Made in China

A Memoir of Love and Labor

By: Anna Qu

Narrated by: Catherine Ho

Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

A young girl forced to work in a Queens sweatshop calls child services on her mother in this powerful debut memoir about labor and self-worth that traces a Chinese immigrant’s journey to an American future.

As a teen, Anna Qu is sent by her mother to work in her family’s garment factory in Queens. At home, she is treated as a maid and suffers punishment for doing her homework at night. Her mother wants to teach her a lesson: She is Chinese, not American, and such is their tough path in their new country. But instead of acquiescing, Qu alerts the Office of Children and Family Services, an act with consequences that impact the rest of her life.

Nearly 20 years later, estranged from her mother and working at a Manhattan start-up, Qu requests her OCFS report. When it arrives, key details are wrong. Faced with this false narrative, and on the brink of losing her job as the once-shiny start-up collapses, Qu looks once more at her life’s truths, from abandonment to an abusive family to seeking dignity and meaning in work.

Traveling from Wenzhou to Xi’an to New York, Made in China is a fierce memoir unafraid to ask thorny questions about trauma and survival in immigrant families, the meaning of work, and the costs of immigration.

©2021 Anna Qu (P)2021 Random House Audio

Lovely book, can be a hard read mentally

I was supposed to read this for class so I left the audiobook on while playing a farming game. I really enjoyed it, and found the performance not distracting at all. The way Anna Qu writes abuse without excusing it is very refreshing. She left a lot of things implicitly said and it had more impact that way. The sudden SA scene caught me off guard and scared me but I guess that was apt for what the scene was supposed to be conveying. Talking to counselors is hard and I hope this shows kids not all CPS agents are evil, I think her CPS agent handled things really well. Some of it "hit too close to home" and was hard to read, especially I think for those also not of a western culture where everything is so quickly labeled as abuse but it's much more complicated when it's ingrained in the culture and isn't directly physically harming you (much).

Incredibly Insightful and Beauitfully Written

Made in China is provocative and jarring. Anna Qu explores her own childhood traumas and the generational trauma that has influenced her. I appreciated the statistics and history she includes to help explain the historical implications of what immigrating to America looks like today.

Story of survival

This is a good story of survival, mostly about her dysfunctional relationship with her Mother. She had so many setbacks and yet she persevered and overcame so much. In a way it was sad because she had little emotional support throughout her lifetime. It seems that in the end she was able to come to accept things.

The overall story was good and it kept ones interest. (there were a couple of swear words, which I generally try to avoid in my listening).

Her writing is very good. The narration was very good as well.

A wonderful heartbreaking memoir

Engrossing from the very beginning. l highly recommend this book. The narrator was perfect.

Sad & Compelling narrative of a troubled mother daughter relationship

This memoir was so moving I listened to it in two sitting. Qu writes with a compelling range of emotions. Her story is both shocking and sad, but it is touched by moments of warmth that provide emotional depth. 10/10 will be recommending to friends/family.