A Quitter's Paradise

by Elysha Chang

In this novel by Elysha Chang, a young woman does everything she can to avoid the reality of her mother’s recent death and family’s estrangement, even as it becomes increasingly clear that her own story is inextricable from theirs.

Eleanor is doing just fine. Sure, she’s hiding things from her husband. True, she quit her PhD program and is now conducting unauthorized research on illegitimately procured mice. And yes, her mother is dead, and Eleanor has yet to return to her house to go through her things. But what else is she supposed to feel, exactly? What shape can grief take when you didn’t understand the person you’ve lost? What do you inherit from a mother who refused to make herself known, even to the people she loved most?

As A Quitter’s Paradise follows Eleanor’s winding journey to make sense of herself and her grief, her story is interwoven with those of her family members—from her parents’ lives in the military villages of Taipei, to their early days as immigrants in New York City, to Eleanor and her sister’s childhoods. Somehow, despite deep rifts in time, distance, and perspective, the Lius remain a family. But what does that truly mean? Why is it that what holds a family together can also be what pulls it apart?

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Audiobook, Literary Fiction, Adult, Novels, Asia

336 pages, Hardcover

First published June 6, 2023

About the author

Elysha Chang is the author of A Quitter’s Paradise, forthcoming in June 2023. Her writing has appeared in Bodega Mag, Fence, GQ, The Rumpus, and other publications. An instructor of creative writing, Elysha has taught fiction workshops and other courses at Blue Stoop, Kelly Writer’s House, Villanova University, and University of Pennsylvania. She has received fellowships and support from The Center For Fiction, Jerome Foundation, Kundiman, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, Swatch Art Residency in Shanghai, Monson Arts, and Willapa Bay AIR. She holds an MFA from Columbia University’s School of the Arts and lives in New York.

Reviews

[Sarah Jessica Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m excited and honored to publish A Quitter’s Paradise, the debut novel by standout literary talent Elysha Chang. A Quitter’s Paradise is a glorious, pondering, heartbreaking, extremely funny, very special book. In Eleanor and her family, Elysha Chang has created captivating characters, who continuously surprised, delighted, and intrigued me—so much so that I didn’t want to leave them. The stories of their lives are at once intimate and universally resonant.

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hate to say it but I can see why this book has such a low average rating on Goodreads. On one hand, I can see the merits of A Quitter’s Paradise’s concept: a Chinese American woman struggling to cope with the grief over her mother’s recent death as well as estrangement from her other family members. Our main character is quite messy and I’m so in support of messy and nuanced Asian American protagonists.

Unfortunately, our protagonist in A Quitter’s Paradise, Eleanor, is avoidant. Portraying an avoidant character is fine, but Eleanor is avoidant in a pretty one-note, one-dimensional way throughout the entire novel, which made for a dull reading experience. Elysha Chang employs multiple points of view in this novel and while I can see the utility of that (e.g., expanding empathy for other characters than Eleanor), the perspectives never really gelled together well.

Finally, Eleanor is in a dissatisfying relationship with a white man – who she herself describes as condescending – and then this dissatisfying relationship is never addressed, she just persists in it?? The white man’s privilege and condescension is never interrogated either, which, big ugh (for novels centering Asian American women that do address this, see Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou which does it bombastically and Joan is Okay by Weike Wang which does it subtly). Also, Eleanor uses her colleague of color, Samir, for casual sex and basically treats him like dirt and then her treatment of him is never addressed either?? In sum, I wouldn’t recommend this novel and would encourage you to check out the titles I linked above, or other higher quality books, instead.

[Jessica Woodbury · Rating 3 out of 5]

This never fully gelled for me, I liked the different pieces of it, but I never felt that I had a clear idea of what the book was about or even who Eleanor was as a person. She was so stuck in hiding who she was that she never came alive.

