The Expatriates

A Novel

By: Janice Y. K. Lee

Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee

Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Janice Y. K. Lee’s New York Times best-selling debut, The Piano Teacher, was called “immensely satisfying” by People, “intensely readable” by O, The Oprah Magazine, and “a rare and exquisite story” by Elizabeth Gilbert. Now, in her long-awaited new novel, Lee explores with devastating poignancy the emotions, identities, and relationships of three very different American women living in the same small expat community in Hong Kong.

Mercy, a young Korean American and recent Columbia graduate, is adrift, undone by a terrible incident in her recent past. Hilary, a wealthy housewife, is haunted by her struggle to have a child, something she believes could save her foundering marriage. Meanwhile, Margaret, once a happily married mother of three, questions her maternal identity in the wake of a shattering loss. As each woman struggles with her own demons, their lives collide in ways that have irreversible consequences for them all. Atmospheric, moving, and utterly compelling, The Expatriates confirms Lee as an exceptional talent and one of our keenest observers of women’s inner lives.

©2016 Janice Y. K. Lee (P)2016 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Raise a glass: The first great book-club novel of 2016 has arrived.” (USA Today, 4/4 stars)

“A female, funny Henry James in Asia, Janice Y. K. Lee is vividly good on the subject of Americans abroad.” (The New York Times Book Review)

“Sex and the City meets Lost in Translation.” (The Skimm)

Amazing!

I loved this book! I will probably end up listening to it multiple times which I never do. The beginning seemed a bit strange to me but then everything fell into place. The story was moving and the narrator was ideal. I enjoyed every aspect of this book!

Surprised this wasn't rated higher!

Great Listen

Perfect performance, I enjoyed it very much! A world I knew nothing about. Would have given more stars if some of the characters had a slightly more realistic journey.

Raw and Beautiful writing

What an Amazing book! Loved Every minute of it. The beautiful and raw descriptions of forgiveness and motherhood left me breathless. This book removed every fiver inside of my soul.

Loved it!

This is a story that draws you in almost immediately and then holds you right through to the end. While the characters are all pretty unlikeable, you know you are seeing them at their worst and that they are stuck in circumstances that would make anybody crazy, so you end up hanging on every word to find out how this is all going to pan out.

I’m surprised that some reviewers say it isn’t really about being an expat. As an expat myself, I think the book is very much about that. That was part of the point of the book—that life is life no matter where you live, but there are some very special aspects added to life when you live so far from home. It’s startling to me how very similar my experience has been, even though I’m not the wealthy kind.

The characters are relatable, their choices understandable -though we cringe while they make them. In the end, we see them making realistic adaptations with new maturity and wisdom. It’s a story of hope and that of understanding that life is a continual process rather than a continuous line.

A Sweet Simple Heart-warming Listen

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Good characters and an interesting look at the ex-pat community in Asia. Well worth the credit.

Not like tv show

This is a hard one to review because I picked this book because of the tv show, having watched 3 episodes and wanting to know more about the story sooner rather than having to wait for one episode per week. The tv show hints at a what, where, who did what and finding G. This book is not a that. It’s the story of 3 women whose lives are upended due to a major traumatic experience and the endurance of the human spirit in surviving, healing and the power of friendship. Margaret in losing her child. Hilary in the end of her marriage. Mercy in being the one who was with G when he disappeared. It’s a love story to women and it’s beautifully written. My genre in fiction is usually thriller, so this is not what I was thinking it was. There is no answer or anything regarding G apart from the fact he was lost. It’s not that kinda story. So for me personally, it wasn’t something I liked, but I think if you understand that this is a journey about healing, moving forward and the power of friendship and that appeals to you, you’ll love it. It’s a beautiful story.

Humanity in tragedy

The author wrote such an interesting story from three perspectives. Unresolved issues, forgiveness and self-forgiveness explored. Impressive.

