Joan is Okay by Weike Wang, Text Literary FICTION

Joan-na, 36, as her mother likes to call her, breaking her name into two syllables, is an attending doctor at a New York hospital intensive care unit. Her parents returned to China 18 years ago; businessman brother Fang living in Connecticut luxury. At 18 Joan was dropped off at Harvard. “The speed of [my parents’] exit reminded me of those old cartoons, ‘That’s all, folks!’” Joan is a wonderful character – she doesn’t want to stand out but she is different. She has never had a boyfriend, she’s not interested; work is everything. When their father suffers a fatal stroke, Fang flies them first class for the funeral. Joan is back at her work station the next day, but forced on bereavement leave. “I relish being

[an anonymous] cog. What I was experiencing now was the reverse crisis. No person-y things to do.”