Joan is Okay is an innovative and perceptive novel about a Chinese-American doctor living in New York right before the start of the pandemic. Having heard so much buzz about this book before its release (Wang’s first novel Chemistrywas highly lauded), I was excited to get my hands on a copy. Joan is Okay follows the main character Joan as she deals with the unexpected death of her father. A workaholic who loves her job at the hospital, Joan doesn’t know quite what do with herself after her boss practically forces her to take a leave of bereavement. Joan’s time off work and her concurrent journey through grief allow her to reexamine her relationship with her immigrant parents and lead her to find community in places she never expected.

Much like Joan herself, Joan is Okay is a book that defies a lot of labels and doesn’t quite fit into any one box. The novel touches on family relationships but isn’t a family drama, it takes place in and out of a hospital but isn’t particularly medical, and deals with death and grief while also managing to be incredibly funny. Humor might seem out of place after reading the synopsis, but Joan has a voice unlike any other character I’ve read. She’s blunt and biting, intelligent and ultra-logical, and and I found myself laughing out loud at her thoughts and interactions (especially with her mansplaining male coworker). She misses a lot of social cues and is slightly misanthropic, but she never tries to be anyone other than herself. I found it so powerful and self-affirming to read about an unconventional character who doesn’t feel the need to change herself. Similarly, Wang presents various relationships (mother-daughter, between siblings, between friends) in a way that highlights their imperfections and complications, as if to show that these are what make them beautiful. This novel kept me thinking long after I finished it, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

I’d recommend this novel to…

• Anyone who loves an unexpected, emotionally rich narrator… it’s similar in tone to Louise Erdrich’s The Sentence
• Anyone interested in the Asian American experience, the immigrant experience, and the universal experience of grief… it’s similar in theme to Michelle Zauner’s Crying in H Mart
• Anyone who admires subtlety in storytelling… it’s similar in style to Rachel Khong’s Goodbye, Vitamin