Nights When Nothing Happened

by Simon Han

From the outside, the Chengs seem like so-called model immigrants. Once Patty landed a tech job near Dallas, she and Liang grew secure enough to have a second child, and to send for their first from his grandparents back in China. Isn't this what they sacrificed so much for? But then little Annabel begins to sleepwalk at night, putting into motion a string of misunderstandings that not only threaten to set their community against them but force to the surface the secrets that have made them fear one another. How can a man make peace with the terrors of his past? How can a child regain trust in unconditional love? How can a family stop burying its history and forge a way through it, to a more honest intimacy?

'NIGHTS WHEN NOTHING HAPPENED' is gripping storytelling immersed in the crosscurrents that have reshaped the American landscape from a prodigious new literary talent.




RUNNING TIME => 7hrs. and 10mins.

©2020 Simon Han (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Adult, Book Club, Audiobook, Race, Asian Literature

272 pages, Hardcover

First published November 17, 2020

About the author

Simon Han is the author of Nights When Nothing Happened. His stories and essays have appeared in The Atlantic, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Texas Observer, Guernica, The Iowa Review, Electric Literature, and LitHub. Born in Tianjin, China and raised in various cities in Texas, he teaches creative writing at Tufts University.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to “Nights When Nothing Happened” by Simon Hen, narrated by James Chen. After listening to this, I feel I should have read it. There is so much that is quietly stated, so many subtle, yet intricate sentences that it was difficult for me to totally enjoy this story. James Chen is a great narrator; it’s not the narration. It’s the complexities of the quiet observations that, for me, are better read. This is a literary work that deserves a slow read.

It’s a story of a Chinese immigrant family settling in Plano Texas. Patty, the matriarch is gainfully employed at a microchip company. She came to the United States first. And then her husband, Liang came. He’s a photographer and struggles to work because his English is not good. They both left their son, Jack in China with his grandparents. Jack comes to the United States after his sister Annabel is born. Jack isn’t a fan of Plano Texas, and he misses China.

The story is about the Chinese immigrant story, the issues involved in assimilation. The story picks up suspense when outspoken and frank Annabel becomes a bit of a terror in kindergarten. Annabel also has a sleepwalking problem that becomes Jack’s problem. No one in this story gets much sleep, but the heavy burden falls upon Jack.

Willful Annabel triggers an issue with neighbors, pointing abuse charges at Liang. It is an issue that could have been resolved if Liang was fluent in English. But more than that, Simon Hen brings in a part of American society where children can accuse adults of things that have heavy consequences. Once gossip and the authorities are involved, it’s impossible to dig out, especially if you are an immigrant.

The story deserves 5 stars for it’s literary beauty. The prose is great, and the story is so achingly real.

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning mesmerizing immigrant story....
.....a literary diamond debut discovery.
.... gripping, haunting, and heartbreaking.
Unbelievably gorgeously written.

Immediately... I was wondering and worried ...
“why was a child parenting a child?”
So much weight for eleven year old-Jack-who was six years older than his sister Annabelle.

In delicately nuanced, swirling tender, revealing, and even dreamlike prose, Simon Han pulls us into an astronomical compelling story about the Cheng family.
From China to Texas.

272 pages ....
Beautiful things really ‘do’ come in small packages.

[Ron Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given the flood of studies, warnings, features and books about it, insomnia may come to define our age the way nostalgia defined the Romantics. We are, by all accounts, a rest-less people. The search for better sedatives and masks and pillows charges on, but our poor sleep habits, which contribute to a host of deadly ailments, suggest something profoundly amiss about the construction of modern life. In her midnight memoir, “Insomnia” (2018), Marina Benjamin describes chronic sleeplessness as “a state of longing.”

That desperation pervades every page of Simon Han’s debut novel, “Nights When Nothing Happened.” This is a story in which no one sleeps well — not the adults, not even the children. All of them are pinched with unease, a vague anxiety repressed during the day but unleashed once the lights go off.

What’s most fascinating about “Nights When Nothing Happened” is the way Han, who was born in China and raised in Texas, explores how anxiety thwarts the archetypal experience of immigrant success. In his telling, the American Dream is disrupted by nightmares that a good job and a house in the suburbs can’t quell.

The novel revolves around Liang Cheng and his wife, Patty, who moved from China to the United States in the 1990s. By all appearances, they have attained. . . .

To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entert...

[Lolly K Dandeneau · Rating 4 out of 5]

via my blog: https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤, 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐬𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐣𝐢𝐧.