[Bkwmlee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Elysha Chang’s debut novel A Quitter’s Paradise is an interesting story about a Chinese-American woman named Eleanor who embarks on a journey of self-discovery and self-reflection after her mother dies. The narrative alternates between a past and present timeline, with the present one told from Eleanor’s first person perspective, covering her adult life where she and her husband Ellis are both scientists working on their PhDs. Eleanor is prone to avoiding her feelings and often goes to great lengths to make herself small and invisible — a “skill” she cultivated as a child growing up in a household that was often devoid of warmth and tenderness. In this timeline, we are given glimpses into Eleanor’s fraught relationship with her mother, but we don’t learn how this tense relationship came to be until the past timeline, told in third person, where the backstory of Eleanor’s parents, Rita and Jing, is told. Rita and Jing were immigrants from Taiwan, and though they were able to provide a financially stable life for Eleanor and her sister Narisa, their family dynamics were anything but harmonious. Jing was often away for work and when he was at home, he was mostly indifferent (and sometimes violent) toward his family. Rita often criticized her daughters for infractions that either didn’t exist or were contradictory to the point of confusion. Narisa was a wild child who mostly did as she pleased, even if it meant hurting others in the process (especially Eleanor, whom she bullied and ridiculed relentlessly). Growing up, Eleanor learned to be quiet and obedient, immersing herself in schoolwork and reading (similar to how the ancient scholars immersed themselves in their studies) — not because she particularly enjoyed either activity, but because that was the only way she could be left alone. In this way, she could become what her mother Rita “envisioned a modern scholar to be: someone actively engaged in disappearing, in self-effacing, someone hermited within themselves… Eleanor never corrected mistakes, never offered opinions, convictions, suggestions, clarifications. Never revealed anything about what she knew or did not know, what she felt or did not feel. How had she trained herself to be so amenable? Where did she learn to nod at concepts she didn’t understand? Simple. Eleanor did not really rule herself or any realm of her life. She inhabited a world that belonged always to someone else.” It is this personality trait of Eleanor’s that shapes much of the story in the present timeline, which ends up affecting her relationships with everyone around her.

I had serious mixed feelings toward this book, with regard to both the story arc and the characters. In terms of story arc, the first two-thirds or so was quite strong and kept me engaged, but then the last third of the story got a bit muddled and abstract, to the point that, in the end, I felt lost and was no longer sure I knew where the author was trying to go with the story. I also felt like the way the 2 alternating timelines were presented came off a bit disjointed - specifically as it pertained to the relationship between Eleanor and her mother Rita, which I was expecting to be more of a focus in the story. In the past timeline, we get to know Rita through her backstory, which plays a huge role in shaping her relationship with her daughters in their childhood years. In the present timeline however, the mother-daughter relationship wasn’t explored much outside of the first few pages, which felt like a lost opportunity to me. But it could be because I preferred the past timeline over the present one, so I was more interested in how that played out.

With the characters, I was actually quite conflicted. On the one hand, I definitely resonated with Eleanor as a child, growing up in an immigrant household and the struggles that came with it, as well as the tenuous relationship with her mother that shaped who she became as an adult — much of it was familiar to me, as I had experienced similar struggles in my own life. In the present timeline however, I couldn’t relate much to Eleanor and the outlandish decisions she made, many of which I thought were a bit over the top — so much so that I actually found her annoying, especially near the end of the story. I also didn’t know what to make of her relationship with Ellis, who featured prominently in the present timeline, but yet as a character, was not developed much — it felt like he could’ve easily been cut out of the story and it wouldn’t have made much difference.

Overall, I did enjoy this one, even though I felt parts of the story were uneven and the characters could’ve been better developed. The writing itself was quite good though, so I would definitely be interested in reading more from Elysha Chang in the future.

Received ARC from SJP Lit / Zando via NetGalley.

[Kirsten Mattingly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Paradise? More like paralysis. I felt extremely frustrated while reading this book. Eleanor, the main character, avoids doing anything that is in any way uncomfortable. She drops out of her graduate school program but tells her mother she’s still in it. She dates and then marries Ellis, and hides that from her mother for several months too.

