Review: Kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscope by Cecily Wong
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

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. The characters are a bunch of whiny, entitled children and not just the young adults either. The parents take the cake but not until the end at least. The book opens with one of the characters taking the pregnancy termination pill and the whole experience being described graphically. What I took from this book was two things- that we have two sisters, and each one is jealous of the other without them ever telling the other her feelings. Things childishly escalate until a tragedy strikes---then the book is all about the younger sister's feelings, sexual needs, and her need to get away from her family in the most dramatic way. And the second thing is I learned a ton about the family's fascination/obsession with Indian culture, food art, and fabric. I gave this book 1 star because I finished it and the second star because the author obviously put a lot of effort into writing this book. Had I stopped reading when I wanted to I would have given this book only one star, but I was able to persevere. *ARC supplied by the publisher PENGUIN GROUP Dutton, Dutton, the author, and NetGalley.

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SYNOPSIS: "A dazzling and heartfelt novel about two sisters caught in their parents' ambition, the accident that brings it all crashing down, and the journey that follows.

Everybody's heard of The Brightons.

From rags to riches, sleepy Oregon to haute New York, they are the biracial Chinese American family that built Kaleidoscope, a glittering, 'global bohemian' shopping empire sourcing luxury goods from around the world. Statuesque, design savant, and family pet--eldest daughter Morgan Brighton is most celebrated of all. Yet despite her favored status, both within the family and in the press, nobody loves her more than Riley. Smart and nervy Riley Brighton -- whose existence is forever eclipsed by her older sister's presence. When a catastrophic event dismantles the Brightons' world, it is Riley who's left with questions about her family that challenge her memory, identity, and loyalty. She sets off across the globe with an unlikely companion to seek truths about the people she thought she knew best --herself included.

Using the brightly colored, shifting mosaic patterns of a kaleidoscope as its guide, and told in arresting, addictive fragments, Kaleidoscope is at once a reckoning with one family's flawed American Dream, and an examination of the precious bond between sisters. It reveals, too, the different kinds of love left to grow when tightly held stories are finally let go. At turns devastating and funny, warm and wise, sexy and transportive, Riley's journey confronts the meaning of freedom and travel, youth and innocence, and what it looks like to belong, grieve, and love on one's own terms.