Love and Other Moods

I love that Love and Other Moods really is a portrait of Shangai. By reading Love and Other Moods, I learned a lot of the Chinese culture and history. It was one of those books I couldn't fly through, because I wanted to take my time to explore the culture and history and really take it in.

Every character in this book has a very interesting background. Everyone had a totally different story and they were all equally interesting to discover.

“For Naomi, existing on the hyphen – balancing her Japanese, Taiwanese, American identities – feeling neither here nor there, a drifter among homes and countries, was a perpetual state of mind.”

Crystal Z. Lee also doesn't hesitate to touch upon the subject of the patriarchy in China, the corruption in China, and that was very interesting to read. At times I was shocked that such things can still happen today, in 2021. Of course, also the good sides of living in Shangai are mentioned which was amazing to discover.

This book also tackles the subject of cultural tensions, immigrants, expatriates,... which is something I hadn't really read about before.

“But I do know this – We're right for each other, we make sense. Even if we're the only ones that believe it.”

I think Love and Other Moods was worked out really really well. I loved discovering Naomi's, Dante's, Joss',... life.

TW: rape, abuse, death of a parent, infidelity and infertility.

Read my full review here: https://ohsrslybooks.com/2021/03/19/book-tour-review-love-and-other-moods-crystal-z-lee/