Beautiful indeed. I don't know how to describe how this made me feel but know that various parts of it have lingered in my mind. Wang's parents were professors in China but in the US they found themselves confined to manual labor due to their undocumented status. The images of Wang's mother working in the sweatshop and the sushi factory, with Qian by her side are indelible. Then there's Qian and her struggles in school, with hunger (the family had a $20 food budget for the week), her cat. And her one pair of shoes each year, bought from Payless. It's hard ro review memoirs because it often feels as though the author's life or life choices are being judged. That's not the case here. Wang has written a memoir which is both heartbreaking and inspiring. The sheer determination of this family is amazing. While their experience is unique to them, it's also a good reminder of what the undocumented child (and family) faces. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Can't recommend this impressive memoir more strongly.

4.5 stars

This was a book that I could have sat down and read in a day or I could read a little bit every day and reflect. I chose the latter and I think that was the right decision for me. Qian Julie Wang came to America when she was 7, two years after her Baba had already left China in order to make a better life for their family where he didn't have to worry about being taken away by the police for speaking out against the government. The reality is that when she arrived, they had to hide who they were because of the fear of being deported for being undocumented. Thus, her father, who was an English Professor, was now working menial jobs for very little, and her mother, who was a Mathematics Professor worked in sweatshops, often joined by 7-year-old Qian. The extreme racism they experienced, not just by Americans, but also by Cantonese (who looked on Mandarin-speaking Chinese as beneath them) was often appalling, but not exactly surprising. The fear of being discovered kept them in a cage of extreme poverty and changed what had been a very happy marriage and family into one that was often contaminated with fear, anger, and depression. the school she attended for elementary school was not any better as she experienced bullying and taunts from the other students. She dealt with words that constantly tore her down, not just from the students, but from teachers (one in particular who just about accused her of plagiarism because he didn't believe she could write something as amazing as she did), and even from her own father. As you can imagine, she internalized many of these voices, which led to her either lying about things or hiding things, including what must have been a fractured wrist. In the midst of all this, her mother because seriously ill and it took all she could to force herself to call 911 to get help. Through all of this, words and books became her best friend and ultimately, they are probably what saved her and inspired her to reach for her dreams. Her writing is filled with the emotions of her young 7-12-year-old selves, whether it's anger, fear, anxiety, depression, laughter, confidence, etc. Although the writing is occasionally uneven, I thought that this was an amazing book for a debut author and I can tell she has a wonderful relationship with words.

I think this is a book that everyone should read as it helps us to see the perspective of the undocumented. Ultimately, they are as human as anyone else, and they are just trying to create as good a life for themselves and their children, just like those who are citizens. It was extra humbling to see how their experience with Canada was completely different from their initial experience with America. Eventually, she made it back to America to attend law school and she met a Judge who ended up inspiring her and mentoring her as she began her law career and I believe it led to her telling her story. For many years, her initial time in America was something she stomped down and hid not just from the world, but from herself as well. I hope that more people will read this book and perhaps change their minds about the undocumented.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book began with a gushing proclamation by the publishers about how it is poised to become one of the greatest, most memorable memoirs of all time.

And I strongly agree.

Qian Julie Wang tells the story of her childhood as she immigrates over to New York City from China when she is only 7 years old. The 5-6 years that follow are a stark and shocking first person look at how so many members of American society were forced to live, and what they were forced to do to survive.

It puts it into perspective to remember where I was in 1994, as a 14 year old enjoying cheerleading practice, being encouraged to buy as many books as I wanted by my parents, and having an entire closet full of clothing to choose from when I went to decide what to wear that day.

To know that there were many children working in sweatshops in Chinatown, just a few miles from where my parents were taking me to see Broadway shows, at the exact same time, fills me with shame and a feeling of helplessness.

Wang's story may have taken place 25 years ago, but that doesn't mean children and adults aren't suffering from the same fate right now. Most of the time, it's happening behind what seems like an innocuous door that you've never paid attention to before.

