The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo by Zen Cho

 

This is my first book from this author. I've had THE PERILOUS LIFE OF JADE YEO on my radar for years and when it went up for free in the Kindle store, I was really excited and "purchased" it instantly. I'm not entirely to say of this one as it is quite short. On the one hand, it is, as other people pointed out, a comedy of manners told epistolary style, and vaguely reminiscent of the middle grade book CATHERINE, CALLED BIRDY because of its cheeky narrator, feminist themes, and the way it kind of captures the spirit of the times through the eyes of the narrator.

On the other hand, it felt like it was really too short to accomplish much. I like how the author explored the ideas of polyamory/open marriages within what felt like a historically appropriate context and I always relish finding historical fiction about PoCs since that is a woefully underrepresented area of historical fiction (it's like some people think PoCs just popped up around the 1960s or something). It's sort of a romance but not in the usual way, although the ending made me smile.

So, overall, not bad! It was a quick read and maybe not as meaty as I would have liked but the narrator was quite fun.

3 out of 5 stars