If you have read and liked Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan, then you may like Kathy Wang’s Family Trust. I have read Crazy Rich Asians and I thought it was just okay. I really wanted to like Family Trust because it sounds like an interesting novel, but I thought it was also just okay (I guess I should not be surprised). My biggest problem with Family Trust is that nearly every single character, except maybe one, is not likeable and therefore I did not enjoy reading about them (the quote on the cover is a lie; this book was not a joy to read from start to finish).

Family Trust centers around family patriarch Stanley Huang and his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. It is hard to feel sympathetic for Stanley when you learn that he is an idiot with a temper, who was abusive towards his children and killed their pet bird. The novel is told from the revolving points of view of Stanley; his ex-wife, Linda, who is smarter than her ex-husband, but not much nicer, and she does not show any love or affection towards her children; Stanley’s son, Fred, another asshat (but not quite as bad as Stanley) who feels like a failure because he only makes $300,000 (USD) per year and not millions like his Harvard business school peers (!); Stanley’s daughter, Kate, the only character I liked, who is trying to juggle work-life and mom-life while putting up with misogynistic twatwaffles like her unemployed husband; and even Stanley’s second wife, Mary, gets her own chapter to tell her side of the story, but I will not spoil that part of the plot for you.

The primary focus of Family Trust is the complicated relationships of the Huang family members. Stanley is dying and everyone is bugging him to get his affairs in order. Everyone seems to think that he has millions of dollars, so he is being pressured by Linda to set up a family trust so that Fred and Kate are taken care of, and so that Mary does not get any of his money. It kind of made me feel angry and uncomfortable at how focused Linda, Fred, and Mary were on Stanley’s money and how much Fred and Kate were potentially going to get from his estate. I was not angry because I cared about Stanley, but because it is so mercenary to think about how much money you are going to inherit from someone and the thing is, people are really like this. I do not have kids to leave an inheritance to, but even if I did, I would tell them to not expect to get wealthy off my death. And I certainly do not expect to benefit off my parents’ deaths.

Family Trust had me thinking about how we put up with the toxic behaviours of our own family members. Stanley is an awful father, but his kids take care of him as he is dying. As I was reading this novel, all I could think about was that he did not deserve their care and concern. But if I had a father like Stanley, would I be able to walk away from him? Or would I be like Fred and Kate and dote on him in his time of need?

The tone of Family Trust oscillates between humorous, especially with respect to Linda’s thoughts about her ex-husband, and a serious look at subject matters such as the subversion of gender roles, capitalism, infidelity, sexual assault, and fraud, as told from the perspective of Asian Americans. I am not going to completely pan this book. I do not feel as though I wasted my time reading it, I just wish that the characters had more redeeming qualities.