One of the most tender moments in this novel begins when Jack watches his grandparents from the security check at the Beijing airport. Turning away, wiping their eyes as they send their grandson to live with his parents in America, the reality of Jack’s separation from the very people who have loved and cared for him in China for the six years of his young life has proven to be an inevitability. A hard fact for Jack to digest as the plane swallows him, delivering him to parents who are nothing more than a photograph, phantom voices on a telephone, veritable strangers awaiting his arrival in a foreign land- America.

The Chengs have worked hard to achieve the American dream, a world that could offer security and opportunities for a fruitful future for their child and the chance to have another. The family of three has grow to four with the birth of a sister, Annabel. His mother Patty is employed with a tech company spending her days tinkering with tiny microchips, changing the future. His father Liang busies himself photographing strangers for a living, both affording them a home in the suburbs of Dallas. They are forging ahead, trying to ease into the American way of life, because even if Patty is hardly ever home, consumed by the demands of her career, and Liang is still haunted by his past in China, lost in understanding who he is in this country and his own family, it’s the price they are willing to pay. However, it is the events you aren’t expecting that may be your downfall.

Annabel has been under Jack’s protection since birth, seeming more their parent’s true “American” child than Jack, who is still a stranger, taking up little space, always on his best behavior as if a guest, demanding nothing of either his mother or father. not hugs nor comfort of any sort. But he isn’t the only one who feels like an outsider, Patty and Liang’s marriage is starved of love and attention. Neither spouse’s needs are being met, and little Annabel has far too much freedom and wildness within that neither adult is able to tame. Liang is tired of his wife’s absences, maybe a reminder of his own mother’s vanishing in his mysterious, sad childhood. His sleep often filled with cries of torments his son Jack can only wonder at. Nightmares from a past he doesn’t talk about but has left deep scars. Patty wonders, is he forgetting the bright future, dreams of a PhD she had to give up in order to obtain their son’s visa? Her husband too has become another job, another demand, another thing to decipher. He isn’t the one carrying the family on his shoulders, he is the one that gets to raise the children while she supports them all. But does that mean he has more claim to them? More authority? And why isn’t he fixing the issue between Elsie and Annabel? The school problems? Why is it so hard for him to understand anything?

Annabel’s sleepwalking is about to become the catalyst for a big misunderstanding, with Jack as the all seeing eye. The recalcitrant, little girl has been too long indulged, and her mean, childish games go too far when she harasses her friend Elsie. Patty and Liang are sure their daughter is the one being bullied, but as they are strangers to each other, maybe they are missing the warning signs their little girl is showing. Could it be the school is more aware, correct in their assessment?

With Thanksgiving as the chance to come together and speak to the parents of Annabel’s friend/enemy, their house will instead become the backdrop of an incident, good intentions be damned. Words are heavy, as Liang knows all too well ‘ a word can mean anything’ and when girls misuse them, chaos ensues. Annabel’s threats aren’t strong enough to control her friend and soon words will worm their way in the minds of the adult’s heads giving birth to dangerous assumptions. Jack’s loyalty is tested, and Jack knows more than anyone the importance of protection and who it is his job to protect even if it shames his father, splintering the family.

This is an intelligent, engaging read about not just the immigrant experience but how blending in can go haywire. It is how we strip away our identity, our very happiness for what is perceived as superior, something we’re told to desire. All they wanted was a better life, but in the process they are losing control of the family they are making sacrifices for. When Liang tries to explain what really happened, even his own family fails him, and what follows opens them to intense scrutiny, and shaming by their community. The structure they built crumbles, but maybe in breaking down they can confront the emotions they’ve been denying themselves and find a new direction.

The storyline isn’t focused on Jack alone, I feel like I knew each of the Chengs and even with her spite I came around to liking Annabel, who is simply a product of too much good intentions. Wildly complex and fragile, more fragile than the adults realize she is the destructive wind carelessly blowing through their world. Jack is perfectly written, we know from the start his parents are ‘a destination he did not want to visit’, and he is trapped firmly in the role of witness. In his heart, his most important role is that of a loyal brother, through and through. Liang is broken, feels inept and confused still despite the years they’ve lived in America, always following Patty’s lead and Patty isn’t really sure where they are anymore or why. The only constant is her discontent and anxieties. How did they get here, where will they go now that the cart has been upended?

