Book description
NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • A witty, moving, piercingly insightful new novel about a marvelously complicated woman who can’t be anyone but herself, from the award-winning author of Chemistry
LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL • “A deeply felt portrait . . . With gimlet-eyed observation laced with darkly…
Why read it?
1 author picked Joan Is Okay as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Weike Wang is kind of a master at dry, unadorned, razor-sharp writing. This book made me both cry and laugh. Joan is doing perfectly fine—great, even—if anyone asks her. Her life is efficient and successful and—empty.
When her father dies, her mother returns from China, and their subsequent interactions force Joan to stop just going through the motions and actually take a look at her life. This book is sweet but not saccharine, and its humor comes from Joan’s quirky observations which felt very relatable to me.
From Jennifer's list on dicey mother-daughter relationships.
If you love Joan Is Okay...
The Sky is Different Here
Eight thousand miles from her Kolkata home, Shani spends most of her time hard at work in the campus biochemistry lab chasing her lifelong dream of becoming a scientist. As the daily battles and complexities of lab life escalate, she leans into the support of her biggest ally—her mother.
Despite…
Want books like Joan Is Okay?
Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Joan Is Okay.
Share your top 3 reads of 2025!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,366
readers submitted
so far, will you?
