Book Review: "Julie Chan is Dead" by Liann Zhang

This book popped up everywhere on my Facebook feed, every few adverts were about this book and how addictive, funny and dark it was. I was grabbed by obviously, the bright colours, the promise of something addictive to read and the basic premise of a twisted and horrific version of The Parent Trap with some minor changes. Now, books that make these promises often do not live up to expectation - but this one definitely did. Yes, it is just as addictive as it says on the adverts and I obviously devoured the whole thing in just one sitting. When I looked up at the world again once the book was over, nothing was quite the same.

Julie Chan works a pretty dead-end job when one day, after we've learnt a couple of things about her life through flashbacks, her long lost twin sister walks in. Chloe has had a completely different upbringing. Since the twins' parents died, it is clear that the people adopting the twins only wanted one child and took Chloe to upstate New York where she lived a lavish lifestyle of nepotism where 'social media influencer' is an avenue of income as nobody is expected to be academic in any way. When Julie receives a call from Chloe which troubles her, she takes a bus to New York only to realise that Chloe has dropped dead in her kitchen. The author writes this story in a series of very short chapters, some only consisting of a few pages - which definitely helps with the pacing. In between the moments of flurry and anxiety - we get to learn more and more about how Julie was raised by her horrible Cantonese aunt who seems to berate Julie for everything all the time. The writing suits the modern day narrative, it's almost funny and you almost feel bad for laughing at how ridiculous the situation is.

Instead of telling the ambulance that Chloe had died, Julie hands over her own ID and accepts the fact that everyone thinks she looks and acts like Chloe. Escaping her dead-end job, her possible firing for stealing sandwiches and her horrible Cantonese aunt, she embodies Chloe and her lifestyle, dressing in her clothes and sleeping in her bed. To everyone in the world - it is Julie Chan who has died. But it isn't all sunshine and rainbows in Chloe's world. Julie soon realises that Chloe had a lot going on. She has vegetative adopted parents in a nursing home who have a dark secret of their own regarding Chloe. She made friends with people who, if they were real, would probably be on someone's list. She was about to do an exposeé article about all of this, which was promptly cancelled by Julie. There's so many problems in Chloe's life that is seems at times that Julie is falling apart under all of the pressure. One minute she is flying high with this sense of awesome power within her, the next minute she feels the imposter syndrome kick back into gear like never before. The writer makes this utterly relatable for everyone who has ever been scared of anything in their entire lives, despite only wanting to feel a little better about themselves for a time. The impulsive decisions we make can cost us our lifetimes.

I have not even got on to the part about her Cantonese aunt extorting her for money. I haven't yet informed you of the sacrifice to the Devil. And not to mention the woman who aborts her own child, the other woman tied up on a private island and the way in which Julie uses diet teas to lose weight and fit into the clothes of her dead sister. The weirdest part about all of this though is the way Julie finds out that her sister didn't really like her all that much - not because she felt she was above her sister, but because she was jealous of her. Of course, you'll have to read the book to find out why.

This book was massively addictive. It was dark and rampaging from start to finish. It intertwined itself deeply with the psychology of a woman making an impulsive decision that snowballs into something unreal and uncontrollable. I would massively recommend this to absolutely everyone.