Kaleidoscope

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Morgan, their oldest daughter, turns heads with her model-esque beauty, but her fashion savvy makes her the star of Kaleidoscope, even though she hasn’t graduated from college yet. And while her younger sister Riley finds it difficult to be in Morgan’s shadow, she also loves her sister fiercely. Two people meet and miss one another again and again in these short chapters that move through time. The stories are interconnected and yet also separate images and spaces. They are bound together by the characters themselves and also the themes that cross from one to another. There are butterflies, gardens, and gates among many other images that carry across the entire book. The characters must face their fears, reach across darkness, and grapple with grief and loss. Each chapter is a gem of a story, a short story that threads through to the others in ways that astonish, creating a true kaleidoscope of fractures and wholeness. Hank and Karen Brighton owned an organic grocery store in Oregon until they’re inspired to start selling clothes and goods from India and other countries. It’s not long before they’ve created Kaleidoscope, which becomes a shopping empire, enticing wealthy people to explore the more exotic side of fashion, furnishings, and art. Ambitious and unabashedly romantic, Kaleidoscope is as heartbreaking and hilarious as life itself…. True to the book’s title, Wong tells her young protagonists’ story in fragments that shift through time and place, cohering into a beautiful, sparkling whole. Although it’s fast-paced enough to be read in a single sitting, Kaleidoscope is a novel you’ll want to linger with, full of fascinating characters and moments of arresting beauty.” In the opening chapter, we witness one of the Brighton sisters' most difficult experiences, and we are given a glimpse into their intense yet sometimes uneasy relationship. The following chapters switch to the younger sister’s pov, and sadly I am rarely a fan of books switching between 1st and 3rd povs. Anyway, a good chunk of the story is told directly by Riley Brighton, who is Chinese American, and has always felt in her sister’s shadow. Riley is a rather aimless loner who struggles to reconcile herself to life. Her beautiful older sister, Morgan, has always played a more active role in the family’s business, Kaleidoscope, a shopping empire started by her parents and a friend of theirs.

The two sisters at the center of this intimate novel are biracial Chinese Americans, heirs to their family’s Oregon grocery store turned New York luxury empire, and as different as they are close. When disaster strikes, the younger sister, Riley, must re-evaluate her family and world.” When tragedy strikes the Brightons, combined with the economic collapse of the late 2000s, the family and the empire they’ve built threaten to collapse. Riley sets off on an international trip with a companion who raises eyebrows, and discovers herself—as well as some family secrets kept hidden.Membaca buku ini bagaikan naik roller-coaster. Naik, turun, naik, turun lagi. Naik-turunnya kehidupan yang terjadi pada sebuah keluarga. Dan semuanya terjadi dengan cepat. Wew. It all changes when a private investigator is asked to find the three girls by a guilt prone friend of their father's who is about to die and wishes to see them united. Wong’s insightful and compelling novel follows two sisters in a moving and complex look at ambition and success.” Di masa tuanya, Arthur, yang divonis dokter tak bisa hidup lama lagi, meminta bantuan John Chapman. John, seorang pengacara yang mempunyai karir cemerlang, diminta melacak keberadaan kakak beradik tadi untuk selanjutnya dipertemukan kembali. The author has a way with words. Her descriptions and the character's musings are written delectably, lush, beautifully, overdramatically, and pretentiously. The characters each seem to have some sort of mild to severe psychosis.

Sang sahabat semasa perang, Arthur, terpaksa mencarikan keluarga yang mau merawat ketiga kakak beradik Walker: Hillary, Alexandra, dan Megan. Pertama, Arthur terpaksa menaruh mereka di rumah kakak Sam, sebuah rumah di daerah kumuh dengan kehidupan yang kacau. Hillary yang masih berusia 8 tahun terpaksa menjadi dewasa demi menjaga adik-adiknya. The story starts as a slow burn but it takes a sharp turn when you least expect. Wong handles themes of family, grief, healing, forgiveness, identity, loyalty and sisterhood. The novel is about complex sister dynamics, yet I thought that it wasn't explored in its nuance and in depth - I enjoyed Riley as a messy character who was carving out a different path but I just needed more of Morgan.

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Cecily Wong’s Kaleidoscope is a dazzling meditation on excess and loss, sensuality and separation. A tour de force contemplation of the end of youth. Not only is it emotionally gripping, structurally brilliant, and conceptually mesmerizing, it’s pure good fun too—lusciously rich in description and replete with all varieties of readerly pleasure.” Tragedy, though, has a way of laying things bare. Riley slowly comes to understand herself and the rest of her family in her year of dealing with unbearable grief. Nothing is as it seemed. The novel centers around the Brighton family, famous for their store, Kaleidoscope, which sells clothes from and inspired by different parts of the world (initially India, and now many countries). The story is told in five parts and features lush accounts of travel throughout Asia and compelling descriptions of the rise and expansion of Kaleidoscope. Sometimes, there is a staccato like rhythm to the narrative or a jarring passage, and then later or suddenly, the pieces fit together, much like when looking through a Kaleidoscope. Highly recommended to readers looking for a beautifully told story of love and self-discovery. Kaleidoscope is an ode to the fierce and complicated bond between sisters, to unexpected love, to the pleasures of travel and food and unclaimed afternoons. It traces the way loss can change the shape of a life, honoring the experience of profound grief while, miraculously, reminding us of the beauty to be found in surviving. Intricate, gorgeously written, deeply moving — I loved this book.”