This pattern of lying and hiding started when she was a teenager, telling her parents she won second place in a science fair when in reality the judges were unimpressed with her entry. It’s understandable that a teen would lie to gain her parents approval but why is Eleanor behaving the same way at 25 years old?

Throughout the book, we readers watch Eleanor make impulsive decisions that she can’t even understand or explain to herself. She’s a very traumatized woman who comes from an abusive family, and she isn’t making any attempts to recover or get help. I kept hoping and expecting that the novel would show Eleanor going to therapy and follow her on a journey of healing (I was remembering the excellent novel I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb) but that never happens.

Instead we get a whole book of Eleanor’s avoidance behaviors with no hope for improvement, and reading it was a bleak and unenjoyable experience. This isn’t the worst book I have ever read—the author does have talent at writing—but it’s down there in the bottom fifteen percent.

Thank you NetGalley for the free audiobook in exchange for my honest feedback. I will not be recommending this novel to anyone.

[Dakota Bossard · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 - The death of Eleanor’s mother has her questioning everything—her childhood, her marriage, her career. The reader watches Eleanor self destruct and avoid her feelings until her reckless behavior catches up to her.

A funny and endearing story made up of vivid characters, A Quitters Paradise tackles grief and complicated family dynamics. Chang explores the surprising contours of grief and the strange shapes we makes around our grief as we heal. She writes with a unique lens, capturing excellent descriptions of big feelings, as well as the mundane. I really enjoyed this one!!!

[Gina Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well written beautiful language, but the story kind of went nowhere

[Gabby Whiten · Rating 3 out of 5]

a fine read! I personally struggle with litfic that isn’t really plot driven — although I did love the writing style and flow of the book through different perspectives. I found that the last two thirds of the books didn’t really have much to do with the titular theme of “a quitter’s paradise” as Eleanor’s life post-quitting her PhD felt somewhat like chaos and not paradise without any clear call back to that initial idea. Overall, the chaos was entertaining to read however I do feel the book fell short of discussing a very real concept of finding peace and paradise after leaving behind something that does not serve you and where you do not feel adequately understood or supported.

[Michela · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Quitter's Paradise, debut novel of Elysha Chang, follows a young woman's journey to make sense of herself, to find who she is and what she wants, and to process the grief she holds inside her heart after the death of her mother. Her unique story intertwines with others of Chinese immigrants looking for a chance in America, the struggles they had to face during their lives and their choices.

Let me start by saying that this book is so beautifully written and charming, that I'm already a fan of Elysha Chang. The narration is intimate, poignant, it's almost like reading someone's deepest thoughts: truly beautiful. Many described this book "hilarious": I don't agree with this, the main character is quite unique and quirky at times, but I would never say that she is funny or the book hilarious. In a sense, she reminds me of Keiko of Convenience Store Woman.

The story switch between three POVs and three time periods: this was a bit difficult for me to follow, mostly because I didn't have enough time to connect with the characters and I was unfamiliar with Chinese names (this is a lack on my part), so I struggled a bit with following who was who and doing what. The time jumps were abrupt and breaking the flow and the characters' evolution, which unfortunately made me disconnect and consequently care less about them.
I was more interested in the POV of Eleanor Liu, the main character who hides lots of secrets and has a troubled relationship with her mother even after her passing, and I wish we had the chance to follow her a bit more into her present and her future choices (will she stay with her husband? and most importantly: will she find the marmoset she stole from the lab??).

Overall I enjoyed this book, I just wished the timeline was a bit more defined or linear (personal preference, of course). The writing however is fantastic, so I can't wait for Chang's future works.

* I'd like to thank Elysha Chang, Zando Projects and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review. * A Quitter's Paradise is out on June 6th, 2023.

[Leah Tyler]

This is an odd and disparate story I enjoyed. Eleanor is a PhD student, from a long line of quitters, who with surprising efficiency nearly blows up her life after she drops out of her program and makes a series of choices concerning the research animals in her husband's lab. The story resides at the muddled intersection of grief, disillusionment, and complacency with surprising clarity.