Publication Date: November 17, 2020

Penguin Group

Riverhead

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cheng family moves to Plano, Texas in 2003, settling into suburbia. The father is a photographer, but has what I would call ptsd about intimacy. The mother is an engineer and works many hours with international teams. Jack, the son, spent his younger childhood in China with his grandparents and one night saves his little sister Annabel when she goes outside in the freezing cold, he thinks to sleepwalk. The story rotates between the family members where is becomes clear that all of them understand events differently, and some ideas originally presented as facts may not be. The children are underparented and this leads to a major event that disrupts the entire family, bringing their new identities into question.

This is on the long but not shortlist of the Tournament of Books. I read it from my public library on my new Kindle Oasis (a gift, not an advertisement.)

[Michelle Hogmire · Rating 4 out of 5]

First Novel Prize Review #10 (thanks to The Center for Fiction and Riverhead Books (PRH) for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review/expected pub date: Nov 17, 2020):

Nights When Nothing Happened is the perfect title for Simon Han’s melancholy novel about a family of Chinese immigrants who are living outside Dallas, Texas—a subtle book, where small actions build to an undoing over time.

It seems like the Cheng family is doing everything right. Patty and Liang move to Dallas first, leaving their young son Jack in the care of his grandparents, until they’re financially stable enough to move him abroad. Then comes Annabel, their second kid.

Patty has a stable job in the tech industry, but in reality, she’s incredibly unhappy. She spends way too much time at work, including taking impossibly early phone calls from her team in India. She planned to get a PhD, but with insecure funding, she had to jump into the industry in order to secure Jack’s visa. She frequently lashes out at Liang, who works at a photography business and stays home with the kids. Liang has problems of his own: a lot of unresolved past trauma, involving his mother’s death and his father’s cruelty, makes it difficult for him to really get close to his children. Jack is generally quiet and serious, with his nose always struck in a book: as the oldest, he often takes a parenting role toward Annabel, especially when it comes to her dangerous sleepwalking.

Annabel is labeled a “problem child” at school—she makes strange statements and often bullies her supposed friend, Elsie, sometimes lashing out violently. As stories and suspicions about Annabel and the Cheng family mount, an unfortunate incident at a Thanksgiving Party spirals out into a huge misunderstanding with grave consequences.

Simon Han’s struggling characters grapple with internal and external forces over the course of the narrative, a combination of unresolved generational trauma and wealthy white suburban racism. The plot is understated, but the emotional implications are enormous.

[Beck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emotional and Empathetic Writing..

A smart debut.

As an immigrant family, the Cheng's, from a distance, seem to have it all; however, when certain secrets that were buried come to light, the community starts to turn away from them.

I really like books about the immigrant experience. This book talks about their experience, while also discussing why the Chengs came to America. I found it very interesting. There were a lot of secrets that came to light, which naturally drew me into the pages.

I never would have thought this was a debut. It was excellent. The writing was well done and the plot was engaging. I very much enjoyed this book.

[Deedi Brown (DeediReads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

Nights When Nothing Happened is a slow burn novel pulled taught, great for fans of short stories and striking prose.

For you if: You’re drawn to gorgeous prose and craft over plot.

FULL REVIEW:

First, big thanks to Riverhead for granting me an early review of this book on NetGalley.

Nights When Nothing Happened is the kind of novel that makes me want to write, because oh, how I’d love to write like this … and yet also give up on writing forever, because I will probably never write like this. This is the kind of literary fiction I love, the kind that makes you want to highlight every sentence, and yet taking any of them out of context of their respective paragraphs and pages and chapters would destroy the magic, because it’s all so well crafted.

The book is about an immigrant family from China, the Chengs. We get POV chapters from all four of them: Jack, the 11-year-old son; Patty, the mother struggling with work-life balance; Annabel, the 5-year-old daughter; and Liang, the father struggling under the weight of life. They are making it by day after day in Plano, Texas, until one night, shards of the life they’ve built rain down around them.

This book will not be for everyone. The pacing is slow, examining and lingering. It’s about language and craft and metaphor more than it’s about plot. You know that feeling you get when you read a really good short story? That’s how I felt reading this, although it’s a whole novel (albeit a relatively short one, at 260 pages). It also sort of casts out the idea of the traditional early “inciting incident,” luring us into a dream-like state before snapping taught, exploding with a wallop to the stomach, about halfway through. Just like the sleepy, strained, pressure-cooker of suburban parenthood it describes.

I recommend this one to readers who gravitate toward the more literary, the character studies, the prose that breaks your heart with its precision.



TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Alcoholism (minor)

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good stuff. This is a fairly quiet tale, told quite well. It's a little uneven at times and it's slow pacing will turn off some readers. But it is well told and intelligent.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

[Faith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be too ponderous for me. Maybe there were too many points of view (four). I also wanted some sort of closure about the peculiar behavior of the younger child. Nevertheless, I would try this author again. This just wasn’t what I was expecting. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this debut novel from Han, a Chinese family moves to the United States and settles in the suburbs of Dallas. Patty is the primary earner, working at a computer chip manufacturer. Liang is a photographer but spends most of his time taking care of his children. Jack, always with a book in hand, was born in China and remembers a time when he parents left him with his extended family to move to the US. Anabell was the only member of the family born in the US, who sleepwalks at night and is protected by her older brother who constantly watches out for her.

This is a beautiful book about an immigrant family. The writing is excellent, switching from the perspectives of the four members of the family, like slowly twisting a kaleidoscope to form new patterns, to see new details. It could easily become confusing but the writing is so controlled I was never lost. This novel isn’t heavily plot driven, though there is a turn in the middle of the book that accelerates the novel to the end. I loved the tone and mood set by the book, and the descriptions of the settings are exquisite. We get snapshots, thoughts of the characters which may be annoying for some readers. The layers of subtext, the ideas just under the surface but never explicitly explained made this book compelling and interesting. I love it and I recommend it to anyone who like excellent writing and immigrant stories. ★★★★★ • Hardcover • Fiction - Literary • Published by Riverhead on November 17, 2020.

[Nelda Brangwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I imagine this will not be a book for everyone. The title is apt. It seems like nothing is happening, but as the story builds, the reader will see the challenges the Chengs, immigrants from China, have in achieving the American Dream. When his parents moved to Texas for university and careers, their son, Jack, remained in China with grandparents. Eventually, he is reunited with his parents and jack soon has a baby sister. While everything may look fine, Patty is consumed by her job in the tech industry and is seldom home. Liang, the father, is a photographer. Both want the benefits of life in America. Preschool Annabelle is sent to a preschool for gifted children and becomes best friends with Eloise. Challenges between the two girls lead to a Thanksgiving dinner with the two families hoping to figure out what went wrong, only the dinner just creates more problems and the Chengs are forced to look at their own fractured family and decide what is important and how can immigrants with their struggles fit in to American society. This is a very thoughtful look at family sacrifices when trying to “better” themselves.

[Kathleen Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an intriguing novel of a family pulled apart as a result of a misunderstanding. Patty and Liang emigrated from China to Texas, leaving behind their son Jack, who stays with his grandparents until they finally send for him. And when he arrives, it turns out Patty is pregnant with Annabelle, who grows into (let's face it) a dreadful child. No one in this novel is happy- Patty is underemployed, Liang's photography business is struggling due to the rise in selfies, Jack must cope with Annabelle, and she sleepwalks. Then in a confusing scene (for all) at a Thanksgiving Day party, Liang is accused of touching Elsie, a little girl who is Annabelle's sworn enemy. All spins out from there. This moves back and forth in time and place, which works to help understand Patty and Liang in particular. There are some very bright spots in the writing- the scene where Jack is on the plane to the US is incredibly poignant and stuck with me. Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC. It's not a happy story, not at all, but it's one worth reading.

[Sasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an important book about the American Dream, about immigration, and about the quiet ways family unravels under the vice of that dream. Expertly written, Han's novel will take you on a haunting journey, in which you may end up questioning your own family, your own story.

[BooksnFreshair (Poornima Apte) · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://booksnfreshair.blogspot.com/20...

[Vonda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was interesting in it was from the point of view of an immigrant family, the Chengs. All the working ,the long hours and sacrificing with no life led to a slow and boring book though.

[Steve Bellin-Oka · Rating 5 out of 5]

The language in this novel is so deeply lyrical, so precise and finely tuned, that it feels like reading one of the best prose poems I've ever read.

[luce (cry bebè's back from hiatus)]

DNF 35%

The title is certainly 35% accurate. Usually I don’t mind ‘quiet’ stories but the author’s tone, characters, and writing style are not for me. And that sex scene...it tries to be ‘real’ and gritty but ends up being low-key problematic and extremely unpleasant.
If you are interested in reading this book I recommend you read reviews from readers who have actually finished it.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just beautiful. A must read.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my second favorite book this year!

