Book Blog #268: Gook Luck Life by Rosemary Gong

Title: Good Luck Life
Author: Rosemary Gong
# of Pages: 288 (paperback)
Genre: Nonfiction, China, Cooking
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: Good Luck Life is the first book to explain the meanings of Chinese rituals and to offer advice on when and how to plan for Chinese holidays and special occasions such as Chinese weddings, the Red Egg and Ginger party to welcome a new baby, significant birthdays, and the inevitable funeral. Packed with practical information, Good Luck Life contains an abundance of facts, legends, foods, old-village recipes, and quick planning guides for Chinese New Year, Clear Brightness, Dragon Boat, Mid-Autumn, and many other festivals.
Review: This book is better suited to be used as a reference text rather than read straight through. Since the text is exactly how I imagined it would be, I'm giving it four stars (it wasn't the most joyous read, but it was short!).

Gong covers a lot of topics that people less familiar with Chinese American culture may wonder about. She is casual and puts all the information in an easily digestible format; a story of the Chinese lore behind the tradition here, a recipe associated with the holiday there, etc. Overall, pretty insightful, but it would be best to pick and choose the sections that are relevant for the time period/situation. Also a little outdated as the book is a bit old; there's a list of "upcoming years" and their associated animal (i.e. year of the rat), and the last one on the list is for 2020. However, aside from this trivial information, all the other information seems fine!

Book Blog #267: Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane

Title: Ask Again, Yes
Author: Mary Beth Keane
# of Pages: 390 (hardback)
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Mental Illness
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope, two rookie cops in the NYPD, live next door to each other outside the city. What happens behind closed doors in both houses—the loneliness of Francis’s wife, Lena, and the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne—sets the stage for the explosive events to come.
Review: Overall a solid read, but definitely not a happy one.

Mary Beth Keane has written a gripping slice-of-life story about two families who's lives inevitably become intertwined. However, unlike most slice-of-life stories, Keane tends to quickly fast forward through the happy/funny parts and skips right to the big challenges and struggles.

I found myself tearing up several times because the characters reminded me of relationships I have with loved ones in real life, and it made me think a lot about what I have to appreciate in my current situation and what I may have to face in the future as I build new relationships and strengthen old ones.

There were only a couple of issues I had with this book. There was third person POV switching, which didn't bother me at first but became more frustrating as the story went on. Keane seems to use this third person POV switching to maintain the "grim" tone of the book (so if some characters are experiencing a happy time in their lives, the author might write from a different character's perspective who might not be having such a rosy time). The other problem is sometimes the characters seem to be portrayed in an emotionally disconnected way, which made some of the characters feel unrealistic.

One thing I do love about the book is how no character is truly bad; most people are trying their best, and some are definitely trying harder than others. It sends a good message to show that some people can go through severe hardships but still work on rising above and bettering themselves.

I would recommend this book!