The writing hit my sweet spot. Eleanor is an analytical and dry individual who is curious and not over-explained. My book club did not vibe this book. They needed more insight into why she made the undeniably odd but rather mundane choices she made. But I found her refreshingly honest and subtly fascinating.

Chang starts with Eleanor in 1st person present day, and goes back to her parents' early years in Taiwan using a 3rd person narrative. It was an efficient way to employ a dual timeline with clarity, even when switching back and forth between Eleanor past and present.

This story is very much about grief and coming to terms with a damaging parental relationship. The animal depictions: not entirely benign but I'm also easily triggered and did not consider DNF. It doesn't go where On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous went (does anything?), as Eleanor's analytical narration keeps the focus on her weirdness. I was enthralled to see what she was going to do next. Which is probably why I enjoyed this book. I couldn't have written it.

It ends with a lot of unanswered questions. Her husband almost seems a different man in the beginning than he does at the end. Eleanor remains messy. This isn't about a transformation of character or becoming better, or even failing. I walked away contemplating the mediocrity that permeates life and the drudgery of getting through it. The little things we do to insulate. Buried under the quirky layers of honesty was a willingness to not succeed I found refreshing.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn’t put A QUITTER’S PARADISE by Elysha Chang down and read it in two days! This novel is about Eleanor, a Taiwanese American woman, who quits her studies after the loss of her mother and begins working for her husband. I found all the characters in this book unlikeable and it was hard to root for Eleanor in her descent into grief and despair in her life but I was compelled to read this book quickly and learn more about her past and family. I was dissatisfied with Eleanor’s relationships with her husband, sister and father but I appreciated the author’s intent to portray a character who is the opposite of the stereotypical model minority Asian American child of immigrant parents. I found the change between first person narration of present day Eleanor and the third person narration of her past effective. I’d definitely be interested to read this author’s next book!

Thank you to the publisher for my gifted review copy!

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just an okay read for me. I struggled to really get invested in this debut that explores the complicated mother-daughter relationship between an Asian American immigrant and her daughter and the grief that comes when she dies unexpectedly. Recommended for fans of books like The light of eternal spring by Angel Di Zhang and Banyan moon by Thao Thai. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

[Elena L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Things can be simple if only you let them."

Eleanor Liu is the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants who secretly married her boyfriend of eight months. She recently quits her PhD program and is dealing with her mother's final days.

Alternating between present and past, first and third person narration, the story follows the members of Liu family. The Liu's family rhythm is seared with absences, mistrust, discipline and expectations - exposing all the family's fractures. As Eleanor navigates the family 'ground', Chang authentically captures the complex mother-daughter relationship, with parts that embody some emotions. There's some sense of urgency and the story is populated by a paradise full of quitters, of hopeless and disenchanted people. As grief isn't relentless, its fragments are scattered throughout the story, reminding ones the several facets of this sentiment.

This novel is infused with all kind of love (familial, romantic,..) and love stories are not romanticized at all. While the immigrant experience sections felt a bit clichéd to the core, I found Eleanor parents' backstory (Jing and Rita) very compelling. With captivating writing, I appreciated the Taiwanese cultural references.

I thought that the novel started strong yet the plot felt a bit meandering at times, acquiring a more contemplative nature towards the end. In an attempt to cover several topics, I wished certain themes had been further developed. With multiple POVs, I also felt detached to the characters and I had expected some characters to be deepened. That being said, I think the author accomplished what she wanted by delivering a raw paint of family fragilities. Finally, let's talk about the ending, which I am not sure how I felt about it.

A QUITTER'S PARADISE is mostly an uneventful novel, with all the messiness and complication of family dynamics. Poignant and occasionally humorous, I am interested in Chang's future works.

[ I received an ARC from the publisher - SJP Lit and Zando Projects . All opinions are my own ]

[Cindy Turner · Rating 1 out of 5]

I never became invested in the characters. I feel this is a rough draft of a book that has good potential. The switching between characters was rough, almost like ideas to be fleshed out. Too much repetition on some personalities, but no depth. I definitely missed the humor mentioned on the arc jacket two times. Is this a representation of the SJP LIT line? I will check to see if SJP uses the same blurb on each book published. I think this may have been a misprint.

