CANR
WORK TITLE: Number One Chinese Restaurant
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.lillianliauthor.com/
CITY: Ann Arbor
STATE: MI
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Female.
EDUCATION:Princeton University, B.A.; University of Michigan, M.F.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Fiction and novel writer.
AWARDS:Hopwood Award in Short Fiction; Glimmer Train, New Writer Award.
WRITINGS
Contributor of fiction to literary journals, including Guernica, Granta, Glimmer Train, and Jezebel.
SIDELIGHTS
Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Lillian Li is a Chinese-American writer whose work has been published in Guernica, Granta, Glimmer Train, and Jezebel. She is a recipient of Glimmer Train’s New Writer Award and the Hopwood Award in Short Fiction. Holding an M.F.A. from the University of Michigan, Li writes about Chinese-American culture and family dynamics.
In 2018, Li published her debut novel, Number One Chinese Restaurant, a humorous story of the lives and loves of the waiters, kitchen staff, and owners at the Beijing Duck House restaurant in Rockville, Maryland, a Washington, DC suburb. Revealing emotional, familial, and financial drama among the workers at the restaurant, “Li vividly depicts the lives of her characters and gives the narrative a few satisfying turns,” admitted a Publishers Weekly reviewer, despite the author’s leisurely plotting. The deceased restaurant owner’s sons, Jimmy and Johnny Han, run the establishment now, yet disagree on which direction to take it. Jimmy wants to sell and upgrade to a trendy Asian fusion restaurant, while Johnny wants to honor their father and keep Beijing Duck House traditional. Meanwhile, manager Nan and elderly waiter Ah-Jack are having an affair, as are Nan’s wayward son, Pat, a dishwater, and Johnny’s moody daughter, Annie, a hostess.
“Evoking every detail of the setting, operation, cuisine, and culture of this restaurant with riveting verisimilitude, Li sets the stage for a complex family tragedy viewed from many angles,” noted a contributor in Kirkus Reviews. To raise money to buy a fancier restaurant, Jimmy takes the drastic step of putting the family mansion up for sale. The book offers a “heady read of parents and children, youth and aging and above all of what it means to be family and how far are we willing to go to give it all up.” While not buying the promoters’ assertions that the book is funny, a reviewer on the What Red Read blog declared: “I don’t need the characters to be likable but if they’re going to be unlikable they should be interesting and for the most part these weren’t.” Overall, the reviewer said: “Not terrible, but not great either.” On the other hand, Qina Liu compared the story to Chinese food at Pass the Popcorn Reviews, saying: “The food is cooked with too much oil and MSG. But Li cooks with a lot of heart, using ingredients you don’t always see. Your stomach feels full after this meal even as your heart yearns for more.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2018, review of Number One Chinese Restaurant.
Publishers Weekly, April 2, 2018, review of Number One Chinese Restaurant, p. 40.
ONLINE
Of Books and Reading, https://thehungryreader.wordpress.com/ (March 4, 2018), review of Number One Chinese Restaurant.
Pass the Popcorn Reviews, https://passthepopcornreviews.wordpress.com/ (February 27, 2018), Qina Liu, review of Number One Chinese Restaurant.
What Red Read, http://whatredread.blogspot.com/ (March 26, 2018), review of Number One Chinese Restaurant.
Lillian Li is the author of the novel Number One Chinese Restaurant, forthcoming from Henry Holt in June 2018. Her work has been published in Guernica, Granta, Glimmer Train, and Jezebel. She is the recipient of a Hopwood Award in Short Fiction, as well as Glimmer Train's New Writer Award. She received her BA from Princeton and her MFA from the University of Michigan. Originally from the D.C. metro area, she lives in Ann Arbor.
Lillian Li is the author of the novel Number One Chinese Restaurant, forthcoming from Henry Holt in June 2018. Her work has been published in Guernica, Granta, Glimmer Train, Bon Appetit, and Jezebel. Originally from the D.C. metro area, she lives in Ann Arbor.
Li, Lillian: NUMBER ONE CHINESE RESTAURANT
Kirkus Reviews. (May 1, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Li, Lillian NUMBER ONE CHINESE RESTAURANT Henry Holt (Adult Fiction) $27.00 6, 19 ISBN: 978-1-250-14129-3
The owner and employees of a venerable Chinese restaurant in the D.C. suburbs face drastic changes in their lives and routines.
