The Ping-Pong Queen of Chinatown: A Charming YA Novel of High School Filmmaking, Friendship, and Parental Pressure

by Andrew Yang

Perfect for fans of Ben Philippe and Mary H. K. Choi, this charming, insightful YA novel follows two high school students who form a complicated, ground-shifting bond while filming a mockumentary.

On the eve of Felix Ma’s junior year of high school, his parents hires a college admissions coach to help him find a marketable activity. Cynically trawling for extracurricular excellence, Felix decides to start a film club at school.

But then he meets Cassie Chow, a bubbly high school senior who shares Felix’s anxieties about the future and complicated relationship with parental expectations. Felix feels drawn to Cassie for reasons he can’t quite articulate, so as an excuse to see her more, Felix invites Cassie to star in his short film.

While the project starts out as a lighthearted mockumentary, at the urging of Felix’s college admissions coach, who wants to turn the film into college essay material, it soon morphs into a serious drama about the emotional scars that parents leave on their kids. As Felix and Cassie uncover their most painful memories, Cassie starts to balk at opening her wounds for the camera.

With his parents and college admissions coach hot on his heels, Felix discovers painful truths about himself and his past—and must decide whether academic achievement is worth losing his closest friend.

Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Audiobook, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult Romance

352 pages, Hardcover

First published July 16, 2024

About the author

Andrew Yang is a writer and reality TV enthusiast living in New York City. He studied computer science at the University of Chicago and has a day job as a coder. Andrew is a devoted fan of the writer Elena Ferrante, whose Neapolitan Novels are his favorite book series. He enjoys studying languages, rooting for his favorite sports teams, and trying new recipes with his air fryer. He is the author of I'm Not Here to Make Friends and The Ping-Pong Queen of Chinatown.

Reviews

[Aylin Niazai · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely horrible , the story feels put together haphazardly and the narrator clearly hated the book and wants to make us suffer 😭😭 this was NOT it.
I did like how the sport in the book is pingpong, which never happens, but then again it’s not like they really focus on the sport anyway.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This book was really emotional. I’m on the fence about whether to call it sad. It was sad at times.

Felix Ma runs into his old rival Cassie Chow at a ping pong tournament. They competed in a piano competition years earlier.
When Cassie leaves behind some sheet music, Felix feels compelled to contact her again.
This opens the door to an entirely new relationship between them. They are no longer rivals. Cassie becomes Felix’s muse.

When Felix is advised he needs to complete some lofty goals to get accepted to a good college, he starts a film club. This connects him with the student Gaspard. I loved Gaspard. He was so wise god his age. He was my favorite character.

When Felix decides to make a film with Gaspard, he asks Cassie to star in the film.

What begins as a movie about a ping pong player evolves into a dialogue about how Cassie and Felix’s parents’ expectations make them feel.

I thought that would be the main focus. But it seemed like it was also about how Cassie felt about breaking down her relationship with her mom in front of a camera.

It’s not my place to diagnose anyone but part of me thought Cassie was depressed and blamed more of her feelings on Felix than was fair.
That’s just my two cents.
——————————-
I was in the middle of reading this book on the Libby app when it suddenly disappeared. Halfway through reading it and it was just gone.

I don’t want to put this in a dnf folder because I was enjoying it. I would have kept reading it. But I also don’t want to rate it since I didn’t finish it yet.

I plan to get back in line for a library hold and will come give this a real review after finishing it.

[Heaven Adore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating - 4.5 stars

Why did this have to end with a goodbye? Seriously, I wanted to start crying. 😭 This book is a whirlwind of emotions, and I love that. We see characters dealing with their issues and how they shape them into better people. The character growth throughout the story is SO evident, making the characters realistic.

I love the relationship between Felix and Cassie. Even though he had a little crush on her, it was romantic. They were good friends - well, more like enemies to friends - who spurred each other on and climbed over hurdles together, even if it did take time (and meant not talking to each other for a while...). Seeing how their friendship evolved was simply pure.

Also, I cannot get over how humorous this book was! I highlighted so many sentences and paragraphs on my Kindle. xD Gaspard was like the comic relief, but he didn't feel out of place. He did have a purpose, like becoming Felix's first real friend and helping him be more confident. But he was such a hoot!

I'm sad this book is over because I enjoyed it thoroughly. I haven't read a book so fast in a long time, which means it was good haha. Please write more books, Mr. Yang!

