The Expatriates, Janice Y. K. Lee (3.0)
The premise of this book interested me: a novel about 3
women who are living temporarily in Hong Kong. Two are there for as ‘trailing
spouses’ on their husband’s expatriate package (usually very sweet deals put
together to entice US executives to move their families to another country for
a couple of years), the third is a Korean American who overstays her tourist
visa after college. I have met several expatriate families working in Asia, so
I was curious how this writer would portray them. There are usually two types:
those who embrace the culture and try to fit in, and those who join the American
club and use the expat package (there to make up for any hardship) to live a
very entitled lifestyle. Ms. Lee addresses both types in this story. In
addition to portraying the general lifestyle, the plot of the book describes a
tragedy that affects two of the women and how they deal with the healing
afterward. It was not exactly an uplifting book, but the writing was good and
the locations and people were satisfyingly recognizable to me. While I didn’t
love the book, I find myself hoping someone else will read it so that I can
discuss it in more detail.
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