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Reviewed by Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite
Amanda Sung’s How to Break a Girl follows the unbreakable bond between three Asian-Canadian best friends—Elizabeth Park, Aurora Zhang, and Lily Kuo—as they face loss, love, and survival in Vancouver and other places, including Silicon Valley. The story begins as a graduation-day reunion and unfolds into a sweeping saga of trauma, grit, and chosen family. Elizabeth impulsively marries a man who brings her to California, where she must endure an immigration nightmare, a hostile stepdaughter, and a divorce in which her husband weaponizes the courts against her. Aurora looks radiant on the outside but struggles with scars of sexual assault, childhood abuse, and workplace betrayal, including a boss who lied about his divorce. Lily’s father abandoned her after his affair, and she finds herself dangling between a con man and a Stanford professor who never quite chooses her. Can these women heal and find purpose and love?
The story spans decades as the author paints a vivid picture of the trio’s scars in Lily's voice. Amanda Sung’s characters are quirky, flawed, and compellingly real, and their soulmate chemistry defines the strength of friendship and sisterhood. It is a story about the strength women feel when they stand by each other, despite their struggles, sorrows, and pain. The nonlinear structure flips between past and present, capturing the subtle ways trauma haunts us. The globe-trotting setting takes readers from Vancouver to the humid night markets of Taipei and grounds the story in vivid realism. How to Break a Girl examines mental health, patriarchy, female friendship, and racism, delivering a fearless, drama-filled story. The scenes are focused, and POVs are characteristically distinct, elements that make the story enjoyable, while emotionally charged moments range from the HR ambush to courtroom showdowns. From the witty dialogue, the crisp writing, the elaborately developed characters, to the gripping plot, this novel has everything to keep the pages turning.
