888 Love and the Divine Burden of Numbers is a coming-of-age novel about a young "American Born Chinese" man searching for the meaning of life and love through numbers.

Young Wang is growing up in Queens in the late '80s with his elegant spokesmodel mother and professor father. He has an adorable younger sister he loves, and a world-traveling uncle who has taught him the power and magic of numbers. As he grows up and the world moves into the 1990s, he counts the girls he's loved, looking toward the magical final love—the predicted lucky number seven. But first, he falls for number six, Erena, a smart and confident fellow college student at NYU. Is Erena going to be his final number seven, or is there still more adventures in love out there for Young Wang?

Abraham Chang plays with song playlists, movie and pop culture references, along with the superstition around numbers. I enjoyed his letters from his fun-loving globe-trotting uncle but not the imaginary conversations with film directors. Despite knowing this was a coming-of-age novel, I kept waiting for something exciting to happen, but it never did, making the final chapters and epilogue feel rather slow and drawn out. Although I loved the humor and energy of the characters, I wanted a little more action and surprises.

Rating: 3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

🎧 Audiobook notes: This book is expertly narrated by Eunice Wong. I seriously thought it had multiple narrators because she did such a great job with the various characters, accents, and non-English terms.