This just didn’t work for me. Way too many characters so it’s hard to keep track of narratives and I didn’t feel invested in any of them. ( )

Digital audiobook read by Vyvy Nguyen

From the book jacket: Everyone in Orange County’s Little Saigon knew that the Durong sisters were cursed. It started with their ancestor Oanh, who left her marriage for love. So, a witch cursed Oanh and her descendants so that they would never know love or happiness, and the Duong women would give birth to daughters, never sons. Oanh’s descendant Mai Nguyen knows the curse well. Her three adult daughters – Priscilla, Thuy and Thao – have found success in their careers but not in their love lives. Mai 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.

My reactions:
Oh, what a tangled web of melodrama! I think part of the difficulty I had with this work was my fault. I chose to listen to the audiobook and the names were just not sufficiently familiar to my ear for me to clearly identify the many different females. It doesn’t help that Mai is one of three sisters, all of which have daughters. While the action focuses on Mai and her three daughters, the various aunties and cousins also come into play, and I was often confused about relationships.

In general, this is about family – especially an extended family whose members are always in each other’s business. They meddle, fight, make-up, mourn, and celebrate. Ultimately, they come together as a family, rising in unison, ready to conquer the world. And I have every confidence that these women WILL conquer.

Vyvy Nguyen does a very good job of voicing the audiobook. It was my own failure as a listener, and not her performance that caused my confusion at times. ( )

believably messy dysfunctional relationships. fun read. ( )

Dysfunctional family book at it's best! So many sisters, daughters, cousins. There was a family tree in the front of the book but I didn't need it. I got used to all the names pretty quickly. I enjoyed this family and this book.

Might be a cultural Vietnamese thing but it did annoy me at times that the author used Mrs. "so and so" a lot in the book but what do I know. ( )

I read an excerpt of this book in the 2022 Fall/Winter Buzz Books which definitely made me want to read more! The Fortunes of Jaded Women tells the multi-generational story of a family of Vietnamese-American women, most of whom don't really get along with one another. The chapters are told in alternating perspectives from mothers and daughters, and the author does a really great job of helping the reader to keep the many characters straight. The book really explores the bonds between sisters and between mothers and daughters and also offers real insight into Vietnamese culture in California in particular. The characters were deeply human and real, and I was really rooting for them to succeed and to find their ways back to each other. This would be a great book for book clubs, as there are lots of issues and perspectives to discuss. Highly recommend! And thanks to NetGalley for the free copy. ( )