A common theme in this story seems to be that nothing is what it seems. Idyllic hotel? Nah son, have some homicidal maniacs. Nice vegetarian family? Nah, they steal kids and get their dogs to eat people. Caring wife? She's got 7 chicks with anime-surgeried eyes locked up. Those 7 chicks? Perfectly fine having their lives like that. B-mor, a perfectly organized village?
Well, that certainly has it's problems.
Fan has layers as well, but her character is compelling in that she has no intentional facade. She doesn't correct people who think she's younger than she actually is, but never intentionally acts young or tries to mislead people. She doesn't steal, she doesn't abandon Quig and Loreen or the Girls, and she, in some level, tries to help people.
Somehow, her presence also peels back the layers of others. Quig spontaneously tells his past to Fan, Mr. Leo reveals his sleaziness extremely quickly, Ms. Cathy reveals more and more of herself, and the book is this collaboration of characters and their pasts.
However, I think that the character of Reg is extremely important here, because Reg is the epitome of what-you-see-is-what-you-get. From the little description we have, he seems easy-going and lacking deep motivations or a complicated character, which sounds bad but isn't necessarily a bad thing? (I'm not sure exactly how to explain it, but he seems very upfront compared to the rest of the book.)
In connection to the age-old question of "what is asian-american literature?", I'd suggest a connection in these layers of character, in the background and current personality, and the idea of heritage or an old story in a new world.
This is a really interesting post, and I never thought of Reg's character like that, but its really true; he's an open book. Fan seems to be a book-opener, with people always feeling compelled to reveal to her their most intimate chapters. Fan herself, however, is a brick wall. Perhaps its because of the narration style, but we really don't get to know Fan as a person, only as a character; we see her actions, become invested in her success, but know nothing of her temperament, secrets, family past, etc. We see her actions but cannot confirm the motivations behind them; even the narrators must speculate, and the inner workings of her mind remain unknown. The layers of personality, background, etc are very relevant to Asian-American literature-- I think there is often tension between the Asian and the American part, which often results in such "layers", and certainly a more complicated identity, personality, and cultural background.
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