I am breathless after reading this book. I hope that it explodes into the sensation the publishers believe it will, because sometimes only stories like this are able to make a difference in a country full of ignorance, and devoid of so much compassion.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Doubleday and Qian Julie)Wang for an ARC of this book!**

On that run, only one thing kept pace with me, and it was not hunger. It was fear. Fear was all I tasted; fear was all I contained; fear was all I was.

Young Qian Qian travels to New York City with her Ma Ma and Ba Ba, far from their success and comfort in China to seek a better life in Mei Guo ("The Beautiful Country"). Like so many, however, their journey to America not only fails to give them the life they had before, but actually turns the tide for the worse. Qian's parents are both intelligent, professors in their own right: and yet, all America can afford them are the dark and dank confines of sweatshops and other menial labor, where Qian herself is by her mother's side to snip threads and collect coins, even at her tender age. School doesn't prove much easier for Qian, as her classmates are quick to scoff at her impoverished lifestyle, and she instead finds refuge in books, toys, and PBS shows and the occasional lucky find (Polly Pockets, for one) on the streets of New York City. As Qian deals with shady businessmen with questionable motives, Ba Ba's sometimes unbridled anger, and Ma Ma's untimely sickness, Qian fears each day could be her last in America. Can this young woman stand firm, hold steady, and find the Beautiful Country she has always envisioned...and make it her own?

I have always been drawn to memoir, but I have never TRULY identified with an author the way I did with Qian. This is in part because we have so much in common: we both grew up enamored with the written word, in love with Charlotte's Web, fascinated with Polly Pockets, lusting after Tamagotchis, drawn to the easy-breezy lives of the Wakefield Twins in Sweet Valley High and the powerful friendships of the girls in the Babysitter's Club, and we actually are the same age. Descriptions of Qian's self doubt and isolation also rang true with me, though we have vastly different life experiences. Though I've always been 'native' to the United States, ideologically I have always felt like I didn't TRULY belong in one way or another. Qian experienced all of this: but SO much more.

My heart broke over and over for her, but at the same time, I admired her unfailing resilience and determination to care for her parents and stand firm, no matter what the cost. She is a selfless and beautiful soul, and the fact that the 'rules' of a country or a sheet of paper could reduce her to a human considered "less than" in the eyes of the law is sickening to me. Her very essence even comes into question as her teacher can't comprehend that a Chinese immigrant could produce an out-of-this-world essay and assumes it MUST be plagiarized. Truly shocking, and yet, thinly veiled xenophobia hurts our nation today more than ever.

This memoir is heavy, emotional, and unlike anything I've ever read before. Although I won't reveal how Qian's journey ends, the last chapter was both heart-wrenching and hopeful, and Qian's author's note nearly left me in tears. She couldn't have picked a better time to bring her story to the world and I am so grateful to have read it.
Qian is a bold and brave woman who is finally allowed to define herself by what she is, rather than what she is not.. An absolute stunner of a debut! 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5

This book is so very interesting and well written that I was sad when I finished it. Ms. Wang's ability to make the story full of texture and feeling is amazing. I loved the flow of this story. As a first-generation American, I could relate to some of her experiences and emotions. You learn about so many subjects that I wanted it to continue so I could learn even more.

🗽🛂Beautiful Country? An eye opening account of a child's struggles to fit in 🌇

Qian Julie Wang's debut effort is moving: a revelatory glimpse into the traumatic life of an undocumented immigrant child to American shores. In reading of her family struggles and the constant battle with hunger and poverty, I was reminded of the comfort and abundance that I and many fellow Americans take for granted.

This memoir focuses on Qian's first few years in America, the Beautiful Country, when the learning curve for a seven-year-old Chinese child who arrived with nothing thrust into American life was steep. But Qian has her love of reading and family, particularly her frail MaMa, to sustain her. The tale of their struggles and fear of standing out thus risking discovery and deportation is heartbreaking at times. But the end result is both sad and hopeful: inspiring and a story well worth reading. Told from a child's perspective, the writing is clear yet descriptive and engaging. Some Mandarin dialogue is left unexplained and untranslated, but in the context of the story the meaning is evident.

Wholeheartedly recommended.