As Li's debut opens, Jimmy Han is searching his restaurant for Ah-Jack, an elderly waiter who is late with the order of Uncle Pang--an important and dangerous man who is not actually Jimmy's uncle. "At the mouth of the hallway, a current of Duck House staff buffeted Jimmy along. The Chinese and Spanish he'd banned from the dining room filled this narrow space, echoing off the walls. Waiters blocked traffic to grab beer from the lower fridge...busboys huddled against the main waiter station, pouring leftovers into paper cartons with hasty precision....Behind the stainless-steel divider, flames whooshed up to embrace giant woks, each cook casually stir-frying as fire sprang, volcanic, from the deep, blackened burners." Evoking every detail of the setting, operation, cuisine, and culture of this restaurant with riveting verisimilitude, Li sets the stage for a complex family tragedy viewed from many angles. Jimmy has never been happy running the restaurant made famous by his late father; he's making moves to close it down and purchase a fancier venue in downtown Washington with a view of the Potomac. To raise the cash for this venture, he's hired a sexy real estate agent to sell the family mansion--though not if his mother, a bitter old woman who still lives there, has anything to say about it. Then Uncle Pang's behind-the-scenes machinations result in a dramatic catastrophe. Swept up in it are two teenage members of the restaurant's extended family, Jimmy's niece, Annie, and the recently-expelled-from-school busboy, Pat, son of the No. 1 waitress. Though nothing works out for any of the characters the way he or she wants it to, Li's sense of the human comedy and of the aspirations burning in each human heart puts a philosophical spin on the losses of her characters.
With its deliciously depicted restaurant setting and knowing perspective on Chinese-American culture, this novel is two-thirds cultural comedy. The other third is something deeper and sadder. A writer to watch.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Li, Lillian: NUMBER ONE CHINESE RESTAURANT." Kirkus Reviews, 1 May 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A536571232/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=5e4b1ca3. Accessed 15 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A536571232
Number One Chinese Restaurant
Publishers Weekly. 265.14 (Apr. 2, 2018): p40.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Number One Chinese Restaurant
Lillian Li. Holt, $27 (304p) ISBN 978-1-25014129-3
With echoes of Stewart O'Nan's Last Night at the Lobster, Li's insightful debut takes readers behind the scenes of a Chinese restaurant, the Beijing Duck House, in Rockville, Md. Jimmy Han, son of the restaurant's deceased original owner, runs the business but is trying to sell it to transition to a more upscale venue, the Beijing Glory, an Asian fusion restaurant on the Georgetown waterfront. Jimmy and his older brother, Johnny, have had a running argument about the direction of the Duck House--Johnny wants the restaurant to remain traditional--since the death of their father. Their manager, Nan, and Ah-Jack, a waiter, have been friends for 30 years but lately have become romantically involved. Meanwhile, Nan's troubled 17-year-old son, Pat, a dishwasher, and Johnny's disaffected daughter, Annie, a hostess, have been having not-so-secret sex in the storage closet. And hovering over all of them is Uncle Pang, a mysterious, nine-fingered godfather who might hold the key to their futures. Despite the novel's leisurely plotting, Li vividly depicts the lives of her characters and gives the narrative a few satisfying turns, resulting in a memorable debut. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Number One Chinese Restaurant." Publishers Weekly, 2 Apr. 2018, p. 40. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A533555580/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=8fc2cecd. Accessed 15 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A533555580
Monday, March 26, 2018
Number One Chinese Restaurant: I only hold grudges when they benefit me
Normally when I'm browsing through NetGalley, I request books I've heard of, usually from fellow bloggers, or else it's an author I'm familiar with. But every once in a while something will catch my eye and I figure I'll give it an whirl. And thus did I come across Number One Chinese Restaurant. I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.
Let's see the piece that made me think, "Yeah I should check this out." I mean besides the "Chinese Restaurant" bit, because honestly, that definitely played a part.
"Generous in spirit, unaffected in its intelligence, multi-voiced, poignant, and darkly funny, Number One Chinese Restaurant looks beyond red tablecloths and silkscreen murals to share an unforgettable story about youth and aging, parents and children, and all the ways that our families destroy us while also keeping us grounded and alive."
Multi-voices AND darkly funny? Those are things I like so let's do this.
So, what's it about?
The Han family has run a Chinese restaurant for years and since the passing of their father, sons Jimmy and Johnny run the place. Well, these days mostly the younger son Jimmy taking care of the day-to-day business, though he resents the restaurant his father built and dreams of something more upscale. Also he's an asshole. Really a self-centered, short-tempered asshole. Not an entertaining one either.
Jimmy decides not only is he going to open a new restaurant that doesn't deign to the things The Duck House does, but he's going to get out from under the thumb of Uncle Pang, who's sort of like the godfather, though he seems to operate independently of a larger mob. You'd think this might make Jimmy sympathetic. You would be wrong.
The brother Johnny has been away in Hong Kong so he hasn't been involved with the restaurant for a few months and doesn't really know what's going on back at home.
There are two other main characters we get POVs from, Jack and Nan, two long-time employees of The Duck House. Nan worked her way up to managing the waitstaff while Ah-Jack is a longtime waiter. Nan and Jack met when Nan first made her way to the US. There's a connection between the two but the age difference (she's 3+ decades younger) and Jack's marriage meant they remained close friends for years.
Certain events take place involving those mentioned above, plus Johnny's daughter and Nan's son leading to familial squabbles and the stress of opening a new restaurant.
