  | Book Details Title: The Majesties: A Novel |
Book DescriptionReview “The Majesties is a thrilling, tender page-turner, the darker side of Crazy Rich Asians.” —Krys Lee, author of Drifting House and How I Became a North Korean“Tsao cannily pulls back the gilded surface from a wealthy Indonesian family, revealing a rotten core….the narrative unfolds in a manner that’s both suspenseful and creepily claustrophobic. The novel also prompts readers to consider the cultural relativism of stereotypes, contrasting outsider perceptions of those with Chinese heritage in both Indonesia and the U.S. Tsao depicts a family whose fabulous wealth and privilege not only blind them to the needs of others but also engender cruelty and self-destruction. This is a bold and dramatic portrayal of characters on the cusp of an impossible choice between complicit self-preservation and total annihilation.” —Publishers Weekly“A sobering look at the dark side of extreme wealth among Chinese families in Indonesia… Tsao’s depiction of domestic abuse is powerful.” —Kirkus Reviews“A dark, delicious tale that will creep its way into your brain and leave you examining your own soul for signs of moral rot. I downed it in one greedy shot.” —Jade Chang, author of The Wangs vs. the World“Tsao deftly juggles a large cast of characters, and her thorough examination of the life of a wealthy Chinese-Indonesian family, as well as her insights into the false assumptions those in the Chinese, Indonesian, and Western communities make about its members, are intelligent and lively.” —Booklist “The Majesties, although it rolls out easily, troubles deeply, haunting and even chilling its reader well beyond the final page.” —New York Journal of Books “Tsao spins a Crazy Rich Asians-esque saga of family wealth and deception as a nasty-fun murder mystery chronicling the events leading up to a woman’s poisoning of her extended clan.” —Entertainment Weekly “Tiffany Tsao’s visceral debut…reads a bit like Crazy Rich Asians if the book began with familicide instead of romance….Why not start off the new year with the perfect tear-it-all-down read?” —CrimeReadsSelect Praise (published as Under Your Wings in Australia) “Addressing Indonesia’s violent history, the 1998 May riots, and discrimination against the country’s ethnic Chinese minority, Tiffany Tsao offers an incisive critique of rich and powerful Chinese Indonesians, family bonds, and privilege. The book challenges many assumptions of what “Indonesia” is and provides a nuanced picture of wealthy Asian families in the transnational context. A compelling page-turner, it reveals the intricate dynamics between love, ambition, and fear as we journey through dark family secrets and unlock door after door before reaching the dead end. The Majesties is a chilling novel about what a family is capable of for the sake of maintaining illusions and the desperate, destructive ways that its entrapped members must take in order to escape.” —Intan Paramaditha, author of Apple and Knife and The Wandering “One of the most gripping, original and enlightening novels of the day.” —SA Weekend “Tiffany Tsao’s Under Your Wings is a sharply realised page-turner with a brilliant twist, written with an effortless command of pace and suspense.” —Sydney Morning Herald “Tiffany Tsao’s novel of sisters Gwendolyn and Estella is haunting, disturbing and vivid. It is one of those novels that has such a strong opening chapter that I questioned if the author would be able to meet my expectations for the rest of the novel. But meet them she did.” —Readings Read more About the Author Tiffany Tsao was born in San Diego, California, and lived in Singapore and Indonesia during her childhood and young adulthood. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a PhD in English. In addition to writing, she translates Indonesian fiction and poetry. Read more Customers Review: A somewhat interesting read, but the plot was at times hard to follow and the characters were confusing. Fans of Crazy Rich Asians might find this to be a letdown. I will be comparing the two a lot in this review because there are many similarities such as: large extended families, money and industry, wealth and travel, Chinese not in China. One similarity that did not pan out was the author has a lot of tertiary characters who are under-developed rather than being whimsical party guests. There is, additionally, a huge piece of history missing about how the Chinese ended up in Indonesia in the level of the industry portrayed in the book.Though it is a breezy read, due to the secondary focus on insects the language can be hard to follow. Overall not bad though. Estella and Gwendolyn are sisters who have the misfortune of being born to a corrupt family, who seem to be lurking in every corner. They search for “redemption” only to find it an empty promise. Instead of hilarity and romance, murder and exile ensue. It was almost like the author read “Crazy Rich Asians” and was like, “Ha, not in Indonesia.” I do not know enough about Chinese in Indonesia from my own research or the book to corroborate this sentiment. Moreover, the writing did not make me emotionally invested enough to do any deep research.A final point was the second to last chapter, I was confused because maybe Gwendolyn and Estella are the same person a-la “Fight club”? But then I read back older scenes and that didn’t seem to make sense, but then some times it did. I don’t know, feel free to correct me anyone on this. | |
24 reviews