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Title details for Five-Star Stranger by Kat Tang - Available

Five-Star Stranger

A Novel

by Kat Tang
Julian Cihi
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
An exciting and "inventive" (HuffPost) debut novel about a top-rated man on the Rental Stranger app—a place where users can hire a pretend fiancé, a wingman, or companion of any kind—who finds out who he is by being anyone but himself.
Would you hire someone to be the best man at your wedding? Your stand-in brother? The father to your child?

In an age where online ratings are all-powerful, Five-Star Stranger follows the adventures of a top-rated man on the Rental Stranger app as he navigates New York City under the guise of characters he plays, always maintaining a professional distance from his clients.

But, when an eccentric patron threatens to upend his long-term role as father to a young girl, Stranger begins to reckon with his attachment to his pretend daughter, her mother, and his own fraught past. Now, he must confront the boundaries he has drawn and explore the legacy of abandonment that shaped his life.

"A sharp page-turner about our culture's commodification of everything" (Debutiful), Five-Star Stranger is a strikingly vivid novel about isolation in a hyperconnected world, and "what it means to love and be loved" (Rachel Khong, author of Real Americans).

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 6, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781797175454
      • File size: 195759 KB
      • Duration: 06:47:49

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 3, 2024
      Tang’s moving and offbeat debut revolves around a New York City gig worker who offers his services on an app called Rental Stranger. The 20-something narrator, known only as Stranger, takes on such roles as mourner at a funeral, best man at a wedding, and wingman for a pickup artist. Each time out, he strives to make his clients happy enough to give him a five-star review, and his peculiar backstory explains his diligence. After his mother’s death 10 years earlier, he found purpose by visiting his nine-year-old neighbor, Lily, once a week and pretending to be her father (the real father doesn’t know Lily exists). Stranger, who is still pretending to be Lily’s dad, divulges this secret to a woman who hires him to help develop her novel in progress by playing one of the characters and peppers him with questions about his work. Tang makes hay with themes of love, attachment, and the desire to be seen, as when the narrator reflects on playing hide and seek as a boy: “The thrill of being undetected was paltry compared to the relief of being found.” The result is a memorable character study of a man hiding from himself. Agent: Eric Simonoff, WME.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      What if you were so good at your job as a rental stranger that you started believing your roles were real? Julian Cihi gives a convincing and moving portrayal of a young man who has many identities--except his own. Cihi's range of voices and accents illuminates the diverse roles he adopts for clients who have hired him through the Rental Stranger app. While Cihi's even tone brings out the unnamed protagonist's professional attitude towards his work, his growing affinity for his recurring role as father to a young girl named Lily is revealed through beautifully restrained yet heartfelt enthusiasm. The quiet sensitivity of Cihi's performance highlights the yearning for connection in a disconnected world and makes for a captivating listen. M.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      April 11, 2025

      Available to stand in for a price during life's important or even mundane moments, the Stranger lives an unconventional life. Although most of his work as a rental stranger is one-time jobs, such as playing wing man at a bar or serving as a date to an important event, the Stranger holds one long-term job: pretending to be the father to a little girl each Thursday afternoon. While his work has always dictated a detachment from his clients, a growing attachment to this pretend daughter and her mother causes an existential crisis for the Stranger. It is through this experience that he comes to realize that personal connection is essential to his survival and happiness and that life can be more than just what one has always known. Narrator Julian Cihi is believable as the Stranger, allowing listeners to glimpse inside his mind and emotions. Although the reading of the text is slow, it is fitting for the contemplation and self-realization experienced by the Stranger throughout the novel, Tang's debut. VERDICT An appropriate and sharp addition to any adult audio fiction collection.--Misty Schattle

      Copyright 2025 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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