September Booked For Lunch

This September, Booked for Lunch will be reading and discussing Rental House by Weike Wang. In addition to receiving starred reviews in both Publishers Weekly and Library Journal, The Washington Post calls it, “A funny, perceptive look at what it means to defy societal expectations…timeless.”

From the award-winning author of Chemistry, this is a sharp-witted, insightful novel about a marriage as seen through the lens of two family vacations. Keru and Nate are college sweethearts who marry despite their family differences: Keru’s strict, Chinese, immigrant parents demand perfection (“To use a dishwasher is to admit defeat,” says her father), while Nate’s rural, white, working-class family distrusts his intellectual ambitions and his “foreign” wife.

Some years into their marriage, the couple invites their families on vacation. At a Cape Cod beach house, and later at a luxury Catskills bungalow, Keru, Nate, and their giant sheepdog navigate visits from in-laws and unexpected guests, all while wondering if they have what it takes to answer the big questions: How do you cope when your spouse and your family of origin clash? How many people (and dogs) make a family? And when the pack starts to disintegrate, what can you do to shepherd everyone back together?

With her “wry, wise, and simply spectacular” style (People) and “hilarious deadpan that recalls Gish Jen and Nora Ephron” (O, The Oprah Magazine), Weike Wang offers a portrait of family that is equally witty, incisive, and tender.

Regular and large-print copies are available now at the circulation desk. Digital editions are available for download using Libby. Join the discussion in person or online via Zoom, on Monday, September 22 at noon. Need the Zoom link? Register using our calendar or by email at RBrzozowski@cwmars.org.