Thanks to Doubleday and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

Memoirs, especially when well told, have a way to sticking with you the reader. This is well told and I think is going to stick with me. Wang's memories of her childhood growing up in fear and poverty with her undocumented family is insightful and impactful. While a challenging read in many respects it also highlights the resilience and hope that carries survival. Since this is coming from her childhood memories, it gives a unique lens and perspective that carries with it childhood honesty and innocence.

There are a lot of cultural markers that make up our author's childhood that I related to as well when reading this as I too grew up with the same PBS kids shows, the same childhood books, and also the same toys like her tamagotchi. While not having anywhere near the childhood struggles she had, I think it is easy to relate to the escape and comfort (especially books) these things can provide. The fact that books were often her companions is something I think any bookish person can relate to.

I think this is one that memoir and nonfiction readers should definitely put on their radar. It is one I think many will appreciate. If you are not a typical nonfiction reader, I would still say to keep this on your radar. I think if you give it the time, it will be a book that you appreciate. I know that "I don't often read nonfiction, but when I do...it is memiors like these..." - April "Dos Equis" Perdomo

Yeah, alright, I had to end on a goofy note, but you know me. I think I am built of coffee, peanut butter, and inner Dad jokes.

What an important book, especially with what’s going on in the world right now. I don’t know if I’d necessarily compare it to Educated or The Glads Castle, but it is something I would recommend regardless!

Thank you Doubleday Books, NetGalley and Author for this readers ebook copy in return for an honest review!

Beautiful Country by Wang is a beautifully written memoir of growing up as an undocumented immigrant.
This book ripped my hear out! I couldn't imagine the fear and always looking over your shoulder in fear of being undocumented.
Wang paints true picture of what life is like for so many undocumented people!
It honestly breathtaking how she can make the reader feel all.these emotions right along with this family!
This writing is beyond stunning! It really gets you thinking and I hope many readers who read this memoir think.... How many more families and children are living like this family?
It truly made me open my eyes!
Everyone should this beautiful and engaging story!
This deserves a 100 star review! 😍

Qian Julie Wang.... Your story broke my heart but also opened my eyes! Thank you for such a mind blowing, heartfelt memoir! 😘
Doubleday thank you for thank you for the opportunity to read this!

Thanks again NetGalley, Publisher and Author for the chance to read and review this amazing book!
I'll post to my Social media platforms closer to pub date!

A memoir of Qian’s arrival to the United States in 1994 as a seven year old depicts just how difficult it is for some to emigrate to a new country. They face so many barriers from language to culture shock to racism to poverty. Qian herself struggled with all of the above, plus the loneliness inherent in growing up in a household with parents who are estranged. My heart went out to a young Qian, struggling to find her way in Mei Guo. Every day was such a struggle for her. The fact that she taught herself to read using familiar books like the Berenstain Bears was a bright spot in her life. Her interactions with her peers in school made me feel so sad. What should have been a safe place for her became a place she wanted to avoid.
Her mother and father had their own problems to overcome. Their lack of empathy and/or support for Qian broke my heart. She had no one to turn to, no one to encourage her as a seven year old who couldn’t speak or understand the language in her new home. The trips to McDonald’s with Lao Jim and her reaction to her first bite of pizza exacerbated the daily dilemma she had of constant poverty and hunger. She grew up with the additional stress of feeling responsible for both her mother and father. This book certainly provided me with a new lens, enabling me to see the issues that so many people face when they come to the United States.
Many thanks to Qian Julie Wang, Doubleday Books, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an arc of this book, soon to be published on September 7th.

BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY is memoir about Qian Julie Wang's undocumented life in America.

Wang was a seven-year-old Chinese girl who arrived in New York City in 1994. In addition to the cultural shock, she faced rejection, bullying and blatant racism. Although being a Chinese immigrant like Wang, it was still utterly interesting to see her adaptation to and first contact with Western culture. It shows that even in similar backgrounds, our lived experiences as Chinese diaspora aren't homogeneous - we are not a monolith.

