#BookReview: Our Wayward Fate by Gloria Chao

Synopsis: A teen outcast is simultaneously swept up in a whirlwind romance and down a rabbit hole of dark family secrets when another Taiwanese family moves to her small, predominantly white midwestern town in this remarkable new novel from the critically acclaimed author of American Panda, which The Wall Street Journal called “weepingly funny.”

Seventeen-year-old Ali Chu knows that as the only Asian person at her school in middle-of-nowhere Indiana, she must be bland as white toast to survive. This means swapping her congee lunch for PB&Js, ignoring the clueless racism from her classmates and teachers, and keeping her mouth shut when people wrongly call her Allie instead of her actual name, Ah-lee, after the mountain in Taiwan.

Her autopilot existence is disrupted when she finds out that Chase Yu, the new kid in school, is also Taiwanese. Despite some initial resistance due to the they belong together whispers, Ali and Chase soon spark a chemistry rooted in competitive martial arts, joking in two languages, and, most importantly, pushing back against the discrimination they face.

But when Ali’s mom finds out about the relationship, she forces Ali to end it. As Ali covertly digs into the why behind her mother’s disapproval, she uncovers secrets about her family and Chase that force her to question everything she thought she knew about life, love, and her unknowable future.

Snippets of a love story from nineteenth-century China (a retelling of the Chinese folktale The Butterfly Lovers) are interspersed with Ali’s narrative and intertwined with her fate.


Goodreads | Amazon

Gloria Chao is the critically acclaimed author of American Panda and Our Wayward Fate. Her wayward journey to fiction included studying business at MIT, then becoming a dentist. Gloria was once a black belt in kung-fu and an avid dancer, but nowadays you can find her teaming up with her husband on the curling ice. Visit her tea-and-book-filled world at GloriaChao.Wordpress.com and find her on Twitter and Instagram @GloriacChao.

Rating: ★★★
My Review: Although I didn't care for American Panda this newest title from Chao sounded so funny and adorable I had to take the chance.  Well sadly this one didn't work out for me at all.  I will keep trying her books because they have a way of making me crack up laughing so I am really hoping that one of them will mesh with me.  This one had the issue of having way too much inner dialogue which overpowered the story.  It was more like reading someones daily diary than an actual story.   The pacing was well done and the book started off really funny.  At one point I burst out laughing.  But as the story drew on the inner dialogue really overpowered the story as a hole and I found myself starting to really hate it.  

Go Into This One Knowing: Inner Dialogue

BuzzFeed's 24 YA Books To Devour During Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
Paste Best Young Adult Novel of October 2019
B&N Teen Blog's October's Best YA Reads
She Reads's 10 Diverse books by women to read in 2019
An Indigo Most Anticipated Teen Title

“With Our Wayward Fate, Chao establishes herself as one of the premier writers in contemporary YA. Ali’s story is one of young love, long-hidden secrets, cultural divides, and the pressure, not only to find balance between one’s history and future, but to understand how the one affects the other. No one writes family in all its beauty and complexity like Gloria Chao.” —David Arnold, New York Times bestselling author of Mosquitoland and The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik

“Chao is a master of combining humor with more serious moments in a story that's sure to stick with you for a long time.” —BuzzFeed

“Our Wayward Fate is another amazing story about juggling family expectations and what you want for yourself. If that’s not the essential teen journey, we’re not sure what is.” —Paste Magazine

“This is more than a coming-of-age novel, and readers will fall in love with Ali.” —SLJ

“Chao brings readers a witty protagonist who breaks stereotypes of Chinese Americans by simply being herself.” —Kirkus Reviews

“[An] inventive, deeply heartfelt love story that explores connections of many kinds.” —Booklist 

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Posted in: 3 Stars, Edelweiss, Review, Simon & Schuster, Young Adult