Last Tang Standing

De: Lauren Ho

Narrado por: Catherine Ho

Crazy Rich Asians meets Bridget Jones's Diary in this funny and irresistible debut novel about the pursuit of happiness, surviving one's 30s intact, and opening oneself up to love.

At 33, Andrea Tang is living the dream: She has a successful career as a lawyer, a posh condo, and a clutch of fun-loving friends who are always in the know about Singapore's hottest clubs. All she has to do is make law partner, and her life will be perfect. And if she's about to become the lone unmarried member of her generation in the Tang clan - a disappointment her meddling Chinese Malaysian family won't let her forget - well, she doesn't need a man to complete her. Yet when a chance encounter with charming, wealthy entrepreneur Eric Deng offers her a glimpse of an exciting, limitless future, Andrea decides to give Mr. Right-for-her-family a chance. Too bad Suresh Aditparan, her office rival and the last man her family would approve of, keeps throwing a wrench in her plans. Now, Andrea can't help but wonder: In the endless tug-of-war between pleasing others and pleasing herself, is there room for everyone to win?

©2020 Lauren Ho (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Very entertaining!

Love the story line. After a while things get very predictable, but still overall enjoyable

mildly entertaining

The story was entertaining enough to listen to while walking the dog, although some parts I tuned out. the main issue is that none of the characters were very likable. The main character is an insufferable woman in her mid thirties with the maturity and attitude of a 13 year old. It felt like I was reading my middle school diary.

Fun story, way too much fluff

While the protagonist was certainly quirky and had a lot more personality than most romance leads, the characters overall were unlikeable and/or uninteresting. The book had a lot of subplots, relatively useless characters, and lengthy descriptions that could have been cut out. I would recommend this book as a fun read if about 40% of it was cut out, which I think would have allowed the actual interesting subplots and characters room to shine more than they currently do.

Started strong but turned cliche

Engaging and humorous at first, this book became too repetitive around halfway (?) through. The antagonist continued the same behaviors until it became boring. I was rooting for the two main characters until that point, but by the end I didn't care what happened to them.

YUP!

AWESOME. AWESOME. AAAAAAAWEEEESOME!!!! Just what i needed and just what i was looking for. Satisfaction, GUARANTEED! Thank you.

Meh. I usually like the genre, but this wasn’t for me.

The protagonist is *really* unlikable. It was difficult to root for her, and she doesn’t really mature or find any kind of personal redemption over the course of the story. The plot itself is entertaining enough, and the narrator is great, but I wasn’t sure I was going to make it to the finish line. Andrea is a nightmare and I just found myself repeatedly thinking, “Yikes, get a therapist, not a boyfriend.” Her drunken diary entries were overly frequent and got to be exhausting.

Randomly, it also really irked me that the protagonist is constantly referring to people younger than her (she’s in her early thirties) as “Millennials” and mocking their attitudes. It was unclear whether this was an authorial choice designed to show off the character’s lack of self-awareness, or if the author herself doesn’t know how old Millennials are.

Sweet but a bit repetitive

Sweet if a little predicable love story. Found it quite hard to root for Andrea, though, as she really came across as self centered, materialistic and a little immature. Totally fine to have a flawed character, but she doesn't seem to have much in the way of self awareness even as the story progresses. Liked learning a little more about Singapore and the young professional culture there, but the binge drinking episodes got a bit repetitive.

From entertaining to insufferable

If you're looking for Crazy Rich Asians.. look elsewhere. This is the diary entries of a bitter 30 something. Found myself rolling my eyes at the main character constantly. She was insufferable at many points. Not to mention, there are detailed explanations about things I don't care about and glosses right over what I think would be an important storyline. I asked "is the author okay?" because many raunchy thoughts of the main character seemed concerning. lol I want my credit back.

Fun and dreamy

Sometimes, I need a good time. This was it, funny, nice characters and enthusiastic writing
Love it!

Back to Singapore

If you think you're heading back to Crazy Rich Asians territory, sorry. The Tangs are a more financially modest clan, mostly. When her rich auntie's threats to leave all unmarried Tangs out of her will become so serious even the auntie's lesbian daughter decides to get hitched to a man (no gay marriage in Singapore) Andrea Tang begins to feel the pressure. Pressure she doesn't need as she makes her final push to become a partner in the corporate law firm she often hates. It doesn't help that they've brought in a competitor to share her office, the much too good looking Suresh. Suresh seems safe, after all, he's engaged to a doctor who lives back in London. It doesn't help matters the doc is dragging her feet about the move. As they put in long hours at desks across from each other, could the growing attraction lead somewhere, or is it just a dead end? How's a girl supposed to balance a partnership bid and familial expectations and still keep her mind? This is such a fun and funny story. It was great to see another side of Singapore in this slow burn romantic comedy.
Catherine Ho captures Andrea's ever changing moods and a wide cast of character well. Great job.