All three Lee women are complex and it’s hard to be sure of their motives and actions until the last page. It may in fact be anxiety-inducing for some readers, but if that’s your jam, give this book a shot. Searching for Sylvie Lee‘s biggest win for me, however, is the mastery of the unreliable narrator. What does it do to a child when she feels unwanted throughout her life? How does losing a home and language that was an integral part of your identity affect you in the future? At what point does it become exhausting to maintain the appearance of perfection?
In Sylvie’s character, Kwok explores the effects of migration and childhood trauma. In Searching for Sylvie Lee, there are also many nods to Dutch culture. If you’ve ever read a Jean Kwok novel, you know you can expect to find a good dose of Chinese superstitions and culture. This book is also packed with measured, realistic plot twists (in classic Jean Kwok style). The mystery in this novel is gripping and kept me listening. It felt like experiencing the city myself - from the massive biking culture to the waffles, and even a character who’s a KLM pilot - this book is essentially an ode to The Netherlands.
Something else I enjoyed about this book is how much page time the author gives the city of Amsterdam. With three different narrators who match all the accents in this novel perfectly, it’s such an immersive experience. So, if you haven’t read this one yet, do the audiobook. I listened to this book on audio, and the narration definitely took this book up a notch for me. While she’s there, the story flits between the POVs of the three Lee women as readers learn what happened to Sylvie Lee.
When no one hears from Sylvie after several days, Amy - who’s never left the US in her entire life - flies to The Netherlands to find Sylvie. We meet the cast of characters pretty quickly - Sylvie, Amy, her sister, their parents, cousin, Lukas and his parents Helena and Wilhem. But while her family in New York still think she’s in Amsterdam, her cousin Lukas calls asking to talk to her. Sylvie had gone to Amsterdam a month before to spend some time with the dying grandmother who raised her.
This novel opens with the disorienting discovery that the firstborn of the Lee family is missing.
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