Now You See Us: A Novel

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She received a BA in Creative Writing from Hollins University in Virginia and a PhD from Singapore’s Nanyang Technical University. The novel features a spectrum of employers, from the abusive Mrs Fann to Cora’s kindly boss Elizabeth Lee, who is highly solicitous of Cora’s welfare, though the lack of boundaries between them makes Cora uncomfortable.

She has now remixed those ingredients – a tight-knit community of disenfranchised women, a repressive society, a dangerous mystery – closer to home, with even finer results. Not sure about some of the other aspects of this book that seem to be creeping into the current books I read but can’t identify with….Lin's restrained pace and tone bring out the author's simple yet powerful descriptions of the flavorful melting pot of Singaporean culture, with its excesses of wealth and exploitation of the maid trade. Her third novel Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows was translated into 15 languages and chosen by Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine book club. The "mystery" plotline never really got off the ground and the ending of that storyline felt far too convenient. Despite a strong and promising start, this trio of empowered females lacked the oomph I was hoping to find in these pages and left me feeling unfulfilled as a reader.

The bottom line is that if you turn off you brain and enjoy it on a very superficial level, you'll enjoy it. On it's own, it might have made for some in-depth observations, perhaps a further exploration of how this particular migration pattern evolved, the culture of emigration from the Philippines into service across the globe. Cora and her old comrade Angel befriend the younger Donita, a social media-savvy rebel who chafes against the restrictions of migrant life in Singapore. Angela Lin's spot-on accents conjure Singapore's eclectic culture and social hierarchy in this intriguing story about sleuthing maids. Lin's portrayals of the maids and their employers bring out their very different personalities and conflicts: reserved Cora and her overly involved Ma'am Elizabeth, brazen Donita and critical Mrs.The three main women are people who make mistakes and have unpleasant feelings: they are full characters with complex lives, not victims. Each month, we gather up the reviews of our virtual book club members so anyone else looking for their next great read has a collection of recommendations. Executive producers were expected to include DuVernay, Jeff Skoll, Jonathan King, Oprah Winfrey, Jane Rosenthal and Berry Welsh.

The title alone is honestly enough to give you a sense of the overarching theme of this one, however, so in some ways I didn't feel like I needed to actually READ the book to 'get the point'. Each of these women has secrets to keep and allegiances to maintain, though in part through their connection to one another they also gather the strength to challenge the structures that have silenced them for so long. But it also shows just how vulnerable they are, often coming from abroad with no support systems in place for them, making it too easy for them to be taking advantage of or abused. I understand from the author's note that they are based on real people, but they came off like figures in a diorama.I definitely enjoyed the author's writing style as well as the emotion she was able to exude in the storyline. My overall response to this book is that I didn’t enjoy it much and it wasn’t really for me, but I can absolutely see others enjoying it.