[Danielle | Dogmombookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

A QUITTER'S PARADISE |


There are some books where you know from the first few pages if it's going to click with what you're looking for and this one did for me!

It's quirky, at times sad, reflective and multi-generational.

We follow mostly along with Eleanor, whose mother has recently passed, but we flip back and forth between present day and growing up. We also follow from the viewpoints of each of her parents in Taipei before they came to the US, before having had any children, and from Eleanor's sister's vantage point.

Throughout we question many forms of love: filial love, sisterly love, practical love, a union of two compatible people and a partnership based on strengths and weaknesses.

We mostly examine this from the perspective of how hurts women - either self-inflicted or by partaking in social conventions like marriage, having children, where it doesn't seem to inflict as much damage on their male counterparts. Women make choices to get themselves ahead by forging practical relationships and marrying, only to slowly be out manuevered and forced into a corner to forfeit their own work, motivations.

How much do women shapeshift themselves to the solid forms that embrace them? Is love simply the vessel we choose to be held by? Are we so fragile in our morphing form that we can't ever choose our own shape?

Or do we love by trying, by shaping and forming, conforming, and reforming, failing and trying again?

There's a sense of desperation in this book, to have something solely your own, when it seems like at every turn life makes a grab for something. It's another way of losing even more form.

I very much enjoyed this one!

[AndiReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eleanor Liu is working for her husband's lab. She is perfectly fine, even though she dropped out of her Ph.D program and has a lot less autonomy then she thinks. As she tells her story, there are insets of her sister, mother and father's stories as well. It's a wide reaching story about an Asian family and the choices they make. As Eleanor is the most impulsive she is more or less the star. It's a quick and enthralling read for anyone interested in contemporary fiction stories!
#Zando #AQuittersParadise #ElyshaChang

[Karalina Lovkina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even though some passages were beautifully written and I managed to read the whole book I just never actually cared what happened to any of the characters. I'm not sure where it went sideways but at some point I just passed the point of no return and kept listening (to the audiobook) because I didn't have the energy to find something else.

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

I almost DNF but kept going because I liked the author’s writing. I was confused as to what the story was really about - there seemed to be no plot - and the jumps between the present day and the past made it even harder to figure out. This type of novel style is not my favorite.

[deb B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring & hard to keep track of. I also took points off for the nasty lab animal part. Audiobook listen: the narrator could almost lull me to sleep.

[Nyk Hauer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I should have paid attention to Goodreads ratings on this one and skipped the read.

[Mary Jackson _TheMaryReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

After Hilderbrand recommended this one, I grabbed a copy. It was a very interesting read. I am glad that I took the time to read it.

[Kristin | ktlee.writes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A QUITTER’S PARADISE by Elysha Chang is a novel that follows Eleanor, the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, as she quits her neuroscience PhD program, engages in sketchy behavior as a lab tech, cares for her mother during her mother’s dying days, wrestles with ambiguous feelings towards her (white) husband, and reflects on the complicated turmoil of her childhood and family life.

The present-day storyline is told in first person, while the past is told in third person, giving a more omniscient view into Eleanor’s parents’ interiority. I’m pretty sure Chang and I had the same mom growing up, because she captures Eleanor’s mom with such emotional precision that I gasped several times. Not since Weike Wang’s CHEMISTRY have I seen this dynamic portrayed so well. The floundering in science and in romance, certain bits of wry prose, and Eleanor’s quirkiness and emotional stuntedness also reminded me of CHEMISTRY.

While the first part of the novel is written tightly, it starts to unspool more and more in ever widening circles as it progresses. In a way, this reminded me of Mary H. K. Choi’s YOLK in how thematic layers are revealed slowly. Here, the themes include family fractures, working-class and undocumented immigrant lives, miscarriage (though underexplored), self-knowledge, parental expectations, and loss.

