Book Review: The Wangs vs. The World
Book: The Wangs vs. The WorldAuthor: Jade Chang
Publisher: HarperCollins
I meant to write a piece about this novel last year, which begins in Taiwan, takes a break in LA California, literally drives through America and takes a plane to China, the last stop. But I couldn’t. Firstly, I was mad at the author.
Secondly, The Wangs vs. The World warrants about more than five reviews based on, let’s say:
l Dreams and how they are our desire to get away from our roots.
l History of China and Taiwan.
l Kids born in America and their attempt to prove that they belong.
l People we use as a crutch to the old country, which we miss and reject simultaneously.
l I.D. cards to wealth like the right address, cars, clothes, therapist and the right body size, preferably size zero.
I stopped reading this book at some stage when Saina, one of Wang children who is an artist, met Leo, an African American who is very much into nature, the soil and living healthy.
My happiness didn’t last long because reference was made to the size of what god put between his thighs (Page 49). Again! To think that some black men are still murdered today over such perceptions, perpetuated by cinema and fiction. If you objectify human beings, you give some policemen and haters the licence to kill them.
Don’t include black characters in your book. You don’t have to, or is it publishers’ intention to perpetuate stereotypes that make life dangerous for the race?
BOOK REVIEW
I put the book aside for some weeks, but went back because it had mesmerized me, before I reached the Saina and Leo thing. Here I am, in May 2020 preparing this review and it’s all because of COVID-19.
Make-up sales must be down because of masks to avoid catching the virus. The Wangs vs. The World is about Charles Wang who made his fortune manufacturing lipstick and other cosmetics. He lives in California with his 1-2-3 children, as he calls them. He also shares his opulent Bel-Air home in L.A with Barbra, whom he married after their mother died.
‘Make-up was American, and Charles understood make-up. It was artifice and it was honesty. It was science and it was psychology and it was fashion, but more than that, it was feeling wealthy”. Page 6.
Held hostage. I was held hostage because the narrative flows like a river, slows down to lick some plants and surges on again, carrying the debris that made Charles Wang lose his credit worthiness, properties and cars.
Wang da Qian. That is Charles Wang’s real name. The main debris is his belief in the American dream. It made him ignore all financial advice because he thought somehow, the American dream will miraculously make the expansion of his make-up empire, possible.
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| Barbra's dad was a cook at the university. |
This does not in anyway interfere with the reader’s concentration. It is justified because the characters are in different stages of attaining the American dream. An engaging read.
By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.
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