Real Americans

This story follows 3 generations of Chinese-Americans, and is told in 3 time periods by 3 of the main characters. Lily is first, telling the story of her relationship with blonde, blue-eyed Matthew, their subsequent marriage and birth of their son Nick (who looks identical to his father). Near the end of her section, Lily learns something about a possible earlier association between her parents (May and Charles) and Matthew’s parents, although we are not sure what the connection is. In the next section, told by Nick about 15 years later, we learn that Lily abruptly left Matthew and moved across the country to Washington State, raising Nick as a single mother. She has also severed the connection with her mother. This section explores show more Nick’s growing interest in finding his father, and their eventual connection (and additional separation). The final section is told a bit later, and by May, who delves into her experiences growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution, and how she and Charles emigrated to America, working as geneticists. May’s story brings all of these interconnected stories together, as she reveals to her grandson, Nick, her background, and what caused the rift between her and Lily.

This all might sound confusing, but it isn’t. In fact, it’s a compulsively readable story that is hard to put down. I read it within the space of a week. At the heart of this story is the question: Who are we, really? What is driving us to become the people we become? If we had the chance to choose who we could be, would we want to do it? And what would be the consequences of such a decision? Lots to think about here. I really enjoyed this book. show less

Rachel Khong wrote the delightful Goodbye Vitamin, and now she has a new novel that takes on three generations of the same family to look at the reasons they split apart and how they might come back together. This novel begins in the middle with Lily Chen, raised by immigrants from China, she feels her mother's disappointment in her lack of purpose, as she works unpaid as an intern and struggles to get by with a series of side gigs. When she meets Matthew, the golden son of a family whose immense wealth is based on their pharmaceutical company, they feel a real connection but their differences may sink their relationship. Then there's Nick, raised by his mother in a small Washington community, feeling like an outsider. Reconnecting with show more his father is fraught, but that's not the only family member he's never had the opportunity to get to know. And finally, the book goes back to the beginning, with a bright, determined girl grows up in rural China, eager to find a way to get to university, but that opportunity is destroyed by the Cultural Revolution and her best chance may be to get out of the country with the young man who wants to leave too.

Often, the different timeline structure doesn't work, but here, Khong keeps the book structured into three distinct sections, so there's no jumping around. She also gives each generation's story a different tone and style to reflect the time in which it is set. Khong writes so well, and is so deliberate in her choices, yet there's an effortlessness to her writing that made the entire novel a lot of fun to read. There's a lot of ground covered in this novel, but at its heart it's the story of family and of forgiveness and learning to understand each other across the generations. I loved this book. show less

Real Americans is a sweeping novel of three generations with each previous generation thinking that they know what the next one wants. Of course, they get it entirely wrong which sets up most of the conflict. It’s an engrossing read that felt longer than it was – but in a good way.

Lily is an unpaid intern in New York who unlike her mother, is not particularly passionate about her career. She’s not scientific and she’s okay with a job that (eventually) pays the bills. She falls in love with Matthew, who is very rich but it’s awkward. She can’t afford nice clothes, so her buys them for her. He has a luxurious apartment, she has a flatmate. Her parents are Chinese immigrants, his are a big American name. The story goes through show more their relationship, before determining that Matthew and Lily share a closer past than they might expect. The timeline then jumps to Lily’s teenage son, Nick. He lives in a tiny community with his strict mother. But teenage boys are wont to explore, and Nick and friend Timothy decide that they will search for Nick’s dad. Finding him means a whole new world opens, but it is what Nick ultimately wants? The final chapter goes back to Lily’s mother May and growing up in China, before coming to America and the difficulties associated with language, work and family.

Each section is just right, telling the reader what they want to know about the main character and just enough about the others to whet an appetite for more. It also explores the conflicts within and between families. Lily knows she is very different from her mother, but isn’t sure as to why her mother dislikes her – or if she even does. She feels as she would never measure up to the ideals placed on her. Her own son Nick feels confined by the rules Lily has put on his life, but also feels betrayed about her lies about their family. It’s May who can put the pieces together for Nick, but will it bring Lily back into their lives?

The story is more than just family. There’s racism, history (the Cultural Revolution in China – those chapters helped me understand more than school ever did), wealth, science and immigration. It could seem like too much when listed like this, but it worked overall. It didn’t feel like issues and themes were being pushed at the expense of the story and characters. The characters are so well written and interesting as their coming of age stories are told that it’s easy to fall into their lives and follow as they make mistakes and revelations about where they sit in the family and universe. It’s a very different novel to Goodbye, Vitamin which didn’t paint all the details but was more a series of vignettes. This is an intricately plotted and detailed story, right down to the order in which plot points are revealed to the reader which makes the ending just right. I enjoyed the detail, the story and the twists.

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The title of this book should have a question mark after Real Americans; the main question and theme throughout the story is both literal and figurative, “What defines real Americans?” Matthew Maier is wealthy and well-bred. His family owns a pharmaceutical company, and they have homes in Florida, the Hamptons, NYC, and elsewhere. Lily is a struggling decorator whose parents, highly educated geneticists, emigrated from China. Matthew and Lily meet and have a tenuous relationship but end up marrying and having a child, Nick.