Wang lived in poverty and self-learned English - the thread of trauma is woven into her, which sweet memories walked in parallel with her deepest childhood traumas; and hunger was a constant in contrast to the warm pictures of family's meal time (back in Zhong Guo). In her quest to become less immigrant and more an American citizen, I could empathize with her fear of being caught as Wang was often haunted in her dreams by police officer/uniformed man ready to deport her. What also partly resonated with me was her admiration for her mother and it evoked many hidden emotions. Last but not least, the usage of Chinese pin yin throughout this book warmed my heart.

The approachable prose and eloquent words made me flew through the pages. Ringing with power and vulnerability, this is a memoir of resilience that leads towards hope and dreams of an American family. Wang dares to dream, lives intentionally in a country that at first refuses to recognize her yet fights against the invisibility that shadows her very existence. A beautiful memoir!

Who can forget the iconic picture of the Afghan baby being passed over the wall into the waiting arms of the Marine Soldiers? Who could forget the anguished looks of parents trying to get their children and themselves to safety in order to secure a better life. Qian's book describing her resettlement in NYC from China aroused similar feelings regarding the life of immigrants, particularly illegal immigrants. While Qian's parents were educated professionals in their home country, here they could barely get by with menial jobs. Money was extremely tight, the constraint of not knowing the language, the constant fear of being discovered colored their daily lives. Qian lived with a sense of filial responsibility and from early on learned how to be independent as she navigated the streets to her mother's sweat shop, then to school, and then conquering the subway system at such a young age. While her parents were loving to each other in China, the pressures of life in America pulled them apart making them silent accomplices to Qian's confused mental state. Yet, there are moments of great levity as Qian expertly guides us with a child's voice throughout the novel.The novel moves on while the undocumented status continues to paint and color their lives. This is a book that tore my heart out. Save reading her biography until the end. It will make this heartfelt novel even more precious.

What a beautiful yet heartbreaking book! The title refers to the Chinese words for America-Mei Guo-which translates to "beautiful country". During the reading of this memoir, I often felt that it was anything but.
Qian is 7 when she and her parents immigrate from China to NYC. In China, she is a happy tomboy-the child of two college professors. In the US, she is the victim of pervading fear and poverty. Her mother is reduced to working in a sweatshop (sometimes with 7 year old Qian at her side) while her father to working in a laundry. They live on a food budget of $20 a week in a shared home where there is no privacy. Qian's father tells her to repeat the lie that she was born in America so that they are not caught and deported.
Qian struggles to fit in and is the victim of racism and sexism as a child. Her parents don't support her-instead she sees herself as her mother's caretaker while her parents fight amongst themselves.
Even through all of this dark material, there are bright spots-a Christmas visit to Rockefeller center, Qian's love of books and the library. She teaches herself English by reading about the Berenstein Bears.
Really lovely prose-I just wish that she had had an easier childhood.
Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday books for this ARC in return for my honest review.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

This book is a heavy but beautiful story about a young girl's life in New York as an undocumented Chinese immigrant. We see her confusion about how she should interact with the police/government, how she was treated at school (that was the most interesting storyline to me--her fifth grade teacher is a great example of what NOT to do), and why her family's life in America is so different from their life in China. I thought the author's writing was gorgeous, and I recommend this book if you're in the mood for a serious, thought-provoking memoir.

Round up from 3.5 to 4.
Powerful, disturbing, difficult to read, but a necessary eye opener. I could have done without the thought interruption that goes with intuiting what the Cantonese phrases meant.

4.5, rounded up. A heartbreaking memoir of the Asian immigrant experience, and one I'd never seen described before in its depiction of being an undocumented immigrant. Wang's honesty and grace in sharing her story is so impressive, especially with the way she captures the story through her younger self's eyes, with a thoughtfulness that doesn't allow her adult voice to take over. I appreciate Wang's tight focus on those five years of her life, but I admit I did want more of her life story when I finished it.

While my grandfather also emigrated from Asia to New York City, though in a different era and a different circumstance, I couldn't help but picture him walking through Chinatown decades before and think about the trauma of his own experience. I hope we see more stories of Asian immigrants and the Asian American experience, and this is a stunning entry to that canon.

This memoir is a stunning piece of literature. Told mostly through the author's childhood years, the narrator's voice is nevertheless one of the strongest I have ever read. Beautiful Country is a critical addition to American literature; read this book.

