Love and Other Moods is a coming-of-age story set in contemporary China, about falling in love, learning to adult, discovering strength and finding one's place in the world.
Naomi Kita-Fan uproots her life from New York to China when her fiancé's company transfers him to Shanghai. After a disastrous turn of events, Naomi finds herself with no job, no boyfriend, and nowhere to live in a foreign country.
Amidst the backdrop of Shanghai welcoming millions of workers and visitors to the 2010 World Expo, we meet a tapestry of characters through Naomi: Joss Kong, a Shanghai socialite who leads an enviable life, but must harbor the secrets of her husband, Tay Kai Tang. Logan Hayden, a womanizing restaurateur looking for love in all the wrong places. Pan Jinsung and Ouyang Zhangjie, a silver-aged couple struggling with adapting to the ever-changing faces of their city. Dante Ouyang, who had just returned to China after spending years overseas, must choose between being filial and being in love. All their dreams and aspirations interweave within the sprawling web of Shanghai.
This multilayered novel explores a kaleidoscope of shifting relationships --- familial friction, amorous entanglements, volatile friendships --- in one of the most dynamic metropolises of the twenty-first century.
Review Quotes:
"This heartfelt, transporting story sparkles with a constellation of characters who call this city home while pursuing their China dream. As multifaceted as Shanghai itself, this novel follows overlapping narratives about the complexities of adulting, of parenting, of the urban quest for love and finding one's place in the world."
-- EMILY TING, film director of Go Back to China and Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong
"Awash with cosmopolitan expats and jet-setting locals, Love and Other Moods shimmers like the diamonds adorning China's glitterati, while exposing haunting personal histories and intergenerational strife. With dazzling twirls around Shanghai's World Expo, glitzy fashion shows, art deco architecture, jazz clubs, gourmet restaurants, and disappearing food stalls, this novel compellingly pulls the reader into the pleasures and pains of becoming an adult in a city soaring to global status."
-- JENNY LIN, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Critical Studies at the University of Southern California and author of Above sea: Contemporary art, urban culture, and the fashioning of global Shanghai
"Love and Other Moods is about the various kinds of love we experience in life. Lee's poetic words jump off the page and right into your heart. We witness love stories between a woman and a city, sweeping down to those types of familial love like that from a single parent to an adoptive family. Crystal Z. Lee also thrusts you into the anatomy of the colorful, chaotic city and explores all the senses."
-- Reader's Favorites Book Reviews
"A spirited, resonant love story about new loves and new beginnings." -- Kirkus Reviews