Publishers Weekly
09/06/2021
Wu’s compassionate debut traces one woman’s search for belonging via her memories of growing up in two households. Willa Chen’s upbringing and biracial identity left her feeling caught between worlds. Her parents’ divorce when she was young meant splitting her time between her white mother’s house in New Jersey and her Chinese American father’s in Upstate New York. Both of her parents’ second families—her white stepfather and half brother, and her white stepmother and two mixed-race half sisters—never seem to have room for Willa. At 24, she takes a job as a nanny for an upper-class white family, the Adriens, in New York City. The job becomes a live-in situation, and Willa grows closer to the daughter, Bijou, and the parents, particularly mother Nathalie. As her relationship with the family deepens, Willa confronts memories of her own childhood, and when one of her half sisters moves to the city for college, she hopes to make a connection. Through the characters’ kinships—some familial, some chosen—Wu brilliantly lays out the complicated dynamics of love, belonging, and care that exist within all relationships. Fans of Kiley Reid’s Such a Fun Age will love this. Agent: Monika Woods, Triangle House. (Nov.)
Cathy Linh Che
"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."
The Atlantic
"Enthralling. . . . Deeply affecting."
Mira Jacob
"Masterfully reveals the fury, hope, and longing that come with trying to be seen in a world that never looks for you."
BookBrowse
"A subtly rendered and satisfying story of someone on the verge of beginning to know herself."
Cleveland Review of Books
"A beautiful debut. . . . A powerful, introspective journey that explores race, class, and family dynamics."
Booklist
"Impressive, insightful."
Harper's Bazaar
"Winsome and tender."
Alma
"Willa’s story—and figuring out her sense of self—truly leaps off the page."
Book Riot
"A great book that will spark lots of discussions about family, identity, and how we see ourselves."
ZYZZYVA
"Feels like listening to a friend tell you about her life straightforward and true. . . . thoughtful and moving."
Napa Valley Register
"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."
Shelf Awareness
"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."
Alexandra Kleeman
"Taut, engrossing, and masterfully observed, Win Me Something announces a powerful and luminescent new literary voice in Kyle Lucia Wu."
T Kira Madden
"A resonant knockout."
NYLON
"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."
The New York Times Book Review
"Finely crafted."
PureWow
"This poignant debut is about identity, acceptance and complicated family dynamics."
NPR Books
"Wu understands the human heart keenly, and her novel is a subtle but powerful triumph."
Good Housekeeping
"A story about growing up and finding your place in the world—or creating one of your own."
David Burr Gerrard
"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."
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Intelligently crafted."
Debutiful
"Wu’s writing is pitch perfect from start to finish. The introspective and subtle plot floats off the page."
Electric Lit
"A stunning coming of age tale of a young woman searching for belonging and finding power in defining herself."
Ms. Magazine
"A powerhouse debut, this nuanced coming-of-age story is for anyone who has felt hypervisible and invisible, inside and outside, seen and unseen."
Glamour
"Exquisite."
Necessary Fiction
"Tender, melancholic, self-reflexive, and quietly poignant. In other words, it feels like growing up."
Crystal Hana Kim
"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?"
Foreword Reviews
"A wistful novel about how much effort it can take to find and settle into your place in the world."
Ploughshares
"A deeply moving coming-of-age novel."
West Trade Review
"A soul-searching journey to be heard, and to belong."
VOGUE
"Carefully observed and subtly devastating."
Shondaland
"A poignant, impressive debut that should herald the rise of a literary force to be reckoned with."
Departures
"[A] poignantly executed. . . . exploration of kinship of all stripes."
The Washington Post
"A lovely coming-of-age story that will resonate with anyone who’s felt separate, or questioned where they belong."
LitHub
"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."
School Library Journal
12/01/2021
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., VA
NOVEMBER 2021 - AudioFile
Natalie Naudus’s quiet narration elevates this character-driven coming- of-age novel. Willa is a Chinese-American 20-something living in New York after college, unsure what she wants out of life. She takes a job as a nanny for a wealthy white family and soon moves in with them, longing for a closeness she’s never felt with either of her parents or any of her half-siblings. Naudus perfects every character's voice, from 11-year Bijou’s forthright manner and direct questions to the low, warm tones of her mother, Natalie, who is kind but unaware. Willa is observant and self-reflective, and it’s a pleasure to listen to her long inner monologues, which Naudus delivers with the perfect mix of angst, wry humor, and millennial malaise. L.S. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2021-08-18
A young woman spends 10 months working as a nanny for a wealthy Tribeca family in Wu’s quietly impressive coming-into-adulthood novel.
While working as a waitress in Brooklyn, 24-year-old Willa Chen jumps at an offer to become a nanny for Nathalie and Gabe Adrien’s 9-year-old daughter, Bijou. The easy hours and live-in suite are appealing, but Willa is mostly thrilled at the prospect of being part of an average American family. Willa's parents divorced when she was small; her father, who'd emigrated from China at age 10, and her working-class White American mother both began new families, leaving Willa feeling extraneous. She's also experienced multiple instances of racism, whether mean-spirited or unintentional, and she's trained herself to stay emotionally reserved and inconspicuous. The Adriens, especially Nathalie, seem to embody everything Willa’s own childhood lacked, while precocious Bijou is given the parental attention Willa craved. Willa tries to embed herself into the Adriens’ world, finding their castoffs “irresistible,” catering to Bijou’s every need, considering herself and Bijou “like sisters, maybe,” even developing an ambivalent flirtation with Nathalie’s younger brother. Observing the Adrien household also prompts Willa to recall events from her own childhood with new clarity. Wu’s debut eschews many of the tropes of current fiction, particularly nanny fiction. Do not expect sexual or physical abuse, quirky characters, weird secrets, or biting tweet-ready wit; do not expect shocking plot twists or an exposé of evil parents or bosses. The Adriens are privileged New York liberals, imperfect but far from despicable; Willa’s parents made big mistakes but they loved her. And Bijou is a heartbreakingly complex child with anxieties that adults, including Willa, don’t always notice. Ultimately, 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.
No fireworks here, but everyday struggles rendered into a deeply poignant story.
