Beautiful Country

A Memoir

De: Qian Julie Wang

Narrado por: Qian Julie Wang

An incandescent memoir from an astonishing new talent, Beautiful Country puts readers in the shoes of an undocumented child living in poverty in the richest country in the world.

"Extraordinary…Consider this remarkable memoir a new classic."—Publishers Weekly, *Starred Review*

In Chinese, the word for America, Mei Guo, translates directly to “beautiful country.” Yet when seven-year-old Qian arrives in New York City in 1994 full of curiosity, she is overwhelmed by crushing fear and scarcity. In China, Qian’s parents were professors; in America, her family is “illegal” and it will require all the determination and small joys they can muster to survive.
In Chinatown, Qian’s parents labor in sweatshops. Instead of laughing at her jokes, they fight constantly, taking out the stress of their new life on one another. Shunned by her classmates and teachers for her limited English, Qian takes refuge in the library and masters the language through books, coming to think of The Berenstain Bears as her first American friends. And where there is delight to be found, Qian relishes it: her first bite of gloriously greasy pizza, weekly “shopping days,” when Qian finds small treasures in the trash lining Brooklyn’s streets, and a magical Christmas visit to Rockefeller Center—confirmation that the New York City she saw in movies does exist after all.
But then Qian’s headstrong Ma Ma collapses, revealing an illness that she has kept secret for months for fear of the cost and scrutiny of a doctor’s visit. As Ba Ba retreats further inward, Qian has little to hold onto beyond his constant refrain: Whatever happens, say that you were born here, that you’ve always lived here.
Inhabiting her childhood perspective with exquisite lyric clarity and unforgettable charm and strength, Qian Julie Wang has penned an essential American story about a family fracturing under the weight of invisibility, and a girl coming of age in the shadows, who never stops seeking the light.

Cover photograph © Bud Glick

America NOT SO beautiful

I thought we had come so far as Americans but reading this makes me wonder what really goes on that we close our eyes to as people enter this country looking for a better life!!

A long childhood

This book made me realize that I don’t love memoirs based almost solely on one’s early childhood. I love children but their blow by blow childhood memories are not the stuff of books I enjoy. Some of the cultural aspects of this childhood were interesting but overall the book is sad.

Makes Me Sad

Sorry to think your experience here was so painful. My parents were immigrants from Germany in the early 1900s. There’s was a wonderful experience. The difference was they had someone here who cared about them and help them get started. That’s what every newcomer needs I’m happy to say my experience here as a first generation American has been profound and beautiful.

Great story!

What a very interesting book but it’s also very sad most of the time. You can’t believe that a little 6 year old girl hast to go through so much !!! Certain parts are absolutely going to break your heart so be prepared!!!

Beautiful Country, Beautiful Memoir!

What amazes me most about this book is the detail she uses in her descriptions of the life they forged in their new country, but it's detail from a little girl perspective. It makes me wonder if she was writing a journal or diary at the time, because as an adult many people lose that childhood perspective, but she wrote in such viscerally childlike language at times that it really puts you in her shoes in a way few adult books can. Even though the subject matter is often difficult to hear, her perspective is still in a way refreshing, interesting. It's a beautifully written account of the difficulties of the immigrant experience in the US, and in an age of so much anti-immigrant sentiment, it's an important reminder of just how hard it is to come to a new country with basically nothing and begin a new life. Also for me personally, I'm a white American married to a Chinese woman and living in China, and there was so much I could relate to from a cultural perspective as well. All around, a highly recommended book with great narration by the author.

Incredible Story

I love how the gifted author could describe her experiences through a child’s eyes. Profoundly meaningful story that addresses so many issues undocumented people face.

A phenomenal and heartfelt memoir

This felt like the Hillbilly Elegy for an East Asian immigrant. This story really hit home for me, and I felt a personal kinship with the author and her family that was unique; her struggles, fears, and triumphs felt like they were my own. A wonderful read, and the best book I have read this year.

Powerful and Poignant

As an AAPI immigrant who moved here at 7, I’ve never encountered a book that resonated with me so completely. While Qian’s experiences are uniquely hers, there were so much that paralleled mine.

You can hear how much compartmentalizing and rationalizing has occurred in Qian’s voice. The bitterness she’s swallowed growing up. To be American. To exist. How many of us had our intelligence invalidated because we were immigrants?

Thank you Qian for your vulnerability. It takes so much strength to open that lid.

Immigrating to the US, unlike what so many people want to believe, is not always roses and smooth sailing. It’s not always a dream. It’s often so traumatic and breaks families apart. I sometimes wonder what my life would be like had my family not immigrated. I don’t know. But we’re supposed to be the lucky ones and that’s what I’ve been taught my entire life. Are we lucky?

Moving, Inspiring, Painful, and Hopeful

Beautifully written, with sensory details putting the reader right there inside the story of Quian's childhood. My emotions, too, were right there with her, her mother, and her father. Moving, inspiring, painful, hopeful.

America needs to learn and strive for beauty and fairness.

wow!

amazing writer with an amazing story. ❤ felt and a life that needs to be shared.