Family Trust: A Sharp Comedic Family Saga – Silicon Valley Greed, Chinese American Identity, and a High-Stakes Inheritance Battle - Couverture rigide

Wang, Kathy

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0062855255 ISBN 13 : 9780062855251

Editeur : Mariner Books, 2018

Synopsis

“A globe-trotting, whirlwind, tragi-comic family saga that wrings tears from absurdity and laughter from loss.  A joy to read from start to finish.”

   — Andrew Sean Greer, author of Less, winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize

The Nest meets Crazy Rich Asians in
this sharp comedic novel about a Chinese-American family's attempts (or not) to
fulfill its dying patriarch's final bequest.

Some of us are more equal than others....

Meet Stanley Huang: father, husband, ex-husband, man of unpredictable tastes and temper, aficionado of all-inclusive vacations and bargain luxury goods, newly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Meet Stanley's family: son Fred, frustrated that his years of academic striving (Harvard MBA!) haven't protected him from career stagnation; daughter Kate, balancing a capricious boss, a distracted husband, and two small children; ex-wife Linda, familiar with and suspicious of Stanley's grandiose ways; and second wife Mary, giver of foot rubs and ego massages. 

For years, Stanley has insistently claimed that he's worth a small fortune. Now, as the Huangs come to terms with Stanley's approaching death, they are also starting to fear that Stanley's "small fortune" may be more "small" than "fortune." A "study in the difference between expectation and reality" (npr.org), a bittersweet rumination on what we owe our families, and a sharp-eyed look at Silicon Valley's culture of excess, Family Trust is a "dryly cynical" (Globe and Mail) satire of the American dream. 

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Kathy Wang grew up in Northern California and holds degrees from UC Berkeley and Harvard Business School. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband and two children.

À propos de la quatrième de couverture

Meet Stanley Huang: father, husband, ex-husband, man of unpredictable tastes and temper, aficionado of all-inclusive vacations and bargain luxury goods, newly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. For years, Stanley has claimed that he’s worth a small fortune. But the time is now coming when the details of his estate will finally be revealed, and Stanley’s family is nervous.

For his son, Fred, the inheritance Stanley has long alluded to would soothe the pain caused by years of professional disappointment. By now, the Harvard Business School graduate had expected to be a financial tech god—not a minor investor at a middling corporate firm where he isn’t even allowed to fly business class.

Stanley’s daughter, Kate, is a middle manager with one of Silicon Valley’s most prestigious tech companies. She manages the capricious demands of her world-famous boss and the needs of her two young children all while supporting her would-be entrepreneur husband (just until his startup gets off the ground, which will surely be soon). But lately, Kate has been sensing something is amiss; just because you say you have it all, it doesn’t mean that you actually do.  

Stanley’s second wife, Mary Zhu, twenty-eight years his junior, has devoted herself to making her husband comfortable in every way—rubbing his feet, cooking his favorite dishes, massaging his ego. But lately, her commitment has waned; caring for a dying old man is far more difficult than she expected.

Linda Liang, Stanley’s first wife, knows her ex better than anyone. She worked hard for decades to ensure their financial security, and is determined to see her children get their due. Single for nearly a decade, she might finally be ready for some romantic companionship. But where does a seventy-two-year-old Chinese woman in California go to find an appropriate boyfriend?

As Stanley’s death approaches, the Huangs are faced with unexpected challenges that upend them and eventually lead them to discover what they most value. A compelling tale of cultural expectations, career ambitions and our relationships with the people who know us best, Family Trust skewers the
ambition and desires that drive Silicon Valley and draws a sharply loving portrait of modern American family life.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Mariner Books
• Date d'édition: 2018
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0062855255
• ISBN 13: 9780062855251
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 400
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: HarperCollins Publishers Ireland; enquiries@harpercollins.ie; ; Mayor Street Upper 39/40; Dublin; D01 C9W8; Irlande