Nights When Nothing Happened

June 1, 2020

In an anticipated debut from Chinese-born, Texas-raised Han--he's won numerous fellowships and been published in venues from Guernica to Electric Literature--the Dallas-based Chengs are finally established enough to send for their son, still in China with his grandparents. But then little daughter Annabel starts sleepwalking, and the habit escalates dangerously to reveal family secrets and raise the question of trust.

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July 20, 2020
Han’s ambitious if mixed debut follows the travails of a Chinese immigrant family living in the wealthy Dallas suburb of Plano. Patty Cheng is the breadwinner, whose long hours designing microchips pulls her away from her photographer husband, Liang, and their two children, Jack and Annabel, 11 and five. On Thanksgiving Day in 2003, a misunderstanding leads to an accusation by Annabel’s best friend of a “bad touch” by Liang, which snowballs into more trouble for Liang involving the police after Liang and Jack neglect to set the record straight. The family’s survival is dependent on a slippery sense of identity and difficulty in belonging in the Texas suburb, which permeate the narrative amid other unfortunately underdeveloped themes (duty vs. love, genteel racism). Most of the characterizations are convincing, though Annabel, even in close third-person narration, comes across as overly precocious (“If Annabel could understand what an overreaction was, she could understand what an overreaction wasn’t”). Still, as Liang struggles through the consequences of the accusation, Han succeeds in drawing the portrait of a new American family while demonstrating a talent for creating a sense of place through the eyes of immigrants. The premise is intriguing, but Han doesn’t quite stick the landing. Agent: Samantha Shea, Georges Borchardt.

October 1, 2020
The Chengs live in Plano, Texas, where nothing much seems to happen. At 11, Jack sees himself as his sister Annabel's protector, and wakes up every time she sleepwalks to follow her and bring her back to bed without alerting his parents. Annabel, an affectionate five-year-old, doesn't seem disturbed by anything until she goes to sleep. Their mother, Patty, works long hours at her tech job near Dallas, while father Liang watches over the kids. From the outside, they seem like the model immigrant family. But when Child Protective Services shows up, all four of them are suddenly forced to unveil the secret fears they have of one another, and forge a new understanding of familial intimacy and trust. In this exemplary debut, Han explores childhood trauma and the impact words and silence can have on both building and harming relationships. He writes with sensitivity and tenderness, allowing his fully fleshed-out characters to take on lives of their own and tell their heartbreaking perspectives directly to readers. Readers will be gripped by this beautiful debut.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

Starred review from September 1, 2020
In Han's remarkable debut, a misunderstanding gathers enough velocity to almost shatter the nucleus of a Chinese immigrant family in 2003 Texas. With its motion sensors and automatic sprinklers, the Dallas suburb of Plano seems like a high-resolution version of the all-American town. Scratch the veneer, though, and you'll see turmoil beneath the gloss. The newly arrived Chengs are a barely functional family unit. They're not just strangers in a new land--they're practically strangers to each other. Eleven-year-old Jack is just coming to know his family after having spent his formative years with his grandparents in Tianjin, China. Looking to pursue a doctorate in physics, Patty, Jack's mother, had emigrated first, and Liang, her photographer husband, followed shortly after. Patty's dreams of higher education were aborted when research funding ran out and she was forced to take up work for Texas Semiconductor. After a few years, the couple saved enough money to bring Jack over. In the meantime, Annabel was born. Jack's 6-year-old sister is a firecracker who exerts her will to ruinous effect at Plano Star Care. Lacking his wife's pluck, Liang too has challenges to overcome: his insecurities about hailing from peasant stock and an anemic photography business. Han expertly shifts the ground under the narrative, constantly shaking the snow globe to nudge the reader's perspective away from the familiar. The restrained prose is all the more effective as it releases a Molotov cocktail during a singular moment when Jack's desire to establish a place in his family clashes with his father's shaky societal standing. Han's characters are authentic, vulnerable, and utterly convincing, delivering one dynamite novel. An astutely realized portrait of the collateral damage wrought by the pursuit of the American dream.

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