Real Americans

A novel

De: Rachel Khong

Narrado por: Louisa Zhu, Eric Yang, Eunice Wong

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?

Narrators Poor - Story Not Engrossing

I was hoping the hype was real. This story is a mixed bag, I really didn’t care about any characters.
The narrators often mispronounced words.

Didn't do it for me

This was a book that a lot of people said made it to one of their greatest reads of the year. Sadly, it didn’t do the same for me. I loved the narration as I listened to this on audio. It is very easy to listen to. I was listening very intently up until the last leg when it switched to the 3rd POV. It just got boring for me. Am I alone in this?

Chinese perspective broadened my perspective.

Towards the end, the voices didn't seem to match the POV. It was confusing. Multiple stories converge in the end, getting there required paying attention.

Multigenerational mystery and family drama

The book swept me up completely. Rachel Khong’s writing was absolutely beautiful and relatable as the daughter of a Chinese mother myself. The way that she wove three characters’ perspectives together was brilliant and the story itself made me want to stay up late into the night reading. I liked the first two sections/characters better than the third, but overall loved. Fabulous book and highly recommend!!

Beautiful generational story

A compelling tale of a Chinese family's emigration to America and the generational cultural changes that they go through, as well as an interesting science twist.

Relationship story

I thought that the book was a bit shallow and very woke like. I didn’t like many of the ideas there, but there was some interesting parts related to relationships

What a waste of time

Frustrated because this story literally said nothing. And left me with so many questions. I hated how all the characters repeated the same mistakes of their parents. I hated how people pushed people out of their lives who loved them and had done their best to love them, despite flaws and mistakes.

History repeats itself,,,secrets through generations. U

The first part of the book takes place in San Fran with all the young scientists and the struggle to get green cards. And to be an American. The selfsame young characters are pawns in DNA experiments… the sweeping tale takes place over generations . The Power of genetics, epigenetics and the frightening repercussions of gene slicinh

Great read

Loved this book. The audiobook version was very easy to listen to. Liked how the storyline covered several generations.

A clever read

This book is different from books I choose to read. I was captivated by the uniqueness of this author's writing. The narrators were outstanding. The author's writing flowed with such ease. The only drawback in listening and reading this book was the quantity of so much inappropriate language. It took away from the beauty of this author's gorgeous giftedness with words.