I anxiously awaited the release of A Quitter’s Paradise, the first of hopefully many in the SJP Lit collection. As an avid reader and a fan of Sarah Jessica Parker’s former imprint SJP for Hogarth, I knew this story would be captivating, thought-provoking, and fresh, expanding my perspective beyond measure. One might call that an assumption; however, over the past week, it proved correct.
To echo what others have said, A Quitter’s Paradise is a stunning debut novel by Elysha Chang, introducing the world to Eleanor Liu and her family. While the story is about the quintessential American family, it provides many layers to challenge one’s thought process. An example: What does the American family experience look when the parents are immigrants, and their children are not? As a student of the world, I’d like to acknowledge that this hasn’t been my lived experience. Still, I would like to think it provides a level of understanding and, if not that a nice steppingstone to great conversations with friends whose families have immigrated to the US.
That said, this book did leave me with questions and concerns. For starters, I finished this book on Friday and can’t get Eleanor out of my head. Not to mention I don’t feel like this story is entirely over. Hopefully, the Liu family will appear in future stories or maybe even they will get spinoff stories of their own. One can only hope.
Books and Mischief 