You can be a jerk in a foreign country too

This is a book for women; 99% of men will not enjoy it.

If you are expecting a book about love, relationships, forgiveness, and redemption, then you will love this book. If you are looking for something about ex-pats and their lives and struggles with foreign cultures, this is not that book.

Having lived as an ex-pat for 14 years, both single and with my husband and adopted local kids, I expected to connect with this story, especially since I had lived in Taiwan and visited Hong Kong many times so I know the land, the people and the culture.

This book is much less about being ex-patriates than it is about social groups and gaps; dealing with infertility, tragedy, betrayal, and infidelity; being the victim or the cause of suffering. It is about mothers, motherhood, and women, solidarity among women.

It is written beautifully, and develops gradually into a whole. There is no reason for it to be set in Hong Kong, but then no reason not to either.

Three women, each struggling with her own burdens, then suffers another deeper blow. This is about how they handle this, how they view others and then themselves, grow stronger to cope with their lives, then learn about patience, forgiveness, acceptance, and redemption. Along the way, they learn about mothers and what "woman" means.

Incidental to the women's stories, are the three men and the ways in which they deal with the same events the women are dealing with. One of the men is a stand-up, supportive guy who actually hangs in there and helps. The other two go off on their own pity-parties and, by the end of the story, haven't learned to be men. There is still hope for them, but that would be later.

The story loses a star for me because of the disconnect with the title. The ex-pats didn't have to deal with anything they wouldn't have confronted back home. The Hong Kong-ness didn't matter to the story; they could or would have been the same jerks there as here. What I wanted more of was how being in a foreign country makes you feel as if your actions are invisible to the world and don't matter because no one back home sees you. I wanted more than the little bit there was of how the ex-pats interact with the locals. There were a couple, all negative, but this book wasn't really about that. This was just a regular-coming-of-age story even though the women were beyond teenage.

There are quite a few tidbits of wisdom here like, "you have let happiness happen." These and all the redemptive events happen quite late in the story, so it is a bit hard to slog along to get there. But it really is a beautiful story, with many points to ponder.

Wonderfully descriptive

I love audiobooks and this one does not disappoint! It is filled with descriptive and easy to imagine characters that inhabit the Hong Kong world. You are immediately pulled onto the streets of Hong Kong and enveloped by the sights and sounds bustling all around! Hilary Margaret and Merci are very distinctly different and you wonder how their worlds are intertwined - this is where the author creates the complexities of these women that makes you want to learn more thus making them more meaningful to you - as a child I was once an expatriate and lived in Tachikawa Japan so I could clearly understand the struggles of an American in a new place for the first time!

Insightful to its characters' minds

Any additional comments?

'We travel to find ourselves', or so the adage goes. The novel is set in Hong Kong, but it might as well be anywhere. I wasn’t expecting it, but instead of describing the dissimilarities or quirks of life abroad, JYKL presents several inter-twined stories, through which we get a sometimes insightful, sometimes base or guttural telling of the vicissitudes of their lives and how they live them – the latter two I found were more frequently from the minds of the characters themselves, although it is difficult to tell with an audiobook.

The main stories are between Mercy and Margret, with additional pairs for Hillary and David, Hillary and Mercy, Mercy and her mother, Hillary and Julian, Mercy and Charles, Mercy and David, and et cetera for almost all the character pairs. Raw life, injury and pursuit of recovery are common themes, and I think you’ll enjoy the book most if you’re appreciative of the interplay between them and life abroad (think: the movie Wild, but with people).

In that case, the physical location is not the main point of being an expatriate – one may also note that that word can have a double meaning. But as a sometimes expatriate I can say that the book’s insights, quirks, description of daily life through the foreign background – and its actual lack of local perspective – are true to some of the emotional discovery of the ex-pat experience.

All in all, it’s a great novel, and I hope you’ll give it a listen.

p.s. this is my first review – I don’t normally like a book enough to do them.