CWs - minor cussing (non-explicit + sporadic), verbal abuse

[Jennifer Abella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked that this book focused on complicated friendships.

[Ashley Dang · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great story about friendship, growth, and what it means to change. When two high schoolers who constantly run into each other end up working on a film, their friendship begins to change... and the question of who they are becoming forces them to face difficult questions. Felix Ma is a high school junior who constantly finds himself into Cassie Chow, a bubbly high school senior. Felix and Cassie begin a friendship and Felix knows he has to do something to make his college app stands out so he decides to make a film and asks Cassie to be the main star... but the story of the film begins to feel a little too real, a little too much about Cassie, and thus the question between what the movie means to both of them begins to change as well as their friendship. Felix has to face difficult questions about himself and how he treats his friends, about the costs of wanting to please his friends but at the cost of hurting his closest friend... and what he's going to do about it. This was a really interesting story about a teen coming to understand his feelings and treatment of people in his life, of growing and trying to decide who he wants to be. Felix isn't a bad person, he is growing and he is learning to change, his friendship with Cassie was really the highlight of the story and I really enjoyed how this book ended. This is a great read for anyone who enjoys a coming of age story.

*Thanks Netgalley and HarperCollins Children's Books, Quill Tree Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[Jana · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was cute but I had trouble with the dialogue at times. Some of the ideas and themes seemed underdeveloped as well.

[Lost in Book Land · Rating 5 out of 5]

Welcome Back!

I have had this book on my shelves since it came out. I pre-ordered this book off the cover alone. I never read the description, but there was just something about the book I was really drawn to, and I am really glad I ordered myself a copy. I recently pulled this book from my shelves and snagged an audiobook copy on Libby. I had a lot to do over the last few weeks, and this was the perfect book to read while I conquered my tasks!

SPOILERS AHEAD

Felix has a lot of expectations placed on him by his parents. They only want the best for him; they moved him out of the city to a house on Long Island and spent a lot of money on a tutor to help him get into great colleges. Felix is really not sure what he wants to do, but the tutor has pushed him to start or join a club at school. Kind of backed into a corner, Felix decides to start a film club. He really loves watching movies, and maybe there are some other kids at school that also have the same interests. One other person shows up at the club, and the pair decides on some movies to watch and how to run the club. One day, Felix meets Cassie, another high school student who lives in the city. She shares a lot of the same problems that Felix has with where the future is going. However, the pair begin to become friends and even include the new friend Felix has made in the film club. Now the group is going to make a short film that could lead to Felix finding his passion!

I absolutely adored this story. It has become a favorite read, and I love that I have a copy on my shelves. I intend to re-read it again and again. All three of the characters are amazing, and each has their own impact on one another and the story in general. I know this author has written one other book, and I am definitely going to be seeking it out. I highly recommend reading this book if you have the opportunity to.

Goodreads Rating: 5 Stars

[hpboy13 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was SO PROMISING. A really intense friend-crush? Absolutely, yes, sign me up.

Yang does a great job getting the reader invested in Felix Ma’s story, in the angst about measuring up to the expectations of both his parents and the nebulous college admissions officers. Coming of age, making friendships, dealing with familial expectations… I’m all in! Indeed, I was hooked, and tore through this book in about three days.

Unfortunately, in the last third the book went screeching off the rails.

TL;DR, Felix gets Cassie and her mom to star in his film that channels their real-life conflict. This is treated as an unforgivable crime, on par with waterboarding or talking in a movie theater. Felix is a monster! How could Cassie ever speak to him after this appalling and hateful action? Really, it’s a human rights violation!

While everyone is shitting on Felix (most of all Felix himself), he’s also taken to task for the crime of… his parents having money. Yes, he’s privileged, and his parents can throw money at some of his problems. But the attitudes in this book, that this wealth invalidates his right to angst or be upset about things, really rubs me the wrong way. Maybe we could acknowledge that even people with rich parents are allowed to have problems?

Lastly, Cassie’s entire attitude towards Felix (especially in the latter half) is awful. She’s basically going back and forth between “I never want to see you again!” and “Maybe I’ll deign to grace you with my company,” and somehow Felix is the bad guy for wanting to be friends with her.

