SOURCE: Cheng, Scarlet. “The Typical American Comes to Town.” Belles Lettres 7, no. 2 (winter 1991-92): 21, 23.

In the following review, Cheng describes Typical American as a funny and well-crafted novel. However, Cheng observes that the characters are not fully developed and tend to remain emotionally remote from the reader.

The last year brought a bloom of books from Chinese American writers, including the long-awaited second novel from Amy Tan, whose beautifully written bestseller, The Joy Luck Club, triggered the current fascination with Chinese American Literature.

Several distinctive first novels are among the offerings. All treat the Chinese American experience with a certain comic sensibility, but Typical American is by far the most adeptly crafted.

Jen signals that this is going to be a story about the immigrant experience from her first line: “It's an American story: Before he was a thinker, or a doer, or an engineer, much less an...