The Family Chao, she has said, is her first time writing in a “candid” way. The Chao family at the center of the book is not based on hers but is in some ways closer to hers than those in the previous books.
Chang has also said that the book is a homage to Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, which she read and admired as a teenager.
She has said that she wanted to write a novel that would capture the “complexity and richness” of Dostoevsky’s characters and themes, but in a contemporary and American context. She has also said that she wanted to write a novel that would be “funny and entertaining,” as well as “serious and profound.”
Reception and Accolades
The Family Chao was released to critical acclaim in the US. Publishers Weekly called it “Ingenious and cunning,” concluding that, “For Chang, this marks a triumphant return.” The Guardian praised “the way the novel dramatises the gap between how a family wants to be seen, and its messier inner realities,” terming it “a wonderful comedy of American consumption.”
NPR wrote that it is “a riveting character-driven novel that delves beautifully into human psychology.” The Star Tribune described it as “operatic and subversive, a playful literary romp with a serious heart.” The Asian Review of Books wrote: “Chang’s debt to the original Dostoevsky story is largely limited to the characterization of the brothers and their overbearing father.
She uses the Wisconsin backdrop—the state where she was born and raised—to discuss race and identity in America, all while balancing her story with humorous and absurd scenes, including the play on words with the family name, as in Fine Chao, the name of their restaurant.”
The novel also received several awards and honors, including the 2023 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction, which recognizes books that “contribute to our understanding of racism and our appreciation of cultural diversity.”
The novel was also selected by former US president Barack Obama as one of his summer reads in 2022, along with other books such as Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris, and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.
Conclusion
The Family Chao is a novel that combines mystery, comedy, and cuisine in a captivating and original way. It is a novel that reimagines a classic work of literature in a new and diverse setting, and that explores the complexities and contradictions of family, identity, and culture.
