A lovely coming-of-age story that will resonate with anyone who’s felt separate, or questioned where they belong.
Finely crafted.
Wu understands the human heart keenly, and her novel is a subtle but powerful triumph.
Tender and devastating.
A poignant, impressive debut that should herald the rise of a literary force to be reckoned with.
Carefully observed and subtly devastating.
Winsome and tender.
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.
Exquisite.
A story about growing up and finding your place in the world—or creating one of your own.
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.
A quietly affecting tale of family dynamics.
A great book that will spark lots of discussions about family, identity, and how we see ourselves.
A deeply moving coming-of-age novel.
A stunning coming of age tale of a young woman searching for belonging and finding power in defining herself.
Tender, melancholic, self-reflexive, and quietly poignant. In other words, it feels like growing up.
A beautiful debut. . . . A powerful, introspective journey that explores race, class, and family dynamics.
Feels like listening to a friend tell you about her life straightforward and true. . . . thoughtful and moving.
[A] poignantly executed. . . . exploration of kinship of all stripes.
This poignant debut is about identity, acceptance and complicated family dynamics.
A powerhouse debut, this nuanced coming-of-age story is for anyone who has felt hypervisible and invisible, inside and outside, seen and unseen.
Intelligently crafted.
Superb. . . . This gorgeously written quiet and evocative character study subtly looks at family, belonging, race, and class.
Willa’s story—and figuring out her sense of self—truly leaps off the page.
Enthralling. . . . Deeply affecting.
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.
A soul-searching journey to be heard, and to belong.
Wu’s writing is pitch perfect from start to finish. The introspective and subtle plot floats off the page.
A subtly rendered and satisfying story of someone on the verge of beginning to know herself.
Impressive. . . . 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.
Wu’s compassionate debut traces one woman’s search for belonging. . . . Wu brilliantly lays out the complicated dynamics of love, belonging, and care that exist within all relationships.
A wistful novel about how much effort it can take to find and settle into your place in the world.
Masterfully reveals the fury, hope, and longing that come with trying to be seen in a world that never looks for you.— Mira Jacob, author of Good Talk
A resonant knockout.— T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls
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?— Crystal Hana Kim, author of If You Leave Me
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.— Cathy Linh Che, author of Split
Taut, engrossing, and masterfully observed, Win Me Something announces a powerful and luminescent new literary voice in Kyle Lucia Wu.— Alexandra Kleeman, author of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine
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.— David Burr Gerrard, author of The Epiphany Machine
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.
Impressive, insightful.
★ 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.
