Weike Wang On Exploring Cultural Contrasts In Fiction

Weike Wang was born in Nanjing, China, and traveled with her parents to Australia and Canada before they settled in the U.S. Her first novel, Chemistry, draws upon her undergraduate degree and doctorate in public health from Harvard (completed with a parallel MFA from Boston University). Chemistry won the 2018 PEN/Hemingway award, a Whiting Award, and a spot on the National Book Foundation’s annual 5 under 35 list, which called Wang “a brilliant new literary voice that astutely juxtaposes the elegance of science, the anxieties of finding a place in the world, and the sacrifices made for love and family.”

These themes continue in her second novel, Joan Is Okay, about a physician working in an ICU in a Manhattan hospital during the COVID pandemic while worrying about her family (her father has just died in Shanghai), and in Rental House. Wang’s third novel is a crisp, insightful, ironic, often witty take on in-law relationships played out within the confines of summer colonies on Cape Cod and in the Catskills. Whose parents are more difficult? “Each side made a strong case for their own, but this was pure anxiety talking and the answer didn’t really matter,” Wang writes in her opening scene as Keru and Nate, who met as Yale classmates, prepare for the sequence of visits from their parents. “Keru’s Chinese-born parents cared about cleanliness and personal safety to an obsessive-compulsive degree, and since the start of the pandemic, had yet to go outside without double masks, gloves, and Mace… They were visiting first, else they wouldn’t have.”

Nate’s parents, working-class Trump supporters from Appalachia, arrive with lists of lighthouses to visit, restaurants highlighted by Yelp and a carload of firewood for bonfires, foldable Adirondack chairs, “liters of Diet Coke and ginger ale, their own coffeemaker, ground beans, and whole milk, for fear that New England stories wouldn’t carry their brands.” As they sit together on the beach, Nate’s mother urges Keru to have children, despite the couple’s clear choice against that option. Exploring the contrasts between Keru’s and Nate’s relatives leads Wang to hilarious lines and painful revelations. Our email conversation took place as the family-centric holidays descended.

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Jane Ciabattari: How have the pandemic and years of associated turmoil affected your life and work, the writing and launch of Rental House?

Weike Wang: As a writer and someone who works from home, I felt least affected by the pandemic. Teaching went online which I was used to and I already sat at my desk for hours a day on zoom. But the idea of Rental House came to me at the tail end of the pandemic. I was waiting on the curb with my dog. I was so sick of the NYC bubble, and the density of people here. I wanted to escape to the beach and walk along the shore. The first part of the Rental House immediately materialized.

JC: Is writing the third novel as difficult as the first, the second?

WW: The third novel was fine. It was work but it was manageable. My second, Joan Is Okay, was the most difficult, by far. I think the expectation that it has to be good was debilitating. I overthought. I over-edited and I lost a bit of my self-confidence, which you need to write well.

JC: What was the inspiration for this third novel?

WW: Wanting to leave New York City for a vacation! Seeing my family again after two years of COVID lockdown.

JC: How did you select the two locations—Cape Cod and the Catskills—where Keru and Nate, your central couple (and their dog Mantou), choose to spend summer vacation time? What were the other options? Do you know these places well?

WW: Both of these places are in the Northeast, my favorite region, because this is where I went to college and became an adult. This is where I live and vacation. I have actually never stayed overnight in Cape Cod. I’ve driven through it and taken day trips but summer is so expensive in those areas that I’ve never been able to swing it. The Catskills, I have been to lots of times. I love how hilly it is and peaceful and rustic. It’s not pretentious. Cape Cod…can get pretentious, haha.

JC: The in-laws—Keru’s parents, and Nate’s—are impeccably etched. But so different! What was the evolution of their characters?

WW: I wanted these parents to be as far apart on the spectrum as possible and yet still have overlaps. While they might think they will never understand each other, Keru’s parents are immigrants and value work ethic, stability, and following the rules. Nate’s family, being working class, also value these same things. But cultural and racial differences pull them apart, though what I wanted to emphasize is that we are much more similar than we are different. These parents both raised responsible, competent children who now love each other. Keru and Nate are the bridge.

JC: You write about Keru’s experiences walking around the properties, encountering neighbors, pets, all the microaggressions she swallows, until she doesn’t. Keru’s impulsive violent moments are an intriguing aspect of her personality. Were they always part of her character?

WW: Yes. I like writing rage into women. Women are constantly conditioned to be kind, patient, gentle, considerate, caring. And I find sometimes, if you want things in life, the want, the ambition is diametrically opposed to being kind. Getting what you want requires ego, competitiveness, and a kill instinct that women should be allowed to have.

JC: Keru is always attuned to her parents’ judgements. As time passes, she worries about her parents growing older. “If both her parents lived to be one hundred, Keru would be in her seventies. She would have her own doctors and medical visits. She might even be senile….But perhaps by seventy Keru could clone herself or have an AI counterpart made.” To what extent did her parents influence her choice not to have children? How did their judgments shape her life?

WW: So much of Keru’s life has been determined by her parents. The decision to immigrate here, to settle in the midwest, strive, get a good education, etc. Keru was put in a lane and she drove it well and she is still driving it well. But to have or not have children belongs to Keru alone, this is what I aimed to get across. Given how much of her life was predetermined, this kind of decision has to be entirely hers.

JC: Nate’s brother lies, scams, can’t be trusted. How did you come up with this troublesome brother-in-law?

WW: I think there is always a black sheep like this in the family. A child, a sibling, who is always saved by the parents, by other siblings, by the family. Because at the end of the day, no one wants to see Ethan fail and so he knows he will be bailed out.

JC: You have studied with Amy Hempel, Sigrid Nunez, Ha Jin. What are the main takeaways from each? Are there other writers whose work influences your own?

WW: These are the main influences. From Amy I learned humor, the importance of voice and writing interesting sentences. From Sigrid, I learned to not flinch and to write to my smartest friend (which is probably Sigrid). From Ha Jin, I learned perseverance. Talent is secondary to grit and finishing a project.

JC: What are you working on now/next?

WW: I’m working on a short book about a romantic friendship. Two writers meet at a residency and have a strong connection, but they are both married. They would like to stay friends and to have their connection not boil over. Drama. This is my first time writing a writer protagonist. I am loving it.

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Rental House by Weike Wang is available from Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC.