From School Library Journal
Willa has never felt like she fit in, especially after her parents remarried and had children with their new spouses. Her alienation is further complicated by her biracial identity. She lives primarily with her white mother, who is clueless about the racism Willa deals with, but she still feels as if she isn't Chinese enough in Asian spaces. This has translated into a fear of being noticed or voicing her own desires in case she is rejected. In her mid-20s, floundering after college, Willa takes a job as a live-in nanny for the Adriens, a rich family in New York City's Tribeca. Over the course of a school year, as she integrates into their life, she mistakes her sense of being professionally needed for a sense of personal belonging. Told in short chapters with occasional flashbacks to childhood, Willa's first-person narration is infused with the unbearable ache of loneliness. This gorgeously written quiet and evocative character study subtly looks at family, belonging, race, and class as Willa tries to find a professional and personal place for herself. VERDICT A superb book, but with the majority of the time line focused on Willa's adulthood, it will not hold broad teen appeal.-Jennifer Rothschild, Arlington Cty. P.L., VAα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review
"A subtle, wise debut. . . . Win Me Something is a nuanced story of longing, of the paired desires to belong and to strike one’s own path. Willa is a quiet heroine, but unforgettable."
― Shelf Awareness
"Wu’s compassionate debut traces one woman’s search for belonging. . . . Wu brilliantly lays out the complicated dynamics of love, belonging, and care that exist within all relationships."
― Publishers Weekly
"Willa’s story―and figuring out her sense of self―truly leaps off the page."
― Alma
"Wu understands the human heart keenly, and her novel is a subtle but powerful triumph."
― NPR Books
"Finely crafted."
― The New York Times Book Review
"I’ve never read a novel quite like Win Me Something, which is to say that I’ve never seen the nuances of navigating a biracial identity put, so beautifully, in fiction. . . . Readers will recognize themselves in Willa’s loneliness, and they will feel that they are, finally, in good company."
― LitHub
"A lovely coming-of-age story that will resonate with anyone who’s felt separate, or questioned where they belong."
― The Washington Post
"Like a latter-day Willa Cather, after whom her protagonist is named, Kyle Lucia Wu has written a beautiful novel about a fiercely American young woman whose Americanness is constantly questioned by those around her. This is a sad, funny, and tender coming-of-age story about what family and belonging means for someone who is realizing that she is constantly watched but not truly seen."
― David Burr Gerrard, author of The Epiphany Machine
"A stunning coming of age tale of a young woman searching for belonging and finding power in defining herself."
― Electric Lit
"Impressive, insightful."
― Booklist
"A subtly rendered and satisfying story of someone on the verge of beginning to know herself."
― BookBrowse
"Feels like listening to a friend tell you about her life straightforward and true. . . . thoughtful and moving."
― ZYZZYVA
"Enthralling. . . . Deeply affecting."
― The Atlantic
"A story about growing up and finding your place in the world―or creating one of your own."
― Good Housekeeping
"Wu’s writing is pitch perfect from start to finish. The introspective and subtle plot floats off the page."
― Debutiful
"Masterfully reveals the fury, hope, and longing that come with trying to be seen in a world that never looks for you."
― Mira Jacob, author of Good Talk
"This poignant debut is about identity, acceptance and complicated family dynamics."
― PureWow
"Tender and devastating."
― The Atlantic
"A resonant knockout."
― T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls
"A deeply moving coming-of-age novel."
― Ploughshares
"Readers looking for a taste of the millennial psyche but perhaps intimidated by the hype around Sally Rooney will want to check out Win Me Something by debut novelist Kyle Lucia Wu. . . . this tale of Willa, a young biracial woman, will resonate with a lot of younger people."
― Napa Valley Register
"Win Me Something is an observant, contemplative story about the complex reality of growing up with a mixed identity in two starkly different mixed families. Kyle Lucia Wu deftly weaves back and forth between Willa’s teenaged years and her adult life to explore loneliness, uncertainty, and a singular, persistent question―where do I truly belong?"
― Crystal Hana Kim, author of If You Leave Me
"A poignant, impressive debut that should herald the rise of a literary force to be reckoned with."
― Shondaland
"Superb. . . . This gorgeously written quiet and evocative character study subtly looks at family, belonging, race, and class."
― School Library Journal
"A powerhouse debut, this nuanced coming-of-age story is for anyone who has felt hypervisible and invisible, inside and outside, seen and unseen."
― Ms. Magazine
"Kyle Lucia Wu’s Win Me Something is groundbreaking in its exploration of blended families and a biracial Asian American consciousness. In subtle but strikingly observed scenes that depict race, class, and lives of having and not having, she explores the secret want that we all have: to belong to something, somewhere. Here we find Willa, a biracial Chinese American narrator seeking to understand where she belongs in the family of things. Here is a prose writer who relishes in the poetry of language. Under Wu’s deft hand, each sentence unfolds like a miracle."
― Cathy Linh Che, author of Split
"A wistful novel about how much effort it can take to find and settle into your place in the world."
― Foreword Reviews
"A soul-searching journey to be heard, and to belong."
― West Trade Review
"A beautiful debut. . . . A powerful, introspective journey that explores race, class, and family dynamics."
― Cleveland Review of Books
"Come to read about a live-in nanny deal with the antics of a rich family in Tribeca, stay for the nuanced exploration of identity."
― NYLON
"Tender, melancholic, self-reflexive, and quietly poignant. In other words, it feels like growing up."
― Necessary Fiction
"Intelligently crafted."
― The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Exquisite."
― Glamour
"Carefully observed and subtly devastating."
― VOGUE
"[A] poignantly executed. . . . exploration of kinship of all stripes."
― Departures
"Impressive. . . . expect subtle surprises as Willa’s relationships evolve in a satisfying accumulation of carefully drawn small moments that build toward her understanding, even acceptance, of both an imperfect world and herself."
― Kirkus, Starred Review
"Winsome and tender."
― Harper's Bazaar
"A great book that will spark lots of discussions about family, identity, and how we see ourselves."
― Book Riot
"A quietly affecting tale of family dynamics."
― Library Journal
"Taut, engrossing, and masterfully observed, Win Me Something announces a powerful and luminescent new literary voice in Kyle Lucia Wu."
― Alexandra Kleeman, author of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine
About the Author
Kyle Lucia Wu has received the Asian American Writers’ Workshop Margins Fellowship and residencies from The Millay Colony, The Byrdcliffe Colony, Plympton’s Writing Downtown Residency, and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center. She is the Programs & Communications Director at Kundiman and has taught creative writing at Fordham University and The New School. She was born in New Jersey and lives in Los Angeles.