[Susan Tunis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite the overwhelmingly positive reviews this debut has received, my own response to it was mixed. It's the story of a disfunctional Chinese-American immigrant family living in Plano, Texas, told through the eyes of the 11-year-old son.

Set in the early years of this century, Han paints a vivid picture of the otherness experienced by these characters. And he deftly explores the complex relationships of the four members of this family. But the first half of the novel moves very slowly, with lots of observation, but little action. Later in the book, some plot developments occur, but a page-turner it's not. And that's okay, not every book has to be. But I was frustrated by the frankly inexplicable behavior of some of the characters. When I want to slap imaginary people, you know it's bad.

Part of me feels like this simply wasn't the right book for me right now. In his rave review, Ron Charles of the Washington Post writes, " Desperation pervades every page of Simon Han’s debut novel, Nights When Nothing Happened." It's 2020; do I need this right now?

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong debut novel! Perfect title for a book about suburbia, and the suburb is practically its own character in this quiet novel about an immigrant family (a weird experience for me, as the suburb happens to be the one I was born and raised in). As others have noted, not a ton happens in much of this book, which is what sold it for me, so don't read it if you need your novels to have constant plot. It is, as I said, quiet, takes place mostly at night, and plays from each family member's POV as they live their lives joined but not really connected. Commentary on the comforts and touchstones of suburban life pepper the story as it takes a dark turn and things start to fall apart. I have mixed feelings about the few plot elements when they do happen, but it didn't dampen my overall enjoyment of the book. Look forward to more from Han.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simon Han’s story of a Chinese immigrant family trying to fit in with the white neighbors in their middle-class and upper middle class Texas neighborhood and private school is a solid reading choice for AAPI Heritage Month, book club discussions, or just general reading enjoyment. Each family member is clearly delineated, and we can see the factors that weigh them down despite their financial success.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I live in the same neighborhood where the book takes place, and worked at the company that inspired Patty's employer during the same time she worked there. Simon Han did a great job capturing what it was like to be one of the only women when everyone else had wives taking care of everything outside of work. I have never seen a character like Patty represented in a novel before, so I really appreciated that.

The neighborhood is boring - deliberately so. That is why people move there after all. The sprinklers, the Christmas decorations, the keeping up appearances -- he got all the big and small details right. It was the perfect setting for a family drama about secrets.

This novel switches among the narrators, which usually annoys me. It seems like almost every popular fiction book does this nowadays and normally I find it gimmicky and lazy, but in this case, I did not even notice the shifts at first. Something about the technique adds instead of distracts.

This book may not be for those who expect more of a twisty-turny mystery. I slowed down and took my time absorbing it. There may not be resolution. But that is how life is. It's not long, and I really enjoyed the journey.

[Matt Chisling (MattyandtheBooks) · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the wide-lipped, tightly wound city of Plano, TX, a family sleeps - or stirs, or has night terrors, or sleepwalks. The Chengs - a family made whole again with the new arrival of their preteen son Jack from China - is a family precariously at the precipice of achieving the American Dream. But why is it that, even though the dream parents Liang and Patty have aspired for is in grasp, no one is able to sleep? As Patty's tech career takes off and Liang's photography business goes into autopilot, what they've craved - happiness, comfort, a simple life - begins to leak out from underneath them. First, their six year old daughter Annabel sleepwalks into the night. This action sets of a chain of events that unseats the stability the Chengs and their suburban fantasy. But it's on a subsequent night - a night when N O T H I N G happened - that the Cheng's learn that American bliss is a luxury they may never have.

Simon Han's debut novel, Nights When Nothing Happened, offers a creak-in-the-night look at the sheet ice that is cracking under the feet of Americans - specifically Asian Americans - in a post 9/11 world. The novel begins with a stark look at what each of the four Chengs - father, mother, son, and daughter - stare at day in and out, then, takes both the Chengs and the reader on a journey into a heartbreaking and staggering journey that threatens both the home and community. It's a short and sparse read without a word too many to present a family with both all the traditional family anxieties - money, status, education, prosperity, lineage - and several exclusive to those in the marginalized groups outside of Americana - heritage, identity, language, custom, and desire for a better future. It's a novel that unapologetically puts the family foursome at the centre, allowing the smallest actions and reactions to take precedence over outbursts and dramatic plot twists. Those moments of inflection in the text - and there are some shocking ones - are limited for effect. Devoid of theatrics, this is the timely and troubling exploration of an immigrant family with so much to give its community only to get nothing in return. In 2021, it's a text that will never shout for attention, but it's one that quietly demands respect and your full attention. Even if it speaks to you in a whisper. Listen up.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this novel, however despite starting off well after the ~revelation~ probably around halfway through things totally fell apart and giving this more than 2* became impossible.