In the end, I just don’t understand what Yang was going for here. What is the point? Felix and Cassie’s relationship is not left in a satisfying place; Felix never actually places emphasis on relationships with anyone else… The ending just soured me on the whole book, unfortunately.

[Danielle T · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, though I'll round up for goodreads (nice to see the average has settled around a 3.52 though lol).

Feels like a teenage platonic (500) Days of Summer (with the caveat I have never seen that movie), and by that I mean Felix Ma reconnects with an old acquaintance and feels drawn to becoming friends with her, but maybe it's more like the idea of her than actual friendship paying attention to her boundaries, etc. I feel like the Romance tag that other readers have applied feels incorrect because Felix is never romantically obsessed with Cassie, but I do think she correctly thinks it's kinda weird that he and his friend are centering their student film around a fictionalized version of her. In his tunnel vision of thinking "what if we never left Chinatown?", he also misses his class privilege in their interactions until it's too late.

Relationships can be complicated though, so I do think this is a well-drawn picture of that. Not just with Cassie- he has awkward encounters with Henry, a former friend at his high school who now hangs out with the skater crowd, though they do have a reconciliation in the end. And, he's surprised to make new friends via Gaspard, his film club buddy who he initially thought was a lil pretentious but then it turns out they're both dorks re: cinema.

Pop culture references abound with no attempt to fictionalize titles (I outright LOL'd when he thinks about how the last time he was visiting family in China, he was too busy EV training a Garchomp in Pokemon) so I wonder if it'll feel dated in the future, or if "these boys are film nerds" will work for the movies they watch and reference. Felix has some absolutely cringey inner thoughts, but that's being a teenager- I can empathize while also being very relieved I am no longer in that stage of life lol.

[Larissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a very hyper realistic teen romance. Felix and Cassie’s lives seem to keep crossing paths. Cassie seems to have this mysterious persona around her that draws Felix in and makes him want to get to know her better. With college applications quickly approaching Felix is faced with trying to find a good topic to write about for admissions. Through direction from his admissions coach, he is encouraged to start his own film group and then make a movie to put into a local film festival to make him look more enticing for colleges. Felix could not think of a more interesting person to focus his film on then Cassie. Through making the movie Felix and Cassie are faced with some very personal realizations.
Overall, this is an okay book. I think because it is more realistic than other teen romance books it dragged a bit for me. I did enjoy though how it highlighted the different experiences that many Asian children are faced with culturally. I am not sure how teens will truly respond to this book. It is not a bad one by any means, but if they are looking for a romance this book doesn’t quite fit the normal bill teens might be expecting.
Thank you HarperCollins Books, Quill Tree Books and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprising book

I went into this book only knowing that I liked the author, and nothing else. In face, since the narrator was first person, for about five chapters, I thought that Felix was a girl, and this was a lesbian story. I kept getting confused, when people called him dude and guy, and the my mind clicked.

Loved the story, of Felix, who wants to do something special, and his idea for a movie using his friend Cassie, that cut a little too close to home. I loved how real Cassie felt, even telling him that she was pushing his views on what he thought her life should be like.

And that is all you need to know about this book, because it is best to go into it cold, and warm up to Felix’s voice.

If you like Andrew Yang, you’ll love his latest. If you have never read him, you’ll probably like this as well

[Althius · Rating 4 out of 5]

wowowowwwwww
really nice
its very cute and very sweet
the friendships are genuinely so nice and wholesome
felix and cassie and gaspard omg my babies 😭 😭 😭
THE CHICKEN WING COMPETITION SCENE WAS SO WHOLESOME. AND THE PARTIES SCENE TOOOO
and also i love love LOVE that i actually got the pop culture references (bc this book was published in 2024 but my point still stands) and that they actually act and talk and text like theyre highschoolers 😭 it felt so realistic and i felt so seen
its very relateable too, almost scarily. i absolutely understand both cassie and felix. i love all the characters in this book. they have my whole heart <3
this was such a cozy read. i love it. i picked it up cause it had a cute cover and looked cozy and boy, did it NOT prove me wrong. love this book. criminally underhyped.

