num_pages: 224
description: A witty moving piercingly insightful new novel about a marvelously complicated woman who cant be anyone but herself from the award-winning author of ChemistryJoan is a thirtysomething ICU doctor at a busy New York City hospital. The daughter of Chinese parents who came to the United States to secure the American dream for their children Joan is intensely devoted to her work happily solitary successful. She does look up sometimes and wonder where her true roots lie: at the hospital where her white coat makes her feel needed or with her family who try to shape her life by their own cultural and social expectations. Once Joan and her brother Fang were established in their careers her parents moved back to China hoping to spend the rest of their lives in their homeland. But when Joans father suddenly dies and her mother returns to America to reconnect with her children a series of events sends Joan spiraling out of her comfort zone just as her hospital her city and the world are forced to reckon with a health crisis more devastating than anyone could have imagined. Deceptively spare yet quietly powerful laced with sharp humor Joan Is Okay touches on matters that feel deeply resonant: being Chinese-American right now; working in medicine at a high-stakes time; finding ones voice within a dominant culture; being a woman in a male-dominated workplace; and staying independent within a tight-knit family. But above all its a portrait of one remarkable woman so surprising that you cant get her out of your head.
language: English
title: Joan Is Okay
publisher: Random House