The Family Chao

By: Lan Samantha Chang

Narrated by: Brian Nishii

The residents of Haven, Wisconsin, have dined on the Fine Chao restaurant’s delicious Americanized Chinese food for thirty-five years, content to ignore any unsavory whispers about the family owners. Whether or not Big Leo Chao is honest, or his wife, Winnie, is happy, their food tastes good and their three sons earned scholarships to respectable colleges. But when the brothers reunite in Haven, the Chao family’s secrets and simmering resentments erupt at last.

Before long, brash, charismatic, and tyrannical patriarch Leo is found dead—presumed murdered—and his sons find they’ve drawn the exacting gaze of the entire town. The ensuing trial brings to light potential motives for all three
brothers: Dagou, the restaurant’s reckless head chef; Ming, financially successful but personally tortured; and the youngest, gentle but lost college student James. As the spotlight on the brothers tightens—and the family dog meets an
unexpected fate—Dagou, Ming, and James must reckon with the legacy of their father’s outsized appetites and their own future survival.

Brimming with heartbreak, comedy, and suspense, The Family Chao offers a kaleidoscopic, highly entertaining portrait of a Chinese American family grappling with the dark undercurrents of a seemingly pleasant small town.

©2022 Lan Samantha Chang (P)2022 Recorded Books

Well written, unlikeable protagonists

Lan Samantha Chang is a gifted writer who writes cogently and vividly describes the world and characters of her setting. Unfortunately, the protagonists (principally the three Chao brothers) are weak and indecisive, making it impossible for me to like very much about them.

When adversity appears for each of the three brothers, they constantly stand frozen, run away, act out emotionally to their detriment, or simply accept their loss/domination with an assumption that they had it coming.

Without giving away too many details, two of the brothers confront (separately) the villain (hero?) of the story, and one simply stands impotent, letting the villain escape, while the other runs away and delays telling anyone else after having earlier discovered the villain’s actions. They are sorry excuses for men and I found them all to be totally unlikable protagonists.

Still, Lan Samantha Chang is a talented writer; I look forward to reading more of her works, hopefully with stronger and more decisive protagonists.

A Classic in the Making

Truly impressed. A great contribution to immigration and diaspora telling. Great characters, great story, nuanced.

Generally good

I heard a lot of great things about this book, and it was generally very good. However, as both a lawyer and a fiction writer it drives me nuts when legal elements are portrayed procedurally incorrectly (whether for dramatic effect or simply out of ignorance). I try to ignore small things, but bigger things grate on me. I don’t know if the publishing industry, like the tv industry, just doesn’t care about accuracy. But I do know that there are plenty of lawyer/fiction writers out there who would be happy to be early readers for that kind of thing, so there’s really no excuse for it.

Not for me, but I listened to the bitter end

I got interested in this story of a Chinese immigrant family, but I am not sure I liked it. I didn't like the characters. I especially loathed the family patriarch, but that was the intent of the author. No one was relatable, or even very likeable to me.

I have never read The Brothers Karamazov, so cannot address this retelling.

I found a part of the story hard to agree with, but removed my comment as it would be a spoiler.

Great story

I was hooked after the first chapter. Would love to see part 2 of this family’s saga.