Amy, the sheltered baby of the Lee family, is too young to remember a time when her parents were newly immigrated and too poor to keep Sylvie. Seven years older, Sylvie was raised by a distant relative in a faraway, foreign place, and didn't rejoin her family in America until age nine. Timid and shy, Amy has always looked up to her sister, the fierce and fearless protector who showered her with unconditional love.
But what happened to Sylvie? Amy and her parents are distraught and desperate for answers. Sylvie has always looked out for them. Now, it's Amy's turn to help. Terrified yet determined, Amy retraces her sister's movements, flying to the last place Sylvie was seen. But instead of simple answers, she discovers something much more valuable: the truth. Sylvie, the golden girl, kept painful secrets . . . secrets that will reveal more about Amy's complicated family-and herself-than she ever could have imagined.
A deeply moving story of family, secrets, identity, and longing, Searching for Sylvie Lee is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive portrait of an immigrant family. It is a profound exploration of the many ways culture and language can divide us and the impossibility of ever truly knowing someone-especially those we love.
Comment: This is the second book I try by this author. I liked the other one a lot but I confess I no longer remember much of what the plot was about, except the basics. I knew this book would have similarities (especially the mix of Chinese and American cultures) but it would have a different focus. I think the other book I had read before was a lot more rewarding to me...
Sylvie Lee is considered by all who know her to be successful and dynamic. She has Chinese origins but her childhood was spent in the Netherlands, where part of her family is, and at some point she went to live with her parents in America. She has a younger sister, Amy, who is a lot less accomplished, but with whom she has a close relationship. Everything changes when their grandmother, who never left the Netherlands, becomes sick and Sylvie decides to travel to see her. After the funeral, Sylvie goes missing and no one knows where she might have gone to or if it was on her own free will. Finally, Amy also travels to the Netherlands to look for Sylvie but she finds a lot more obstacles then what she anticipated. Will the family know what happened? What kind of secrets will need to be uncovered for the truth to be known?
I didn't have specific expectations of this book and having read the other one ten years ago, of course there wasn't much I could remember to compare. I do recall the other book to also have similar elements in terms of cultural aspects and I know that other book had hints of romance. From the start this one seemed to be focusing more on mystery/suspense details and, in my opinion, there is no romance here.
The book is told in first person by Amy, Sylvie and their mother. Most chapters are by Amy and Sylvie and the mother's are more about reminiscence and a few details which, of course, explain a few things neither girl could know and/or provide. Amy tells the story of what is happening after Sylvie disappeared and Sylvie's chapters are dedicated to what led to her disappearance. In between, we learn a lot about the pressure all have to perform, to maintain the appearances of their lives and what impact those around them had on all their lives.
I cannot say I was rooting for these characters because all had some kind of "flaw" let's say, which soon became annoying. There is a lot of inevitability and fate as elements which led their lives to go the path they did and this does clash a little with our contemporary and western way of seeing life as something we need to live but for which we make decisions. Sylvie decided to make those decisions and she found success and many other things which should be fulfilling but ended up not being so, which made her someone rather ruthless. Amy, on the other hand, had neither and to make it harder, a very low self esteem.
A lot of these thoughts come from the Chinese way of thinking and the customs their families adhere to, even when living abroad. Sylvie's family, however, for several reasons, socially behaves one way while in America and another while in the Netherlands. In general, I liked the writing, as I had in regards to the other book, but there were times where everything felt heavy and seemingly out of proportion. the first person narration also gave me opposed feelings: I liked being in Amy's head despite her personal issues because she seemed to be active and in a moment where things were still happening. Sylvie's thoughts were different, she was describing things that already happened and which couldn't be changed anymore.
I think it might have been a mistake to label this a mystery thriller. It's true that we don't know what happened to Sylvie until the end, but the road there wasn't as much about an actual investigation but what led to her disappearance. The several secondary elements we had to go through, namely the several characters Sylvie, in particular, interacted with, also contributed to the mystery vibes, but I will have to say that some relationships weren't described as interestingly as they could.
There's a twist, however, which might compensate a lot for the less good elements, and I confess I wasn't expecting it, perhaps the development leading to this reveal was so slow and rather boring that it took off some of the shock. We also learn how this affected Sylvie and what happened to lead to her disappearance but this element was very frustrating and a little pointless. I think the author could have found a way to present the information in a better way, to make this a more engaging novel.
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