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    Kitchen Chinese: A Novel About Food, Family, and Finding Yourself
    Kitchen Chinese: A Novel About Food, Family, and Finding Yourself
    Kitchen Chinese: A Novel About Food, Family, and Finding Yourself
    Audiobook11 hours

    Kitchen Chinese: A Novel About Food, Family, and Finding Yourself

    Written by Ann Mah

    Narrated by Emily Woo Zeller

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Kitchen Chinese, Ann Mah’s funny and poignant first novel about a young Chinese-American woman who travels to Beijing to discover food, family, and herself is a delight—complete with mouth-watering descriptions of Asian culinary delicacies, from Peking duck and Mongolian hot pot to the colorful, lesser known Ants in a Tree that will delight foodies everywhere. Reminiscent of Elizabeth Gilbert’s runaway bestseller Eat, Pray, Love, Mah’s tale of clashing cultures, rival siblings, and fine dining is an unforgettable, unexpectedly sensual listening experience—the story of one woman’s search for identity and purpose in an exotic and faraway land.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateAug 22, 2017
    ISBN9780062819888
    Kitchen Chinese: A Novel About Food, Family, and Finding Yourself
    Author

    Ann Mah

    Ann Mah is an American food and travel writer. She is the author of the USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller The Lost Vintage, as well as three other books. She contributes regularly to the New York Times Travel section, and her articles have appeared in the Washington Post, Condé Nast Traveler, The Best American Travel Writing, The New York Times Footsteps, Washingtonian magazine, Vogue.com, BonAppetit.com, Food52.com, TheKitchn.com, and other publications.

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    Reviews for Kitchen Chinese

    3.5/5

    64 ratings10 reviews

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    • 2/5
      Weak and flat—with unlikable, irritating heroines. Not the best book of the author.
    • 5/5
      This was a lovely, poignant, delicious book about family, relationships, and food. Even with its incredible awkwardness it felt entirely true. The main character is dense as all get out sometimes and entirely too self-defeating but that's a pretty common trait for many of us.
    • 4/5
      Excellent book. Wanted more information. At least she has other books
    • 4/5
      This is really chic lit, but it reads like a memoir and the added intrigue of China definitely improves it.
    • 2/5
      Wow. Awkward. That's pretty much what I thought through most of the book. Dialogue was weird - the chick was sort of whiny and immature - every single thing that happened was predictable. But man oh man, the food porn. The FOOD in this book made me stick it out and finish. Probably wasn't really worth it though.
    • 4/5
      2 things I love: China and food. So this was a good match for me. It reminded me of my month in China and all of the things I felt and understood about being a foreigner. I have always dreamed of going back. Maybe even living there in the expat community and really trying to live-live there. So it is interesting to see that while you could accomplish great things there (see: big fish, small pond) Your sense of alienation never goes away.
    • 3/5
      This is decently written humorous chick lit with some delicious descriptions of Chinese food. The Chinese American protagonist loses her boyfriend, and then her publishing job amidst scandal. She decides to make a fresh start in Beijing, despite only knowing "kitchen Chinese" learned around food and the kitchen rather than possessing true fluency. The major appeals of the book are the humorous romantic encounters, descriptions of life in Beijing, mouth watering menus, and insight into the displaced feelings of a 1st gen American emigrating to a country where she blends in physically but not culturally.
    • 4/5
      Isabelle Lee, Iz, has just been fired from her job as a fact checker for a magazine. Encouraged by her friends she decides she needs an adventure and moves from Manhattan to Beijing, where her older sister Claire, a high-powered attorney, lives. Iz is determined to have an adventure but not to find her Chinese roots as if she were in "an Amy Tan novel". Iz considers herself American at heart, not Chinese. Claire gets her a job at a magazine for expats, Beijing NOW, where she ends up as the food critic. Her Mandarin is limited and she is unfamiliar with a lot of Chinese culture but she has lots of help from her new friends. Claire, the older, successful, introverted sister is a new person in Beijing, but Iz doesn't think she is really happy and is determined to be there for her sister.my review:First things first. Don't read on an empty stomach. This book made me so hungry as Iz made the rounds of restaurants that I think I gained 5 lbs just reading this book. Okay, not from reading, but from getting a snack to keep me from drooling all over the book. If I was reading this on my Kindle, I would have shorted it out.This is a pretty light-hearted, Bridget Jones in China type book; very fun and clever. Isabelle was very likable as were most of the characters. She bumbles around town while trying to get the hang of things.The only thing I didn't like was the obligatory romance part. I felt like shoving Iz off of a cliff during some parts and the ending was just too pat. Must there be romance or can't there just be fun and dating? No matter what happens to girls in these books, the author always needs them to find Mr Right by the end.Does this speak to the readers or is this the only way to market these books? This is why these are considered chick-lit and lose some credibility from otherwise enjoyable novels and Kitchen Chinese suffers the same fate. And we have a decent read instead of a really good one. Mildly disappointed once again! Except for the food. Yummy!my rating 3.75/5
    • 4/5
      A really interesting look at the growth of Beijing, as well as the inner workings of Chinese families and culture, with a bit of food knowledge sprinkled in. If any of that sounds at all interesting to you, I'd recommend it -- it was a worthwhile read.
    • 4/5
      Although this seems like a memoir, it's fiction inspired by real life. Maybe all fiction is. It's the story of being an outsider,first by being of Chinese origin in America, then the title character goes to China and feels American. Nicly done.