Kitchen Chinese by Ann Mah

I hesitated to check out this book. It appeared that it might be too much of the chick lit genre for my tastes. Having decided to give it a try anyway, I'm glad I did! This book is about the Lee sisters, Isabelle and Claire. Their mother is so worried that neither girl will find a man and give her grandchildren. At first she would only push Chinese men on them - but as she gets more desperate she would be thrilled with ANY man. It's hard for momma to have control over Claire who has gotten a law degree and is working for a firm in Beijing. She hasn't been home in two years and has no plans to visit soon. Her much younger sister Isabelle has been working for a magazine in New doing menial tasks and in a relationship that doesn't offer much. When she is fired from her job she decides to join her sister in Beijing - even though they aren't really that close. This is the story of her struggles in the country of her grandparents - the culture, the language (she really only speaks "kitchen chinese") her job, her sister ...and of course a few men thrown in as well. It read quickly and was very enjoyable.