Rental House
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Average rating3.8
From the award-winning author of Chemistry, a sharp-witted, insightful novel about a marriage as seen through the lens of two family vacations
Keru and Nate are college sweethearts who marry despite their family differences: Keru’s strict, Chinese, immigrant parents demand perfection (“To use a dishwasher is to admit defeat,” says her father), while Nate’s rural, white, working-class family distrusts his intellectual ambitions and his “foreign” wife.
Some years into their marriage, the couple invites their families on vacation. At a Cape Cod beach house, and later at a luxury Catskills bungalow, Keru, Nate, and their giant sheepdog navigate visits from in-laws and unexpected guests, all while wondering if they have what it takes to answer the big questions: How do you cope when your spouse and your family of origin clash? How many people (and dogs) make a family? And when the pack starts to disintegrate, what can you do to shepherd everyone back together?
With her “wry, wise, and simply spectacular” style (People) and “hilarious deadpan that recalls Gish Jen and Nora Ephron” (O, The Oprah Magazine), Weike Wang offers a portrait of family that is equally witty, incisive, and tender.
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No one makes listless ennui compelling like Weike Wang.
Rental House follows Keru and Nate, an interracial couple whose vacation getaways are continually marked by weird tension and cultural divides with their in-laws. Their lives are intertwined, yet everyone feels misunderstood by everyone else.
Both people in the relationship struggle with what exactly their role is — when to defend themselves or their partner, and when to let things slide. And also just like, the background pressure to have an enjoyable relaxing time off as an adult with adult responsibilities and complex family dynamics.
Low stakes pleasantries seem to drag on forever. Sometimes they spark jealousy, and other times they feel insufferable. Remarks made in passing cause things to suddenly escalate. Hot-button issues keep resurfacing over the years, especially the decision of whether to have children, and American politics and race relations.
I think Keru is a fascinating character. How Nate's background affords him the privilege and flexibility to live his values in a way she feels would be letting her parents down, even as they adore him for doing so. The impulsive bursts of rage amid her perfectly manicured corporate life. The hints at past incidents and how passive aggressive white people are startled and scared of her in these moments, but even more scared to acknowledge it directly. This pattern of behavior and the book's cover seem to foreshadow a grand reveal, but in the end Keru's burst of energy is simply shaking herself out of the stupor her family has been wading through like molasses for the whole book. Also, real ones suspect Keru was pregnant in Part One. I'm real ones.
It's not the searing social commentary of Parasite or even [b:Good Talk|36700347|Good Talk A Memoir in Conversations|Mira Jacob|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1534098775l/36700347.SX50.jpg|56227420], and some may find the story and characters tedious, but I gobbled this up overnight and quite liked it. I think, in part, because the audiobook narration is so good.
Jen Zhao voices different accents, ages, and genders all convincingly. It's also the inflection. Listening to someone else read dialogue can be hit-or-miss, because it doesn't always match up with how I would interpret tone if reading the print book. The delivery in this audiobook feels correct and brings life to the text.
For fans of [b:Chemistry|31684925|Chemistry|Weike Wang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1479350390l/31684925.SY75.jpg|52358042] by the same author, as well as [b:We Have Always Lived in the Castle|89724|We Have Always Lived in the Castle|Shirley Jackson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1704229774l/89724.SX50.jpg|847007], [b:Small Things Like These|58662236|Small Things Like These|Claire Keegan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1734631773l/58662236.SX50.jpg|86476810], [b:Little Fires Everywhere|34273236|Little Fires Everywhere|Celeste Ng|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1522684533l/34273236.SY75.jpg|94930152], [b:Such a Fun Age|43923951|Such a Fun Age|Kiley Reid|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1557181911l/43923951.SY75.jpg|63995465], and [b:Severance|36348525|Severance|Ling Ma|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1507060524l/36348525.SY75.jpg|58029884].
