The Love Wife by Gish Jen
The Wongs represent the evolving American family.  They are culturally mixed.  They have embraced adoption.  They are modern and complex.  But when an unexpected relative enters their lives, the Wongs may have reached their tipping point.

Carnegie is the only son of his tough-as-nails, all-business, Chinese immigrant mother, Mama Wong.  He tries to be a devoted son but nothing seems to please Mama Wong.  Not his choice of career and certainly not his choice of a blonde buxom wife.  Yet Carnegie manages to keep his sense of humor and roll with life's punches.  He's a sweet guy trying to please too many women in his life.

Jane, christened "Blondie" by Mama Wong, is a socially conscious soul who wouldn't hurt a fly.  She tries her best to provide a stable and happy home environment for her non-traditional family but sometimes can't help feeling like an outsider.

Lizzy is the first daughter.  She brought Carnegie and Jane together.  Abandoned as a baby on a doorstep in a college town, Carnegie and Jane become involved in trying to find her parents.  Carnegie falls in love with the beautiful Asian-American baby and decides to adopt her, and Jane falls in love with Carnegie as a result.

Wendy is adopted from China several years later.  Then, in her early 40's, Jane becomes unexpectedly pregnant.  They have a son, Bailey, who defies genetics and is strangely blond.  The family is complete.  Or is it?

Mama Wong has been meddlesome right from the start.  Why couldn't Carnegie marry a nice Chinese girl she complains.  She even goes so far as to bribe the bride and groom on the eve of their nuptials with a million dollars to cancel the wedding.  Mama Wong dies many years later, but is not finished with her meddling.  Through her will, Mama Wong makes arrangements for a mysterious Chinese cousin, Lan, to come live with the Wongs and be their nanny.

Lan, although competent and intelligent, is no Mary Poppins.  She's not quite sure why she's there, and the Wongs are not sure either.  Only Mama Wong knows, and she's not around to explain.  Jane is convinced Mama Wong has sent Lan to be Carnegie's love wife - a second wife of sorts.  Jane does her best to integrate Lan into the household and make everyone comfortable.  But cultural misunderstandings and the ambiguity of the situation prevent the two from truly trusting each other.  Jane feels more of an outsider than ever when she sees her Asian husband and daughters with a surrogate Asian wife and mother.  Her teen-age and tween daughters adore Lan, and Jane senses her husband is charmed by her as well.

Jane isn't going to let her family go without a fight.  She decides to give up her career to spend more time with them.  And, thankfully, Lan eventually moves out.  She becomes involved with a man and gets married.  Life becomes more stable in the Wong household until Lan, as a result of unexpected tragedy, is back again.  Jane concedes that Mama Wong has won and decides she needs to move out for awhile. She packs up the baby, moves into a small cottage where the girls visit often, and starts a new and simpler life.

Carnegie's had enough.  He wants his wife back.  He decides it's time to get what he was promised from his mother in exchange for sponsoring Lan - a book of his family's history.  When the promised book finally arrives, it sheds some light on Mama Wong's intentions. But the news surely isn't what anyone had expected.

The surprise twist at the end of the book and the ambiguity of how things turn out, really make the reader go hmmm...  The Love Wife is a very enjoyable read and makes you appreciate the complexities of multicultural families by experiencing them through the eyes of the Wongs.

About the author:  Gish Jen grew up in Scarsdale, New York.  Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly , and The Best American Short Stories of the Century .  The author of three novels and one book of short stories, she lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two children.

The Love Wife

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