Crazy Rich Asians meets Bridget Jones’s Diary in this funny and irresistible debut novel about the pursuit of happiness, surviving one’s thirties intact, and opening oneself up to love.At thirty-three, Andrea Tang is living the dream: She has a successful career as a lawyer, a posh condo, and a clutch of fun-loving friends who are always in the know about Singapore’s hottest clubs. All she has to … Singapore’s hottest clubs. All she has to do is make law partner, and her life will be perfect. And if she’s about to become the lone unmarried member of her generation in the Tang clan–a disappointment her meddling Chinese-Malaysian family won’t let her forget–well, she doesn’t need a man to complete her.
Yet when a chance encounter with charming, wealthy entrepreneur Eric Deng offers her a glimpse of an exciting, limitless future, Andrea decides to give Mr. Right-for-her-family a chance. Too bad Suresh Aditparan, her office rival and the last man her family would approve of, keeps throwing a wrench in her plans. Now Andrea can’t help but wonder: In the endless tug-of-war between pleasing others and pleasing herself, is there room for everyone to win?
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Cute, summer book. Started a little slow but it got better as it went. Great if you want a light, beach read.
Last Tang Standing is absorbing, addictive and emotional as well as funny. Comps that name check Bridget Jones Diary rarely work. That’s doubly true of descriptions like Crazy Rich Asians meets Bridget Jones. They’re never accurate. This time, however, the comparison totally nails it. I love that this is a sharply drawn portrait of a particular segment of a particular culture as much as it’s romance. The social observation is smart and funny, spot on and original, the voice perfectly imperfect and totally relatable. It’s all very specific, and a wonderful surprise.
Being accurate and sharply observed of course often means that there’s a fair amount of ugliness on the page: racism, classism, body shaming, family illness. If that doesn’t throw you, then I’ve got a great book to recommend.
I enjoyed this book a lot!
This was a fun read about thirty-three year old Andrea Tang, a Chinese- Malaysian living in Singapore as a successful lawyer. A recent break-up with her boyfriend leaves her as the last In her Tang clan to be married and that is highly disappointing for her family.
With a hilarious take on single life, and the dating scene as a 30 something successful professional this was romp full of fun. The hilarious scenes will have you laughing out loud. And turning those pages – I found it hard to put down.
I really enjoyed Lauren Ho’s writing – it was refreshing, open, very modern and sexy!
With a completely relatable motley crew of characters, your heart will endear with each one. I promise!
I recommend this read and look forward to reading more about Andrea and the rest of the gang!
This might be an overly biased review because I can 100% relate to Andrea and her friends, having lived and worked and dated in Singapore in my early 30s. Some of the situations are (maybe) highly exaggerated but I recognize the bases in truth. The family pressure to marry, expectations by same family to support them financially, the zoo that is the dating scene, the gender inequality at work, the (still) disapproving attitude about interracial relationships, etcetera, etcetera. That these issues are presented in a humorous manner shouldn’t diminish their impact on the psyche. Fifteen years removed from these challenges, I can now remember those years with some fondness. Thanks to Last Tang Standing for reminding me. I really enjoyed the trip down memory lane.
Andrea Tang, at thirty-three is a single attorney on the fast track to a partnership at her law firm and all the women in her family can see is a spinster with no husband and no kids. As a Chinese-Malaysian woman, she knows she has a duty to her family to be married and have kids, but that wasn’t how she saw her life unfolding. But now that she’s reached thirty-three, she is about to become the last Tang of her generation to be unmarried. It is not an easy burden to carry and the matriarchs of the family let her know it is unacceptable.
The author gets a little preachy as she tries to educate gwailou (western foreigners) about filial duty to one’s family and loses sight of her story. Ho’s main character is flighty, immature, superficial, and it’s hard to imagine how she made it to the partnership rung of the firm’s success ladder. Yes, there are moments of humor, but that can’t save the lack of development of the characters, especially the one who is supposed to carry the book. The author fails to use Singapore, where this all takes place, as a character. Sure, she gives us street names, but that is not enough. Ho tries to get away from having to show her readers much about Andrea by giving us her journal entries that occur throughout the day – there’s no emotion in those entries.
If you are looking for a book with little depth and lackluster character development, this book is for you. If you want more, this book doesn’t deserve to be on your to-be-read list.
My thanks to Putnam and Edelweiss for an eARC.