First Lines Friday...

The new expatriates arrive practically on the hour, every day of the week. They get off Cathay Pacific flights from New York, BA from London, Garuda from Jakarta, ANA from Tokyo, carrying briefcases, carrying Louis Vuitton handbags, carrying babies and bottles, carrying exhaustion and excitement and frustration. They have mostly been cramped in coach, a precious few have drunk champagne in first, others have watched two movies in business class, eating a ham and brie sandwich. They are thrilled, they are homesick, they are scared, they are relieved to have arrived in Hong Kong—their new home for six months, a year, three-year contract max, forever, nobody knows. They are fresh-faced, they are mid-career, hoping for that crucial boost up the ladder, they are here for their last job, the final rung before they’re put out to pasture. They work at banks, they work at law firms, they make buttons, clothing, hard drives, toys, they run restaurants, they are bartenders, they are yoga teachers, they are designers, they are architects. They don’t work. They are hoping to work. They are done, done, done with work.
                                                                                                      ... The Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee

I have seen a lot of press for this new book by Janice Y.K. Lee and like the opening of the book. What do you think? Would YOU continue reading from these First Lines?