[Hannah McMurphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story fell a bit flat for me because it was supposed to be about the relationship between Felix and Cassie, but I cared way more about the friendship between Felix and Gaspard. It seemed to me that Gaspard was a better friend and a more interesting character than Cassie, yet Felix had this weird "not romantic" obsession with Cassie for the whole book. I liked the filmmaking element, but even then, I felt like it was supposed to be a major part of the plot and then just sort of fizzled out. This wasn't a romance even though Goodreads has it marked that way. I also could not get over the fact that every character winked like every couple of minutes. Nobody winks that much in real life, but everybody in this book seemed to do it constantly! Overall, this book did not really stand out to me in anyway except that I liked Gaspard.

[Magdalene · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm so conflicted about this book, because it had a lot of ideas and themes and scenes and bits of dialogue that I loved and really resonated with me. At its heart it's about friendship and connection, which is rare to see, especially when it's a friendship between a male and female. But there are also side plots and other themes touched on. There's so much going on, and there's just not enough room to explore it all, so it ends up just feeling messy and amateur. I feel like the author's editor didn't give it the attention it deserved, which is a real shame because there was a lot of potential.

[Cara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a hard time deciding between 3 and 4 stars. The whole book was probably 4 stars but the ending brought it down a bit for me. I'm confused why people tagged this as romance. There is literally no romance in this book at all.
It's a cool book about a Chinese American boy who is figuring things out. There is a girl he is drawn to, but not necessarily romantically. He wants to know her better, but doesn't go about it in the smoothest way. They drift apart and back together a few times. I liked all the friends he makes along the way and his relationship with his parents.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up

This was a cute YA coming of age story featuring to Chinese American teens who bond over a shared love of Ping Pong and a desire to build impressive college application resumes. The book does a good job illustrating the parental pressures to be impressive and succeed faced by the two main characters. Good on audio and recommended for fans of authors like Kelly Yang. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review. This was my first book by Andrew Yang and likely not to be my last.

[Ella H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn't a perfect book, but boy was a lot of it so cute and well done! I don't know if I've ever read dialogue that just seems so natural, it's crazy at times. The speech of each character is so distinguished and individual, it's what every author dreams of writing when they hear "make it so you don't need tags for the reader to know who is talking". I loved the characters, and the cozy factor of it was so cute. It did get a little darker and maybe less developed and drawn out later on, but the first part was so so good I loved it. It's been a while since I've read anything that good.

[Yuhui · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrew Yang has done it again. Drawing from his experiences growing up second generation, he captures all the raw emotion, desires, and awkwardness of the teenage immigrant experience in friendship and love. Cassie Chow, a strong willed, rebellious teenager, meets an old acquaintance, Felix Ma through a series of fateful rendezvous. Along the way, a friendship blossoms but a betrayal from Felix puts it to the test. Will Cassie remain an idealist, steadfast and unwilling to compromise her beliefs? Or will she ultimately find peace through understanding others?

[Khayla Liu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very bittersweet, but the ending was fitting. Clearly Felix and Cassie weren't meant to stay friends at that time, but I really ended up hoping when both of them matured they would meet again. Cassie's relationship with her mom was definitely reminiscent of my own experiences (mom if you see this one Goodreads I'm sorry) and I liked how Felix reconciled with his parents in the end. :))

[Emery Lightwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF around 80%, it just dragged on too long and I had to return it to the library.
The title is very misleading, thought I was getting a sports romance but it ended up being something else entirely. Cassie and Gaspard were solid characters but Felix didn't appeal to me, which is probably why I didn't enjoy this book

[sundew · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is not a romance.

this is a book about friendship and friend crushes and overthinking a simple text message and doing stupid shit with your friends and saying goodbye when people go off to college and understanding your family dynamics and college apps and finding someone who shares your interests.

this is what YA should be.

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this one - parent expectations weigh heavy on everyone (maybe) but a tidge more on kids who grow up with Asian parents who have very high standards
I do like the ending - not the usual HEA and I think it fit

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

[Meenal · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF 10%

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was cute! I didn't know where it was going until the end either. Real review to come to my blog!

[Shayna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting to see a character turn down the role of Manic Pixie Dream Girl when a boy tries to see her that way.

[Sharon Buxton · Rating 2 out of 5]

C-. fiction, YA, relationships; boy and girl rival and communicate, starting with piano, pingpong, etc.

[Mar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Teen relationships: They change; individuals grow together and apart; individuals hurt and get hurt as they discover who they are.

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Started out really strong, but the main character was a prick and didn’t grow or learn anything from his mistakes.

[Charleigh Frederick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the narrative voice!! Such a compelling story!