Knopf Publishing Group
Real Americans: A Read with Jenna Pick
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - READ WITH JENNA'S MAY BOOK CLUB PICK - From the award-winning author of Goodbye, Vitamin How far would you go to shape your own destiny? An exhilarating novel of American identity that spans three generations in one family and asks: What makes us who we are? And how inevitable are our futures?
"Mesmerizing"--Brit Bennett - "A page turner."--Ha Jin - "Gorgeous, heartfelt, soaring, philosophical and deft"--Andrew Sean Greer - "Traverses time with verve and feeling."--Raven Leilani
Real Americans begins on the precipice of Y2K in New York City, when twenty-two-year-old Lily Chen, an unpaid intern at a slick media company, meets Matthew. Matthew is everything Lily is not: easygoing and effortlessly attractive, a native East Coaster, and, most notably, heir to a vast pharmaceutical empire. Lily couldn't be more different: flat-broke, raised in Tampa, the only child of scientists who fled Mao's Cultural Revolution. Despite all this, Lily and Matthew fall in love.
In 2021, fifteen-year-old Nick Chen has never felt like he belonged on the isolated Washington island where he lives with his single mother, Lily. He can't shake the sense she's hiding something. When Nick sets out to find his biological father, the journey threatens to raise more questions than it provides answers.
In immersive, moving prose, Rachel Khong weaves a profound tale of class and striving, race and visibility, and family and inheritance--a story of trust, forgiveness, and finally coming home.
Exuberant and explosive, Real Americans is a social novel par excellence that asks: Are we destined, or made? And if we are made, who gets to do the making? Can our genetic past be overcome?
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Book Details
ISBN:
9780593537251
EAN:
9780593537251
Binding:
Hardcover
Pages:
416
Authors:
Rachel Khong
Publisher:
Knopf Publishing Group
Published Date: 2024-30-04
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I was hesitant to read the book because I thought it would be just another story of an immigrant. But it had a really new perspective. It kind of started in the middle of the story and went to current time and then back to the earliest and oldest of the characters. It was interesting too and that it contained a mystery. The author does a great job of making the characters come alive and of making it relevant the reader.
A wonderful reminder to live in the present rather than dwell in the past or worry about the future .
I found myself interested in the characters but not invested in them. Many of the characters' problems are of their own making... cutting themselves off from people who love or care about them or failing to provide what people need. I found the "inflection point" of the book somewhat confusing: scientists alter a baby's genes and... the baby's appearance changes? So? I think there were more opportunities in the novel than were used and found it weighted down by too much, too long backstory and the slow unfolding of family secrets. Well written, and I look forward to another book by the author with possibly more excitement, faster pacing and higher stakes.
A story told from 3 different perspectives. How it feels to be young and different. Not quite sure if you even want to fit in. A young man searching for something he can't define. An old woman comes to terms with her mistakes. Being a headstrong woman in a world that makes you feel as though that is a flaw. LIVE life unapologetically.
I had to go back and reread different parts so i could remember who was who. Loved the book. Everyone at my book club felt the same way and got a thumbs up. The last chapter, about Grandma growing up in China, i coudnt put the book down. Good reading.
