Soy Sauce for Beginners
Kristin Chen, 2014
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
256 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780544114395
Summary
Gretchen Lin, adrift at the age of thirty, leaves her floundering marriage in San Francisco to move back to her childhood home in Singapore and immediately finds herself face-to-face with the twin headaches she’s avoided her entire adult life: her mother’s drinking problem and the machinations of her father’s artisanal soy sauce business.
Surrounded by family, Gretchen struggles with the tension between personal ambition and filial duty, but still finds time to explore a new romance with the son of a client, an attractive man of few words. When an old American friend comes to town, the two of them are pulled into the controversy surrounding Gretchen’s cousin, the only male grandchild and the heir apparent to Lin’s Soy Sauce.
In the midst of increasing pressure from her father to remain permanently in Singapore—and pressure from her mother to do just the opposite—Gretchen must decide whether she will return to her marriage and her graduate studies at the San Francisco Conservatory, or sacrifice everything and join her family’s crusade to spread artisanal soy sauce to the world.
Soy Sauce for Beginners reveals the triumphs and sacrifices that shape one woman’s search for a place to call home, and the unexpected art and tradition behind the brewing of a much-used but unsung condiment. The result is a foodie love story that will give readers a hearty appreciation for family loyalty and fresh starts. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Singapore, Singapore
• Education—B.A., Stanford University; M.F.A., Emerson College
• Currently—San Francisco, CA
Kristin Chen is the author of Soy Sauce for Beginners, featured in USA Today’s "New Voices”, an Oprah Magazine book pick, and a Glamour book club pick.
A former Steinbeck Fellow in Creative Writing, she holds an MFA from Emerson College and a BA from Stanford University. She has received awards from the Sewanee and Napa Valley writers’ conferences. Her short stories have appeared in Zyzzyva, Hobart, Pank, and others, and have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Best New American Voices.
Born and raised in Singapore, she currently lives in San Francisco, where she’s at work on her second novel, set on a tiny island off the coast of southern China in 1958. (From .)
Book Reviews
Chen’s debut illustrates a young woman caught between east and west, and between family tradition and her own ambition.... [A] lighthearted glimpse into the rapidly changing culture and economy of Singapore, and into the lives of the young people hoping to find their future there.
Publishers Weekly
When Gretchen Lin returns to her family home in Singapore...to decide what to do about the unfaithful husband she left behind in California.... Gretchen’s journey of self-discovery forms the backbone of this story about family, tradition, and honor. [A] behind-the-scenes look at the world of artisanal soy sauce. —Cortney Ophoff
Library Journal
East or West, music studies or the family business, authentic soy sauce or a cheaper modern alternative? These are the choices facing droopy Gretchen Lin in a pleasant if generic tale of roots and romance.... [S]hort on depth and complexity...given the conventional flavor of Chen's readable but lightweight debut.
Kirkus Reviews
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