It's a little hard for me to pinpoint what specifically didn't work. The first half is pretty slow going and is spent developing characters and providing a bit of context on their lives: Patty (Qing Qing) and her husband Liang move to the Plano, Texas from China, leaving their son, Jack behind to raised by his grandparents while they forge a new live abroad. They later have a daughter, Annabel, who is around 5 years old when the events of the novel take place. Jack, 11, is trying to find a way to fit in a new country; both at school and with his family who he has recently been reunited with. Annabel has begun sleepwalking, and Jack takes it upon himself to keep an eye on her, as their parents seem preoccupied elsewhere.

I guess ultimately this was too loosely plotted for me, and the development around half way through centring around the family (I don't want to give away spoilers so sorry for being vague!) was handled so poorly, and my interest rapidly waned in the final chapters.

Nights When Nothing Happened is good on a level of providing a contemporary portrait of an immigrant family in the US, but its other elements ultimately failed to convince this reader that there was anything substantive below the surface.

Thank you Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.

[James Wade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully wrought novel about identity and family.

[Nuha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Riverhead Books and NetGalley for the Reader's Copy!

Now available.

In a quiet corner of Plano Texas, Annabel Cheng is sleepwalking. Her brother Jack wakes up to find his sister outside in the yard. Though she's unable to articulate why, Annabel just doesn't feel like she belongs in her all-white town and resorts to storytelling to feel powerful. But when one Thanksgiving party tale goes awry, an innocent fabrication threatens to break apart an entire community.

What I loved about this story is Han's mastery of unsettling characters. Jumping between family members' perspectives, the story never settles to a pace where the reader feels comfortable with what really happened. Maybe what happened is besides the point. Maybe it's a constellation of what could have happened with what did happen and what happened in the past that keeps haunting us. Maybe it's the reckoning of our past that keeps repeating, trapping us in an ever widening circle.

Fans of Celeste Ng and Meng Jin will definitely enjoy this book. A gripping tale.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nights When Nothing Happened was an interesting and strangely accurate portrayal of generic suburbia - a place where it can feel like nothing happens because so much goes unspoken. It's also about a very specific Texas suburb, and incidentally the exact suburb where I spent the first 18 years of my life. This made the story a little eerie for me personally, not solely because of the setting, but because of how much detail Han gives about it, and how frequently he does so. I've driven every street and highway mentioned, I've played soccer at one of the parks in the story; this familiarity helped me connect with the story, and it makes me wonder how people who didn't grow up there (or in a similar suburb) would feel about the book.

I found the story a bit slow at times, possibly because most of the communication happened non-verbally, but it was well-written. The lack of dialogue felt fitting because again, it made it feel like nothing was happening, when in fact there was so much happening. The incident at the Thanksgiving party -the turning point in the book, where the pace picks up a little - was the clear highlight of the book in terms of the writing. Han describes an incident that is witnessed by four different people. And when all four of those people are interrogated by the rest of the party guests, they say almost nothing, yet somehow tell four different versions of what happened. Some keep quiet out of fear, some struggle to say what they think the guests want to hear, some are trying to protect their family, and none of them feel quite sure of what actually happened. The guests jump to their own (incorrect) conclusions, blowing the incident far out of proportion, and leading to dire consequences for one (and ultimately all) of the family members. Han describes the tension and the shifts in energy so well that it makes me want to go back an reread just that chapter. Overall, this was a solid story about the darkness that creeps into the lives of people living in pristine suburbs, and how strong the inclination is among the residents to keep that darkness hidden.

[Kim Lockhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

When planets and other cosmological bodies draw near each other, each body's gravity pulls on the other. They may even crash, or come close to a violent collision. Over time, like the moon and the earth, the attraction can become something closer to symbiosis. What Simon Han has done here is to extrapolate these principles, and apply them to the chaotic inner world of people's thoughts, and to their understanding of themselves in relationship to others. Some characters allow themselves to be acted upon, molded by whomever's orbit pulls on them most strongly. A very few are the ones at the center around whom others orbit, and still others are the manifestation of magnetic force itself: irresistible, self-centered, a dangerous coiled energy.

This story is what happens when all of these forces are released among people who are already predisposed to misunderstanding each other.