Reimagining a classic novel is a risky business. Some such as “Gorsky” by Vesna Goldsworthy and “The Promise” by Damon Galgut have successfully borrowed plot lines from classics (“The Great Gatsby” and “Howard's End” respectively) and transposed them to an entirely new setting and context. However, there is a danger that using the scaffolding of a pre-existing plot might inhibit a new story. For instance, I felt Craig's novel “The Golden Rule” needlessly forced in some elements of classic tales in a way which lessened the impact of the otherwise compelling characters and storyline.
In “The Family Chao” Lan Samantha Chang gives a modern-day retelling of “The Brothers Karamazov” to relate the story of a family with a domineering patriarch and three very different Chinese-American sons. For decades the Fine Chao restaurant has been a fixture of the community, but disharmony is brewing behind closed doors. The youngest boy James returns to his family's home in Wisconsin for Christmas to discover a lot of infighting. Though his eldest brother Dagou organizes a lavish feast and celebration at the family restaurant things don't go as planned. An explosive argument leads to Leo 'Big' Chao being discovered dead in the meat freezer the next morning. Was this an accident or did something more sinister lead to his demise?
Vicious gossip swirls around the family and the eldest son Dagou is put on trial for his father's murder. His two younger brothers Ming and James scramble to come to terms with their family's turbulent history and uncover what really happened that fateful night. With elements that include a dead stranger's travel bag filled with cash, an illegitimate child's well-kept secrets, a missing dog and a murder trial this is a mystery that grows increasingly thrilling as it unfolds. It's also a unique and meaningful tale which grapples with issues to do with racism, corruption and greed. At the same time it is darkly funny, poignant and gripping.
Leo is rudely vicious in maintaining his dominance and ready to serve up whatever the public wants to feed their appetites and line his pockets. He succumbs to the American ideology that whatever is most profitable is also correct. But his sons have a decidedly different understanding of what it means to live and survive in this country. What's more telling is that the tragedy which occurs sparks public reactions showing deep-seeded stereotypes and biases. Though their situation is unique and the brothers come armed with different points of view, they are churned into an ongoing discourse. It takes honest reconciliations to extract themselves from this and persist in building their own lives. It's poignant the way in which Chang structures the novel to portray why this is such a struggle for this family. In its style and plot, she has successfully modernized and utilized elements of Dostoevsky's classic to tell a story which is uniquely American.
