It started with their ancestor Oanh who dared to leave her marriage for true love—so a fearsome Vietnamese witch cursed Oanh and her descendants so that they would never find love or happiness, and the Duong women would give birth to daughters, never sons.
Oanh’s current descendant Mai Nguyen knows this curse well. She’s divorced, and after an explosive disagreement a decade ago, she’s estranged from her younger sisters, Minh Pham (the middle and the mediator) and Khuyen Lam (the youngest who swears she just runs humble coffee shops and nail salons, not Little Saigon’s underground). Though Mai’s three adult daughters, Priscilla, Thuy, and Thao, are successful in their careers (one of them is John Cho’s dermatologist!), the same can’t be said for their love life. Mai is convinced they might drive her to an early grave.
Desperate for guidance, she consults Auntie Hua, her trusted psychic in Hawaii, who delivers an unexpected prediction: this year, her family will witness a marriage, a funeral, and the birth of a son. This prophecy will reunite estranged mothers, daughters, aunts, and cousins—for better or for worse.
A multi-narrative novel brimming with levity and candor, The Fortunes of Jaded Women is about mourning, meddling, celebrating, and healing together as a family. It shows how Vietnamese women emerge victorious, even if the world is against them.
- Title: The Fortunes of Jaded Women
- Author: Carolyn Huynh
- Publisher: Atria Books
- Publication Date: September 6th 2022
- Genre: Contemporary
- Source: Netgalley
- Targeted Age Range: Adult
- Content Warnings: Death, Infidelity, Estranged Family, Harry Potter references
- Rating: ★★★★
I’ve been eagerly anticipating The Fortunes of Jaded Women, especially after finding out so many of my dear friends loved it — Amanda, Gauri, and Lia, among others. I didn’t know a whole lot about The Fortunes of Jaded Women; just that my friends loved it, and that it was centered around a Vietnamese family who has been cursed for generations. What I didn’t expect was a novel that made me laugh, tear up, and want to call my family.
The story follows the descendants of Oanh Duong. Oanh Duong, who left her marriage for true love, and was cursed by a Vietnamese witch so that her descendants would never find love, happiness, and the Duong women would never give birth to any sons. When Mai Nguyen, Oanh’s current descendant, consults her psychic — Auntie Hua — she’s told to reunite with her estranged sisters, and to mend relationships with her children before it’s too late. Auntie Hua also tells Oanh that within the year, there will be a pregnancy, a wedding, and a funeral — and the curse will be brought to an end, with a grandson.
The Fortunes of Jaded Women is a bit of an ensemble piece. Part of the story follows Mai mending relationships with her sisters: Minh, and Khuyen, as well as her half-sister Kim. The other half of the story is focused on their daughters: Priscilla, Thuy, Thao, Joyce, Elaine, Christine, Lily, and Rosie. I found myself going back to the family tree at the beginning of the ARC quite frequently, and would highly recommend readers familiarize themselves with it too! The cast of The Fortunes of Jaded Women are complex and intricate, deeply flawed and lovable, all at once. They all have their own driving forces, their own ways of balancing their family expectations with their own desire for happiness, and following their journey was so lovely.
The Fortunes of Jaded Women touches on many topics, including generational trauma, the dysfunctional and complex relationships between family, grief, balancing expectations with happiness, and showing different facets of yourself to different people. I loved how each character dealt with things in their own way. While I’m not Vietnamese, I saw a lot of elements in The Fortunes of Jaded Women that reminded me of my own family. I particularly loved the section of the book that took place in Hong Kong, as I’m always searching for anything that reminds me of home.
When I finished The Fortunes of Jaded Women, I found myself not wanting to say goodbye to the cast and that world yet. I wanted to know more about the characters, what happened to them between the last chapter and the epilogue. I felt like The Fortunes of Jaded Women was a little too fast paced for my taste, but I didn’t mind it too much! Overall, I loved The Fortunes of Jaded Women, and couldn’t recommend it more highly.
Links for The Fortunes of Jaded Women: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound
Carolyn Huynh grew up in Orange County, California, not appreciating the weather enough. She has a BA in journalism from Seattle University and an MS in human centered design from the University of Washington. The youngest daughter of Vietnamese refugees, her writing focuses on her mother’s tall tales, superstitions, the diaspora, and memory (both real and imaginary). She especially loves stories about messy Asian women who never learn from their mistakes. After living up and down the West Coast, she currently resides in Los Angeles with her rabbit and dog. She still doesn’t appreciate the weather enough. When she’s not writing, Carolyn daydreams about having iced coffee on a rooftop in Saigon. Follow her on Twitter @CarolynKHuynh.