What kept this from being a perfect novel for me is that it tries to cover too much ground (it doesn’t quite manage the pithy restraint of CHEMISTRY or Rachel Khong’s GOODBYE, VITAMIN), and the ending left me scratching my head a bit. That being said, I still absolutely loved it! The family relationships and ruptures were written so authentically. I wish Chang were touring in my city because this is a book talk I *need* to hear. I saved so many piercing quotes from this book that I’ll be referring back to, and I can’t wait for this book to find its readers.

[Peggy Fuller · Rating 1 out of 5]

Can I give this zero stars? A young woman who is impossible to understand, and her mother and father and sister, all enmeshed in unhappy relationships with each other. The writing was ok, but the story and the characters were simply not believable. I wanted to stop but I had too much time invested to not finish it.

[Jenni Ogden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This immigrant American story about the struggles of a Chinese family as they try to fit in, is thought-provoking and took time to read and contemplate. The narrative switches between three time periods were sometimes rather difficult to follow, partly due to the Chinese names which were unfamiliar to me. Likewise some of the secrets the family kept close were culturally different perhaps from the secrets more common in Western literature, but all of this is why it is so good to read well-written novels by people from cultures not our own. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an advance digital review copy.

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Quitter's Paradise was a struggle for me. It confused me as a reader more than gave me satisfaction of reading. Although the writing style was lovely and the prose was intriguing, the non linear timeline and the way the chapters jumped sporadically, left me not connecting to the characters or to the story. I enjoy reading diverse books and I think this did well in giving an insiders glimpse to the culture and experience of Chinese immigrants living in America. I would have been happier if more focus was placed on the present day timeline and the domestic drama in Elysha's life. Overall an okay read. I think folks that love meandering literary novels and great prose will find enjoyment between the pages of A Quitter's Paradise.

Writing style: A
Characters: C+
Plot: B
Execution: C
My enjoyment: C-

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read and review honestly an advanced digital copy.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s absolutely wild to me that this has such a low average rating. It’s not perfect—I found the tone uneven, especially when switching between past and present. But I still think it’s a really valuable perspective on grief, paralysis, and the weight of history.

I can’t say this enough: you don’t have to like the characters or their choices or think they’re good people for a book to be worth your time. Eleanor is so frustrating and that’s the point!!!

On another note, I’m obsessed with the cover. My favorite of the year.

[Erica Bonelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was incredible. A masterful portrayal of grief, depression, and the skeletons of your familial role showing up in adulthood. I read it in two days and couldn't put it down. I loved the way the author alternated between current day Eleanor and the stories of her family that explain so much about why she is the way she is. Highly recommend!!

[Star Gater · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published: 06/06/23

Thank you NetGalley and Zando Projects, SJP Lit for accepting my request to read and review A Quitters Paradise.

Culturally this is an Asian interpretation, fictionally of a family. My Asian culture experience is through books, mostly fiction. I find the parental/child relationship hard to take, and more of a business than dictionary definition representation of family.

The author uses the same things I've seen in other books -- the children assume their family debt, parents pressure them to pay as well show respect with dignity while paying these bills; don't complain or bring shame -- not further shame, just shame to the family. While all this is going on, the child is told they will take care of their aging parents, grandparents? Going to America the land of opportunity the foolish is a theme used as well.

In this story, Eleanor is trying to figure out her life with all the trappings (customs/traditions) in the United States. She faces different challenges here. The story is interesting. I didn't find it funny. I found it partly sad, but mostly cloudy. There seemed to be a point, but I missed it. I felt sorry for her until she made ludicrous decisions. She was an all over the radar beacon. And, then the story ended.

There is profanity.

This would make a good book club with discussion read.

I would recommend reading when in a good head space. This isn't a beach read. It is a thinker.

[Brooke Mosley · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5. Disjointed, and at times confusing. The author can craft a gorgeous sentence, but the story felt like pieces of a quilt that still needed to be sewn together to become a blanket.

[Grace Flynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite. Didn’t quite understand it - also, Eleanor is such a strange narrator. Don’t understand her.