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A review by niamhreviews
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
4.0
I’ll be honest here, and I think this is something that resounds with other reviews, that this book is not quite as spectacular as The Kiss Quotient. For something that was so revelatory, something so different to emerge in this genre, it would have taken quite a miracle to topple it. But this doesn’t mean this book is any less beautiful, romantic and heartfelt. The Bride Test is excellent and to read it made me incredibly happy.
The novel follows Esme, a Vietnamese woman who is offered the chance to spend the summer in California at the end of which she will marry an autistic man named Khai. She doesn’t speak much English and has little knowledge of the culture, but she finds her way through hard-work, determination and a sudden burst of romance that develops between the two of them. Though the novel follows a very formulaic, tried-and-tested plot, it adds a new spin to a story we’ve seen a hundred times, and that’s what makes it so endearing.
I think the best word to describe this book is intimate. At every moment, you feel as though you know the central characters deeply. The switching between narratives and thoughts is excellent- though I did dislike the way Esme tended to jump to immediate conclusions about situations. She acknowledges later on in the book that even after Khai said he was autistic; she didn’t ask him to explain further. Perhaps that’s just a part of the character, I’m not sure. It was a little frustrating that they refused to communicate on several issues, particularly when it was hardest for him. It seemed as though Hoang simply included these assumptions to create more drama, to increase the tension between them.
This book narrowly avoids the sophomore slump that several of my favourite writers have fallen into, but there are still issues. This book is joyful and sexy and funny with a core of what romantic love truly means to different people. But it’s also frustratingly base and has a tendency to fall into the rom-com clichés we’ve come to recognize as standard. I don’t know.
Something about this wasn’t quite as amazing as The Kiss Quotient. But I know that the only way is up and I hope that Hoang will continue to write as brilliantly as she already does.
The novel follows Esme, a Vietnamese woman who is offered the chance to spend the summer in California at the end of which she will marry an autistic man named Khai. She doesn’t speak much English and has little knowledge of the culture, but she finds her way through hard-work, determination and a sudden burst of romance that develops between the two of them. Though the novel follows a very formulaic, tried-and-tested plot, it adds a new spin to a story we’ve seen a hundred times, and that’s what makes it so endearing.
I think the best word to describe this book is intimate. At every moment, you feel as though you know the central characters deeply. The switching between narratives and thoughts is excellent- though I did dislike the way Esme tended to jump to immediate conclusions about situations. She acknowledges later on in the book that even after Khai said he was autistic; she didn’t ask him to explain further. Perhaps that’s just a part of the character, I’m not sure. It was a little frustrating that they refused to communicate on several issues, particularly when it was hardest for him. It seemed as though Hoang simply included these assumptions to create more drama, to increase the tension between them.
This book narrowly avoids the sophomore slump that several of my favourite writers have fallen into, but there are still issues. This book is joyful and sexy and funny with a core of what romantic love truly means to different people. But it’s also frustratingly base and has a tendency to fall into the rom-com clichés we’ve come to recognize as standard. I don’t know.
Something about this wasn’t quite as amazing as The Kiss Quotient. But I know that the only way is up and I hope that Hoang will continue to write as brilliantly as she already does.