A beautifully written and eloquently detailed memoir of an undocumented childhood in NYC. I felt heartbroken for Qian at so many times and then other times I was cheering her on as she continued to succeed. The life of an undocumented family living in America was a real eye-opener for me. Some of the details seem beyond belief and I'm better for knowing them now. This is an important story to have told. It will stay with me for a long time.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Beautiful Country: A Memoir by Qian Julie Wang
Expected publication date: September 7, 2021

Date read: August 27, 2021



In Chinese, the word for "America" - Mei Guo - translates directly to "beautiful country".

When Qian arrived in New York City in 1994, she was just seven years old. Her father had come to America a few years before, and now she and her mother were joining him. In China, her parents were professors. In America, as illegal immigrants, they are barely scraping by, working jobs in sweatshops and going "shopping" on the side of the road. Speaking almost no English, Qian teaches herself the language through books and learns about her new country through American television. When the stress of this new life begins to break her parents, Qian does her best to keep her family together, never losing hope of a better life.

This was a wonderfully written memoir. Wang is able to perfectly capture what her childhood was like, to the point that I often forgot that I was hearing an adult tell the story. Her childhood was harsh and unimaginable, but Wang was able to tell her story with a mix of truthfulness and hopefulness, never glossing over the difficult times, but also not complaining about them. To her, as a child, this was just the way things were.

As a white, middle-class American, it's difficult to accept sometimes that this was reality for a number of people as recently as the 1990s (and I have no doubt that its still true for many people today.) This memoir, in a way that wasn't at all preachy or angry, showed what many people are willing to do in order to achieve the opportunities they believe that this "beautiful country" can offer them if they work hard enough for it.

Note: While this book itself is not at all political, there is a forward by the author that briefly discusses the recent political climate and how it led her to finally tell her story.

Overall I found this to be a really well-written memoir about Qian Wang's childhood in America. I loved hearing her story, and found it an easy read despite the subject matter - while it was often serious, the fact that it was all being told from the child's point of view helped keep the tone light. I'm glad I read this one.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Trigger warnings: racism/racial slurs

When I finally set down Beautiful Country to gather my thoughts, I quickly realized I needed more time to process what author Qian Julie Wang shares in her memoir. It took Wang many years more. She has managed to take us on an extraordinary journey of personal healing.

Her earliest years spent in China, Qian’s family immigrated illegally to the United States to settle in Brooklyn, New York when she was . From there a powerfully rendered story unfolds—of upheaval and resilience, loneliness and familial connection, reconciliation and empowerment. While I could feel these universal themes permeate deeply throughout the narrative, Wang even more masterfully navigated the difficulties of chronologizing her experiences in vignettes. In each, she spoke with unembellished prose, inhabiting her mindset as a child to recount her memories while infusing her reflections through her adult perspective.

During the Cultural Revolution, her parents, both educated professors, make the decision to leave China. Her father brings them illegally to America, a place which translates literally from Chinese, Mei Guo, to beautiful country. But the reality is, America is steeped in myths of freedom and opportunity that mask a deep well of racism and poverty and suffering.

With her entire life uprooted and her identity fractured, the fear that Qian and her family might be deported at any moment is a suffocating millstone hung upon their necks. Qian and her parents must reckon ceaselessly with the manifestations of physical and emotional trauma—cultural shock, poverty, fear, hunger, and sickness. Her complex relationships with her parents, classmates, and self are proffered with emotional authenticity. Though her illegality equates to secrets, she has given us the privilege to be right up against the glass window looking into her life, or even directly in the room with Qian, as she unearths these hidden troves of her childhood.

Beautiful Country, exploring the magnetic throughline of a girl’s remarkable coming-of-age as an undocumented immigrant, ultimately draws the curtain on the entangled and bitter truths of America. With none of her hurt, flaws, and hopes sugar-coated, this reconstructed patchwork of her youth is cogent proof that Qian Julie Wang is an ember brilliantly burning away and reforging the idea of America as a “Beautiful Country.”

Many thanks to Netgalley and Doubleday Books for an advance reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.