Nick, although the son of the union of a Caucasian and an Asian, passes for white. When Lily realizes that her mother had conducted a DNA experiment on her and altered her genetic makeup, she leaves Matthew, show more stops talking to her mother, and raises Nick in virtual poverty. As we follow Nick’s growth and relationships, we learn so much about human nature and life in the United States of America. Then, when we learn more about Nick’s grandparents, one set of struggling yet educated immigrants and the other set of well-established upper-crust Americans, we genuinely challenge our assumptions and question how we use technology for the betterment of life.

There are multiple layers to the interpretation of this novel. One question the reader might consider while absorbing the plot is whether there is a difference between a secret and a lie. Another strong theme is latent racism and assumptions about power and powerlessness based on race in America. The morality of personal, scientific, corporate, and cultural decisions permeates the novel. One has to wonder how to define ethics in our modern America. show less

"I'd only wanted my daughter's life to be better than mine."

An amazing, heart-breaking story full of hope, mistakes, and the unflinching, complicated love of mothers. This story is broken in three parts, POV I wish I'd known before I started.

The first part feels like a love story about an unlikely couple. I felt swept up but also curious where the story was going. There are parts about family drama, power, money and race (and racism) - some that felt just below the surface while others were right there, plain in the story. I felt confused but I wanted to know more.

Part 2 will jump many years and bring to to the story of the child, Nick. This story will both give more depth to the first couple and their love story, but also shine a light show more on the previous generations just a bit. It also gives us more of this "time stop" sci-fi part of the story that always felt like it didn't quite belong but I liked the comparisons that are later given for it.

The final story goes all the way back to the beginning, just liked I'd hoped it would. The three stories will bring a full picture of a young couple who wanted more from life. A bright, young, hopeful couple that wanted to come to America and give their kids more. In their push to change their child's futures to look different than their own, every parent wonders - have I done all I could? Did I do more harm than good?

Can I ever be enough? Will my children ever forgive my faults and all my mistakes?

It was such a touching story and I appreciated the little sparks of humor in the midst of all the times my heart broke. I didn't realize I was so emotionally tied into the story until I felt tears looming as I neared the end and had to say goodbye. I will definitely look for more from this author!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book. show less

Real Americans gives us the story of a family in America over the course of three generations. First we get Lily's story, an american born Chinese girl dealing with the feelings of always straddling two worlds - never American enough for the Americans, or Chinese enough for the Chinese. She meets Matthew and falls in love, and then....

We get Nick's story, the son of Matthew and Lily. A teenager in high school, he's never met his father. When he does a DNA ancestry test he suddenly gets the chance to find out the mystery of his past and the other half of his family.

And finally we get the story of Mei Chen, Lily's mother. Raised in China, schooled in Beijing, she comes to American to escape the political violence of her home country, and show more becomes a successful geneticist. But the choices she makes affects not only her own life, but that of her daughter and grandson.

Real Americans covers a lot - racism, generational trauma, trust, betrayal. How parents want to make a better world for their children, but even with the best of intentions can fall short. And how as children, we often carry the baggage our parents handed us without even knowing it's there, or why. And how sometimes we blame them for our traumas without ever understanding how they came about.

This was a beautifully written, sprawling book, but I feel like it fell just an inch or two short of it's promise, and probably only because of how ambitious it was - it tried to take on a A LOT. I think this is a book you can read over and over, and notice new things each time. The ending felt very sudden, and left me feeling unfulfilled. Was anyone really happy in the end? Or were they just resigned? Then again, this is a story about "Real Americans." Does real life typically give us perfectly plotted happy endings? It's never so clean cut, its always messy and we rarely get full closure.

For me, this was a 3 star book, but if you're a fan of coming of age and multigenerational stories, particularly heavily character driven ones, check this one out. show less

LILY: The entirety of this moment was the taste of apple, cool and sweet, like honey, and how much I loved him, how much I felt I was loved. But time moved forward, as it had to, as it always did.

This book was an easy read, with compelling characters and vivid writing. The way Khong explores generational trauma and immigrant experiences was definitely relatable as a Euro-Chinese immigrant. I also love the subtle hints towards Nick's bisexuality (his relationship with Timothy was not platonic and he describes a girl he likes having a "face very near a boy’s").

Focusing on 3 generations (May, Lily, Nick) really underscored what it's like to have a complicated relationship with your parents and empathize with them as you grow and learn show more more about their individual lives separate from you. And what our parents' dreams for us might say about them. Khong captured that feeling really well.

TIMOTHY: She hummed a song to herself while she cooked, and now, when I didn’t recognize it, I wanted to know where it was from. It was a kind of jealousy, or suspicion: Who were you, before me?

However, the 3 sections also left me wanting more of each story. I loved reading how Lily and Matthew fall in love, and it was a shame we had to hear how their relationship fell apart instead of seeing it happen. We at least got to stay with Nick more as he met May, but I wish we got to properly revisit Lily again. I was initially a bit bored at May's section, learning more of her story and relationship to Ping really informed my understanding of Lily, and in turn, Nick.

I'm definitely excited to re-read this in the future—knowing the full story—to understand May, Lily, and Nick better and the whole plot about time and science too. show less