Summary

The prologue is subtitled “Eight Years Ago.” Just as the rest of the novel, the prologue is narrated by Meddelin. She says that her family is cursed. The curse followed them from China to California. In China, the curse made all the men in the family die young. When they moved to California, the curse changed and made all the men leave. Ma and her three sisters all had husbands who left them, and then all their sons left, until it was just Meddelin her mother, and her three aunts. Meddelin felt obligated to stay close, so she declined a secret offer to Columbia and attended UCLA so she could live with her family forever since she believed any man she tried to marry would eventually leave her anyway.

Part One is titled “Girl Meets Boy (There might be insta-love and also...