes out next week on May 20, 2025, and you can purchase HERE!

He was that kind of extrovert whose gregariousness can feel like a barrier to intimacy-like he was so close to everyone he met that it was impossible to differentiate your relationship with him from his relationship with everyone else.

I wanted to like this one a lot from the synopsis, but I found myself struggling to get through this one. I genuinely did want to like it, but the main character was someone who I was unable to be immersed in her story. The writing style itself is fine, but the pacing felt a bit off at times, which probably one of the reasons why I was struggling to connect with the protagonist.

I can see how others might love this one, though, so I wouldn't write it off completely! It just wasn't my taste in the end.

3 ⭐️. there was such a distance and quietness to these characters that I both loved and also found disengaging. I always love reading about stories from philly.

ty to W. W. Norton & Company and NetGalley for an advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

thanks to NetGalley for the eARC

⭐️=4 | 😘=2 | 🤬=3.5 | 🍺/🚬=2 | 16+

summary: a young Chinese American Qing dynasty historian with mommy issues meets this guy and then her life changes a lot (this is a terrible summary) and it’s like one of those litfic books where nothing happens and the stakes are low but also a lot happens?

thoughts: I forgot how much I like this kind of wandering, low-stakes high emotion literary fiction that you kind of slowly absorb. loved this thematically, but I wanted Penelope to (view spoiler); I think it lacked some closure on that front? overall this was good, though!

• still recovering from a breakup, penelope has decided she wants no more romantic connections, content to spend her time working at her local museum. when she meets hoang, a lab researcher who admits to releasing a bunch of mice from his work, she finds her life slowly unravelling. a story of reawakening & transformation, this book explores the nature of friendships in your mid-20s, and how living a life the aligns with your values is harder than it seems.
• while reading slightly more YA than adult, this book is full of heart. penelope is figuring herself out, and figuring out what it means to be a person in the world. i really felt like this book could have pushed these feelings further, as i was left feeling removed from what penelope was feeling & thinking.
• penelope’s narration felt quite choppy & disjointed at times, which i do think was intentional, but sometimes pulled me out of the flow of the story. i think the sally rooney comp set my expectations when this wasn’t really a good comparison.

Gingko Season follows Penelope, a museum researcher in her mid-twenties, who is trying to navigate love, friendship, identity, and politics. It’s definitely a coming-of-age story with a lot of heart and some smart reflections. I thought Penelope was a really interesting character, but the book lost me here and there—especially during long tangents about Philadelphia history and Napoleon that felt a bit much (aka boring). Some of the side characters were a little too immature (like one who’s obsessed with koalas). It was an OK read for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Oh to be young, dumb, and in love with boys who are also young and dumb. Naomi Xu Elegant's GINGKO SEASON is a somewhat straightforward coming of age novel about Penelope, a Chinese American woman in Philly, working at a museum and getting over her first heartbreak. She meets Hoang, a manic pixie dream boy who catches her off guard. He doesn't have a phone and he works at a bar, so she both slightly stalks him until they start sending letters to each other in the mail. If this makes you both cringe and roll your eyes, thinking - stay away lady! - then you would be right. But this book does make their romance somewhat... romantic? Even though it is obviously misguided.

Penelope's best friend Apple is my favorite character. She is super fun and weird too, and their relationship is one of the most real to life friendships I've read in a bit. Apple is so into Penelope's love life, even though it's a mess and she has terrible taste in men (hmm do I relate to me when I was in my 20s? Maybe maybe not.)

The book is also about Penelope's political apathy in the year 2018 and how getting involved with unions helps her understand her place in America, and the world. There is a lot going on, but I thought the writer balanced everything well and I enjoyed the book though I wasn't 100% bowled over. The characters are strange but endearing, and it was a quick read so a solid debut overall.

Gingko Season does a good job of showing Penelope’s struggle with finding her place in the world–the uncertainty and self-discovery feel authentic and relatable. Naomi Xu Elegant does a great job capturing the subtle, often unspoken anxieties that come with being an adult—shifting careers, increased responsibilities, uncertain friendships, and the quiet loneliness that can creep in.

Penelope faces all these various aspects of life, all while trying to sort through her childhood struggles and last serious romantic relationship. Penelope’s voice and feelings are very clear throughout the entire story. The reader gets a clear sense of some of the awkwardness that she is feeling, and how she copes with not knowing what to say or do. I found her obsession with Napoleon to be equal parts strange and humorous.

Penelope’s journey felt particularly compelling because it wasn't overly dramatized. Instead, it was filled with small, intimate moments that gradually built into something meaningful. The relationship with Hoang was a slow burn, and I liked how it never overshadowed Penelope’s personal growth but rather complemented it.

I did find Hoang’s aloof nature to be somewhat off putting at times, but as the story progressed, I found that his whimsical approach to life is a good juxtaposition to Penelope’s more rigid, initial character. Both characters had quirks that I found far-fetched at times, but towards the end of the story, I was rooting for things to work out between them.

Overall, this book resonated with me not just as a narrative about love, but as a thoughtful, nuanced portrait of someone figuring out who they are and what they want. It’s reflective and understated in a way that lingers after you’ve finished reading.

Naomi Xu Elegant captures the mid-20s coming of age novel with this story about embracing your identity while navigating tumultuous unrest in an era of political discord and social upheaval. Through explorations of friendships and relationships, Xu Elegant focuses not on life’s big moments, but on the day-to-day minutia that culminate as turning points in every young adult’s life. While uncertainty permeates throughout, the title of book symbolizes the unwavering hope and vitality that grounds our narrator. It’s Ginkgo Season, after all.

Thank you to NetGalley and W.W Norton & Company for the Advanced Reader Copy

Charming and fresh, if a little frustrating. It’s a nicely drawn account of one woman’s struggle with the usual things - work, love, friends - but enlarged here by issues of culture, complicated by self-absorbed parents. Penelope has a philosophical turn of mind and a passion for Napoleon. When offered a new chance at love, she’s very slow to accept it. All this makes for surprisingly engaging storytelling, although the delayed gratification takes a bit of swallowing. Nevertheless, it introduces and appealing voice by a writer I’ll be happy to meet again.

Beautifully written and charming story with some wonderful relationships to follow. I can't believe this was a debut novel and I'm really excited to see what this author does next.

This book had so much potential—a quiet, thoughtful story about love, heartbreak, and figuring out what really matters. Penelope Lin is an interesting character—sharp, reserved, and full of self-doubt—but I never felt fully pulled into her journey. Her relationship with Hoang had moments of tension and intrigue, but it always felt a little distant. The themes of grief, activism, and self-discovery were there, but they never quite hit as hard as they could have. The writing is beautiful, and the book has a quirky charm, but in the end, it felt like it was holding back instead of fully immersing me in its world.

I had high expectations for this book (I loved the cover, the title, and the premise). But I felt like with every page it was very confusing and meandering. What is the plot? What is everyone's motivation? I thought it was just fine, but it could have been better.

I thought the slower pace of this book suited the story it was trying to tell. It created an environment in which the reader was really able to think about what Penelope was going through as a woman who felt a little lost in her twenties. The writing itself felt very thoughtful and reflective. It was easy to connect to Penelope as a character as someone who felt similar while they were in their twenties. I am past that point in my life now, but it was still an interesting read.