Overall this had the makings of something that I think could have been right up my alley but this didn't do it for me. I don't need the characters to be likable but if they're going to be unlikable they should be interesting and for the most part these weren't. There were glimpses where I thought something really good was going to happen, or I was going to start really getting into the story, but unfortunately it never really happened.
The writing is fine and I liked bits and pieces, like
"Many Chinese women spoke with voices so melodious and bright that the language sounded like a gentle, teasing song; his mother was not one of those women. She emphasized every word as others might slap a table. When she was allowed to talk without interruption, the effect was like waiting out a rainstorm under a tin roof."
See, that's great. But the story didn't do it for me. Also, I need to stop believing publishers and book jackets that describe a book as "funny" because I feel like very rarely is it the case. I don't know if I can blame this book for that though, since this is a regular problem and I need to remember this.
Not terrible, but not great either.
Gif rating:
Title quote from page 13, location 2276
Li, Lillian. Number One Chinese Restaurant. Henry Holt & Co., 2018. NetGalley.
‘Number One Chinese Restaurant’ shows how much the Chinese American dream really costs
February 27, 2018 / Qina Liu
Regardless of whether it’s true, they say the sidewalks of America are paved with gold. It’s the best story and as Lillian Li writes, “In a world without fairness, the best stories rose to the top.”
Li’s debut novel “Number One Chinese Restaurant” is about the best story: the American dream — a hard-working Chinese family who opens a successful D.C.-based Chinese restaurant, makes The Washington Post, buys a mansion.
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“Number One Chinese Restaurant”
By Lillian Li.
304 pp. Henry Holt and Co. $27.
June 19, 2018.
The Han family’s American dream is paved with gold, but beneath those gilded surfaces are fathers who died from cancer without his children by his side because they were instructed to keep the restaurant open during the holidays. It’s about parents who took their children to movies at theaters and slept through them because they were so tired from working all the time. It’s about the abandoned mansions that never felt like home because the family spent all their waking hours working at the restaurant. It’s about mothers who fished dumplings out of the trash and ate them to show their children to never waste food. It’s about children begrudgingly working in their family’s restaurant while growing up (“Every day at a Chinese restaurant was bring – your – kid – to -work day,” jokes one of the characters), embarrassed by their relatives’ poor English, mannerisms or jobs.
In that way, the family’s restaurant becomes both a dream and a curse — the thing that prevented them from becoming a “normal” American family who went on scheduled family vacations, sat for family dinners at dinner hours and talked about anything other than work.
Chinese parents toiled at the restaurant for the sake of their ungrateful children, who saw the restaurant as the “monument to his father’s greed” and wished their family had a “job with a larger purpose than filling a bank account.” Parents worked to build their children’s futures, telling Chinese parables their children didn’t understand.
Li tells her own parable with “Number One Chinese Restaurant” — that of Han brothers Johnny and Jimmy years after their father, Duck House’s founder Bobby Han, died from stomach cancer. The Han siblings keep the Duck House running between the two of them, but Jimmy’s ambition is to start his own restaurant — a Chinese fusion place separate from the one his father started.
This is costly, Jimmy learns, and to build his own Chinese American dream, he has to set his father’s on fire.
“Number One Chinese Restaurant” isn’t the best place you’ve ever eaten. The food is cooked with too much oil and MSG. But Li cooks with a lot of heart, using ingredients you don’t always see. Your stomach feels full after this meal even as your heart yearns more more.
Disclaimer: I received a free ebook of “Number One Chinese Restaurant” by Lillian Li from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.
Number One Chinese Restaurant by Lillian Li
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Number One Chinese Restaurant Title: Number One Chinese Restaurant
Author: Lillian Li
Publisher:Henry Holt and Co.
ISBN: 978-1250141293
Genre: Literary Fiction,
Pages:304
Source :Publisher
Rating:4 Stars
A dysfunctional family to the core and their story set against the backdrop of a Chinese restaurant, which of course belongs to them. Nothing in this genre could get better. I couldn’t wait to read this book and now I know why. It is the book that has the right amount of funny and tragedy with so much going on with various people. At times, it was difficult to keep track even, but once you get to know the characters (as it would happen in every book, except those written by Tolstoy), the reading becomes easier to tackle.
“Number One Chinese Restaurant” refers to The Beijing Duck House in Rockville, Maryland. The one place to go to for hunger pangs and celebrations of any kind. It is world in its own, surrounded by its own people with their problems – be it from waiters, to kitchen staff who love and hate in equal measure to the owner and his family (quite an extended one at that) – a world that has been stable for some time till disaster strikes and people’s lives go awry.
I have always been skeptical of multiple-narration in books. Different voices kind of throw me off the story but surprisingly this did not happen with this book. It felt easy to read it. The beauty of such books (at least to me) is that one can empathize with almost everyone. To me the angst and pain of Jimmy to Annie (Jimmy’s niece) who wants to go back to the past when her dad was around and a young love story that had me hooting and not at the same time.
“Number One Chinese Restaurant” is a heady read of parents and children, youth and aging and above all of what it means to be family and how far are we willing to go to give it all up.