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Five-Star Stranger: A Novel

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Description

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). Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scribner


Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 6, 2024


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Print length ‏ : ‎ 240 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1668050145


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 49


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.38 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #375,080 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #345 in Asian American & Pacific Islander Literature (Books) #3,311 in Psychological Fiction (Books) #11,236 in Literary Fiction (Books)


#345 in Asian American & Pacific Islander Literature (Books):


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • Not my cup of tea.
Format: Kindle
An interesting concept just way too much description and logistics to keep my attention. I liked when he was playing characters but not the personal angst.
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2025 by Amazon Customer
    • Unusual book
Format: Hardcover
This was an unusual book, repkete with unusual characters, happenings and more oddities than expected. There was humor, drama, uos, down and so many UNUSUAL tjings in those pages. It kept me engaged. I liked it.... It was like nothing I have read before! A short 220+ pages, it will amuse you... some of the time. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2024 by Jaden
    • Incredible novel about loneliness and identity with a twist
Format: Hardcover
Great writing lures you in with an interesting premise. This novel does that and is funny to boot. But as the novel progresses, the story becomes complex--thorny. Ultimately it raises questions that stayed with me. And much like life there's no easy answer at the end of the story, but I still felt like I had changed from reading the book and that, I think, is the sign of a great novel. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2024 by K.Y.T
    • heartbreaking
Format: Kindle
This was a wild ride - a great universe to enter in that it is heartbreakingly realistic - like you’ve met this man before. Poor lily - we need a sequel from her perspective.
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2026 by Mariah Young
    • Stranger for hire by app is obsessed with maintaining his 5 star profile
Format: Hardcover
Thank you to the publisher for my copy of Five-Star Stranger. All opinions are my own. From the cover this looks like a light read, but it was deeper and has a darker commentary on our society than I expected. However, I enjoyed reading it, and it made me think - which is impressive for such a short book! Five-Star Stranger centers around our nameless main character who provides an app-based service of being whatever type of person one needs - a date or best man at a wedding, a conversation partner, a companion or “friend”… and he always strives to earn five stars from his clients. His entire life centers around the roles he plays for strangers, including his standing Thursday afternoon role as a father, picking up his now ten year old “daughter” from school and helping her with her homework while making dinner and cleaning the kitchen until her mom comes home, a job he has been doing for eight years. It's obvious to the reader that there will come a time when this arrangement no longer satisfies all involved, and the book follows that plotline, as the main character also deals with some of his own relationship trauma. While it definitely seems over the top, the hiring of strangers isn't all that crazy when you think about it. The main character mentions how he learned that all friendships are transactional, so being a hireable stranger seems like a way to fulfill obligations to another and get paid in money instead of owing a favor, etc. to the other person. The book makes the main character appear as a stranger even to himself. As a person who thinks a lot about friendship and relationships but also really enjoys being alone, my brain was in overdrive while reading this book. I put my thoughts together while on a solo trip to Portland, ME, while trying an amber ale from a new-to-me brewery, and I'm sure my takeaways from this book would be different from many others. If you're looking to think deeply in a relatively short book, this book is a great choice. I'm impressed it is a debut novel! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2024 by B. Colyer
    • the writer seemed bored with her characters and settings and I quickly got bored too
Format: Hardcover
I thought this was going to be an entertaining premise for spinning out a story, but it suffered in the execution. Tang put her main character in a situation that was tough to believe -- him playing a once-per-week father to a young girl, and her believing it. Don't children want to know about their families, grandparents aunts uncles, etc? And wouldn't this imposter have found it impossible to answer any detailed questions about the kid's family? I just couldn't buy it. The girl character was 8 yrs old, I think. She was in any event old enough to have wanted answers and to have not been fooled by the stranger on the app. I think this basically unbelievable set-up made Tang get quickly bored with what she had created. It was stretching credibility too far, for the sake of a story with tight seams. Anyway it really read like she was bored with it. I got no farther in than about 60 pages. Very disappointing. I gave the book to our local free library, hope someone there enjoys it more. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2024 by Donna K.
    • Beautiful story
Format: Hardcover
This book will truly move you. The relationship between the stranger and Lily is one I will not likely forget. What a wonderful book Kat Tang has written.
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2024 by Alejandro Puyana
    • Meh.
Format: Hardcover
Review Image by Ann Marie Norrid
This book definitely has an interesting premise and would lead to some great discussions for a bookclub too, but overall this one didn't do much for me. Tang's book follows an unnamed protagonist as he goes from job to job as a rental stranger. Whether it's being a fake best man, a temporary boyfriend, or a pretend wingman, he always gets a perfect rating and can seamlessly blend into any situation. Only now he's gotten a bit to connected to a family in which he pretends to be the little girl's dad and his entire career may fall apart. This was a solid book. I think it shines best when it shows all the different unique situations that the stranger finds himself in during his job. The gig economy he finds himself in, while fascinating, is still exploitative. While the connections the stranger made didn't always feel genuine for me, I did still found myself rooting for our guy and wanting the best for him. The ending wasn't quite what I was expecting and it seemed like it happened a bit too quickly, it was still satisfying in its own way. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2024 by Ann Marie Norrid

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