The Satisfaction Cafe -- Have you read it? What did you think?

[Anonymous]

I just read The Satisfaction Cafe by Kathy Wang. I'd love to hear what others thought about it.

Spoilers ahead.

My take: Joan was such an interesting character at the beginning of the book, then became kind of a zombie faux Stepford Wife for a long stretch, and only emerged as a full person when she decided to open the cafe. This was clearly intentional on the part of the author, but that middle section just dragged and really didn't provide much depth. That said, I loved the last 100 pages or so. Joan's acceptance of her illness, of the uncertainty of her children's lives, and of the random way that people can come into your life or that connections can be missed . .. all of that felt so true.