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Imagine renting yourself out—acting a part and when the gig’s over checking your reviews on the Five-Star Stranger App. As a seasoned imposter, the parts you play, and identities you assume, are as varied as your employers. You might take a woman to her company Christmas party, pretending to be her boyfriend, or attend a funeral, acting as the deceased’s out of town brother.
In “Five-Star Stranger: A Novel,” by Kat Tang, the main character, referred to only as “the Stranger,” has been a “rental” for a decade or so. This “compulsive perfectionist,” as he refers to himself, has a full calendar, his reputation stellar because of positive rental reviews.
Stranger has a long term assignment. He pretends to be a father to 9-year-old Lily, a child born out of wedlock, her mother Mari not telling Lily that her birth father even exists. Mari’s parents know nothing about Lily either.
Mari and Stranger have arrangements to make the ruse work. Lily thinks her dad (Stranger) is an over-the-road trucker, so he can only be with Mari and Lily a day a week. Once Stranger tucks Lily in on visitation night, he leaves, Lily none the wiser. Now that Lily is 9, however, she’s beginning to ask questions, complicating the arrangement Mari and Stranger have established.
In Stranger’s line of work, he has self-imposed rules—the most important being not to care about his clients or get involved in their lives. This is particularly difficult when it comes to Lily. Naturally he’s formed a relationship with her. Stranger is at a crossroads, knowing the clock is ticking.
Another of Stranger’s regulars is Darlene, a would-be writer, who wants Stranger to assume the persona of her alcoholic brother, Serge. In this way, Darlene might learn how to “confront” him about his drinking. Stranger and Darlene become efficient as they act out scenarios but when Stranger asks Darlene to take on a persona for Lily it threatens to upend Stranger’s bond with the child and her mother.
Initially this easy-to-read story seems light-hearted and fun, but soon readers start to realize how tortured Stranger is about his past, and his failed relationship with his actor/mother, who committed suicide. As Stranger attempts to make peace with his past, Lily continues to question him about her family, forcing the noose to tighten.
“Five-Star Stranger” is Kat Tang’s first book, proving her a writer to watch. There’s much to like about Stranger, a tragic figure who has to be in control, a prisoner of his past who learns in the process of assuming identities to finally come to terms with who he really is. This is a thought-provoking novel.
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