Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok

 Amy  

mystery, family drama

Amy’s sister Sylvie is missing. No one has heard from her for weeks. Amy thought Sylvie was traveling abroad for work but, once she begins to ask around, Amy finds out that Sylvie has been hiding information from her. Amy travels from New York City to The Netherlands, Sylvie’s last known location, to search. Told from three perspectives, Amy’s, Sylvie’s, and their mother’s, Searching for Sylvie Lee makes the picture clearer as more information about the past is divulged.

I appreciated Jean Kwok’s crafting of this story. The characters and situations were all compelling and the mystery drove me to keep listening. Sylvie’s parents were Chinese immigrants to America who found themselves pregnant and without sufficient funds to cover their family of three. They decided to send their baby, Sylvie, to be raised by Sylvie’s grandmother and a distant cousin living in The Netherlands for several years. This separation created family drama and fostered unusual dynamics among the families.

Kwok did a good job of laying out several possible scenarios for the mystery surrounding Sylvie. Even though I did eventually figure out most of the answers on my own, I still enjoyed this story a lot. The characters didn’t all have mastery of the same language which caused a lack of clarity and they were also keeping secrets from each other. This made things really interesting as the reader and the characters start to piece things together.

I normally start putting holds on my book club books well in advance of the meetings. I had noticed that this book had no wait for many months which usually indicates it’s not a very popular book. And the Goodreads ratings are lower than I typically like reading. Additionally, I don’t normally love mysteries. So, when it was finally time to read this one, I figured I wasn’t going to like it. But I did enjoy it very much! Perhaps the fact that the mystery is solvable is the reason for these lackluster indicators. Otherwise, I can’t think of any reason for its less than stellar ratings. But, since I don’t love mysteries, I was happy to read a story with rich characters and an interesting plot. Sure, it gets slow at times but definitely not as much as some books I’ve read with higher ratings. I don’t get it. I liked Kwok’s writing!

There were three audiobook narrators: Angela Lin, Samantha Quan, and Caroline McLaughlin. I thought the use of 3 narrators was appropriate and each of them did a fine job with their sections. There was nothing over-the-top amazing, but I was satisfied. I’ll give them a B+ as an ensemble. Warning to audiobook readers. The audiobook’s last 30 minutes is an interview with the author. I thought it was a good interview that helped to clarify a few mysteries and gave me insight into Kwok’s motivations and intentions.