Livonia Chow Mein does a lot. It's like American Chinese food- not completely a Chinese story- but a Chinese-enough dish full of contributions from America and a history of its people. 🥡🥠 Nom.

The book primarily circles around the story of one building/lot, 78 Livonia Chow Mein. To tell this story though, the book cycles through the POV of 4 generations of one Chinese American family and one Black/Puerto Rican community elder. Five perspectives over decades of diverse content, with little to help keep the reader situated within the story, can be difficult to follow at first as you learn to differentiate the characters and their names.

In the 1970s, the building was burned down. In the present-day, local activists are fighting to get the land community-owned so that there could be shared spaces that the community could use. Interspersed throughout, there are nods to the immigrant experience, US history lessons, local politics, and racial tensions. There were quite a few points where I felt like I (and Savitch-Lew tbh) lost the plot and I desperately wanted to return to it.

However, I could tell this book was a labor of love. Love for the community, the people, and the history of what makes Brownsville/Brooklyn special. Abigail Savitch-Lew did her research and clearly want to share the feeling of community building and ownership, as well as spread the dream among her readers so that they too can imagine a better world. New Yorkers will probably love this book a lot.

I did feel that the author did a little bit of a self-insert (as many debut authors end up doing), as one of the main characters was also Chinese-Jewish. The Jewish aspect of the character though, didn't really pay a significant role in the story otherwise.

For a debut, Livonia Chow Mein is very good and I hope Savitch-Lew continues to hone her craft.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me with the ARC copy of this review. All opinions are mine.

This is my favorite book of the year so far, no question. It won’t be for everyone, though. I’d absolutely check trigger warnings first, especially for eating disorders, food addiction, and body horror.

I was hooked from the start. Emmett felt incredibly real to me. I don’t share his exact struggle, but the emotions underneath it—the shame, the addiction, the messiness—feels deeply familiar to me. He’s not good or bad but a combination of both. He’s got some flaws. I found his character to be very believable and relatable.

I will say it’s a slow burn. The beginning is a little repetitive and takes its time, but for me that worked. It builds the tension and lays the groundwork for everything that comes later. Once the horror fully kicks in, it really takes off.

This book digs into trauma, abuse, and addiction. It’s pretty heavy and I can absolutely see how it would trigger someone so take care of your mental health and DNF if you need to. I thought it was phenomenal. Memorable. True horror because I was deeply disturbed the whole time.

Also, Dumas does mention in his acknowledgements that this book is very personal to him. I get the feeling Emmett is an extension of himself. It helps to know that the author is writing about something he’s personally familiar with. It’s a sensitive topic.