Off the Books

May 6, 2024
Frazier debuts with the delightfully offbeat yet weighty story of a Chinese American college dropout turned limo driver and a Uyghur Muslim girl fleeing Chinese persecution. After Mĕi Brown’s father dies, she returns from Dartmouth to Oakland, where she struggles with her mother’s refusal to grieve. Her limo-driving job attracts the attention of her eccentric lǎoyé (Mandarin for “grandfather”), who lives in the garage and spends his days smoking weed and playing video games. Lǎoyé connects Mĕi with under-the-table clients, mainly sex workers, and eventually with the mysterious and handsome Henry Lee, who hires her to drive him from San Francisco to Syracuse. Along the way, Mĕi discovers Henry is smuggling an 11-year-old girl, Anna, in his suitcase to reunite her with her professor father. Later, Mĕi learns that Anna and her mother were planning to leave China together, until her father’s incendiary articles about Uyghur persecution in Xinjiang led to her mother’s detention by Chinese authorities. The character work is top-notch, as Frazier shows how Mĕi offers Anna the kind of support she wished her own mother had provided, and the narrative structure (each chapter recounts a different leg of the journey) creates plenty of forward momentum. It’s a fresh take on the classic American road novel.

June 1, 2024
As a chauffeur for sex workers, Mei abides by one strict rule: "My clients' business is none of my business." The Ivy League dropout accepts customers through her grandfather and takes her payments (as the title suggests) off the books. But when she's tasked with driving handsome, charismatic Henry Lee, who is also Chinese American, and seems wealthy enough to afford a more legitimate service, she can't contain her curiosity--and he remains strangely protective of his enormous suitcase. When Mei decides to confront her charming client, she discovers that his mysterious cargo--and their seemingly innocent cross-country journey to New York--may have global implications. Beneath a budding romance and roadside banter, the story of the humanitarian crisis of the Uyghurs in China is masterfully presented, interweaving an international story with a more domestic one of what it means to be Chinese in the U.S. Frazier's debut proves to be an enthralling ride, perfect for those who love an American road trip with a twist.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from July 1, 2024
Mĕi Brown is a recent Dartmouth dropout working as a private chauffeur with a dodgy roster of clients--one of whom hires her to drive all the way across the country. When Mĕi picks up 20-something Henry Lee, she can't help noticing that he guards his enormous suitcase religiously. Although the two gradually grow closer on the long journey from San Francisco to Syracuse, trading barbs through the limo's partition, Henry's easy charm and good looks can't fully alleviate Mĕi's suspicions. She repeatedly calls her grandfather, her Lǎoy�--who's responsible for finding her passengers looking to pay off the books--to see what he thinks about Henry. Since the death of his wife, Lǎoy�'s camped out in the family garage, smoking marijuana and watching old films, shrinking his existence to fit one room. Mĕi recalls the ways his encyclopedic knowledge of history and "ability to educate painlessly" bolstered her high school education and how his acerbic wit offered a lifeline through her teenage years; now she frets over his reluctance to leave home. Lǎoy�'s unquestioning support of her decision to drop out of Dartmouth after her father's untimely death--buying her a car and introducing her to clients in need of a discreet chauffeur--further strengthens their bond, and she finds herself missing him terribly. With Lǎoy�'s encouragement, she continues the journey, and the lengthy stretches of driving allow Mĕi to reflect on life in the wake of her father's passing--especially her estrangement from her mother, whose tacit acceptance of his death Mĕi can't understand. Finally, Henry's insistence on unusually frequent breaks leads Mĕi to confront him about his precious luggage, and once his secret is revealed she begins to see the world in a very different light. Frazier expertly weaves historic and contemporary injustices faced by Chinese Americans and Uyghurs through this fast-paced, propulsive book, which is at its most powerful when depicting the way Mĕi's family navigates life after catastrophe. She has a knack for writing funny dialogue--scathing sarcasm underpinned by a great deal of love--and there are plenty of hilarious exchanges to lighten the dark political context of the novel. A vital, enthralling debut in which devastating social commentary is delivered with a wink.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.