Five-Star Stranger
A Novel
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Five-Star Stranger
Narrated by:
Julian Cihi
Buy Now for $21.99
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Narrated by:
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Julian Cihi
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By:
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Kat Tang
About this listen
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).
Critic Reviews
"Cihi is a marvel, just as chameleonic as his protagonist, as he assumes and discards roles, personalities, and expectations with effortless ease. He’s particularly poignant as precocious Lily with all her tween attitude, balancing between adoring attachment and new disdain for her dad. With empathic ease, Cihi enhances Tang’s already stellar debut novel with all-star success." (Terry Hong)
"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."
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