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Title details for Real Americans by Rachel Khong - Available

Real Americans

by Rachel Khong
Louisa Zhu
Audiobook
3 of 15 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
3 of 15 copies available
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?

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    April 30, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593825952
      • File size: 422715 KB
      • Duration: 14:40:39

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 26, 2024
      Khong returns (after Goodbye, Vitamin) with an impressive family drama. It opens in 1999 with 22-year-old narrator Lily, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, scraping by in New York City on an unpaid internship. When she meets über-wealthy and über-handsome Matthew it feels like a fairy tale, but a sense of imbalance between them remains as their relationship develops. Khong then fast-forwards to 2021, when Lily and Matthew’s son, Nick, is a teenager. Lily and Matthew are no longer together or even in contact, though it’s unclear why. Disconnected from his family history, Nick struggles to understand his identity. He reconnects with Matthew but finds the dynamic strained and ultimately relocates to San Francisco, where he crosses paths with his maternal grandmother, May, who narrates the novel’s third section, set in 1960s China. Young, ambitious May (then called Mei Ling) attends Peking University on the eve of the Cultural Revolution. Khong is both a perceptive prose stylist and an accomplished storyteller, and she shines brightest when portraying differing cultural styles of parental love (“It wasn’t American,” Nick thinks at one point, “for to love as much as she did”). Khong reaches new heights with this fully-fledged outing. Agent: Marya Spence, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      A trio of talented narrators immerses listeners in the thorny multigenerational story of a Chinese American family. The audiobook opens in 1999 as 22-year-old Lily, voiced with matter-of-fact directness by Louisa Zhu, meets charismatic, impossibly wealthy Matthew. Despite Lily's initial reservations, largely fueled by Matthew's intimidating family, the two marry and have a son. Later, listeners learn that the son, Nick, has grown up with no knowledge of his father's identity. Eric Yang's measured portrayal of Nick captures his confusion over his perplexing upbringing and growing bitterness as he uncovers long-buried secrets. Eunice Wong closes out the story with her portrayal of Lily's mother, May. Wong channels May's youthful intensity and the regretful understanding that marks her later years. A wholly absorbing family drama. S.A.H. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      September 13, 2024

      When Nick Chen, sensitively portrayed by narrator Eric Yang, meets his grandmother May, her voice brings three generations of Chinese Americans together across difficult episodes of sacrifice, love, and loss. May, voiced with openness and regret by narrator Eunice Wong, had hoped that her daughter Lily would find her life's purpose independently. For her part, Lily, whose clear-eyed directness is captured by Louisa Zhu, raised Nick alone, wishing he would surpass her wildest dreams. With an uncanny talent in common--being able to make time stop, stretch, then collapse back into itself--May, Lily, and Nick use their gift in ways that are at once a blessing and a curse. Listeners will hear how the Chens overcome past wrongs, setting an example for today's far-flung Americans to seek connections, reconciliation, and understanding when generational memories start to fade. VERDICT Khong's (Goodbye, Vitamin) narrative sheds new light on being the caretaker of one's own complex origin story. Listeners will find the Chens' journey a testament to the complexities of what it means to be a "real" American.--Sharon Sherman

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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