I love books with quirky characters that I can root for. Joan, the main character in Joan is Okay, was just the type of quirky character that I needed in my life. She is a character that will stay with me for a very long time.
Joan is an ICU doctor in her thirties, who is intensely devoted to her work at a busy New York City hospital. She is the daughter of Chinese parents who came to the United States in order to achieve the American Dream for their two children, but not finding a place to belong here themselves, returned to China when Joan entered college.
At the opening of the book Joan visits for the weekend after hearing of her father’s sudden death. She struggles with grief throughout the book after she returns to her work at the hospital.
Joan’s mother returns to America to reconnect with her two children, Joan and her highly successful brother, Fang.
Joan is sent spiraling outside her comfort zone by a series of events shortly after her mother returns to America. In the midst of all of this her hospital, city and the world is forced to reckon with a health crisis that is more devastating than anyone realizes (hello, COVID-19).
Every time I picked up this book, I did it as if I were checking in on a friend. I wanted to know that Joan was Okay and would be okay in the end as she dealt with her grief over her father’s passing, social anxieties, and family dynamics. I cheered Joan on as she found an inner strength as the book progressed.
Reading about the beginning of the pandemic was both nostalgic (in a very weird way) and eye-opening, especially as I saw it through the eyes of a Chinese-American ICU doctor.
Some of the themes addressed in this book are being an outsider as a Chinese-American, immigration struggles, working in medicine, finding your voice as an outsider in a dominating culture, being a woman in a male-dominated workplace, finding peace as an introvert, and staying independent in a tight-knit family.
I ended the book, satisfied in knowing that, YES, Joan was okay! And she would be continue to be okay no matter what life throws at her. She is a strong character that I wanted more of!
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Other Information
Thank you to Net Galley and Random House for the opportunity to read and review this early!
Publication Date: January 18, 2022
Genre: Literary Fiction | Multicultural Interest | Women’s Fiction
Length: 224 pages