Immigration, undocumented, struggles from a childhood prospective. Coming from China to New York as a child, American lawyer Qian Julie Wang shares her story. The book will stay with me , it’s a beautiful memoir.

Thank you #NetGalley, #Doubleday, #PenguinRandomHouse, #QianJulieWang and #BeautifulCountry for the book for my honest review.

An eye opening, well told account of the author’s harrowing childhood as an undocumented child in New York City.

The Chinese word for America is "Mei Guo", which means "beautiful country" (on a side note, the word for America in Korean is based off Chinese, "mi-gook" and also means beautiful country). Author Qian Julie Wang had a shock coming to New York City as a child to find a place that did not welcome her with open arms as an undocumented immigrant.
As a librarian, I absolutely love that the place where Wang found refuge was her local library.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel, as Wang became successful as a lawyer, but the path there was certainly not a bed of roses. Some details about her parent's actions seem to be missing, but that could very well be that her parents did not share certain details about their struggles with their child. I still loved it and would recommend it to fans of memoirs.

This was heartbreaking and beautiful. So painful and yet I couldn’t stop reading it. I struggled a bit with the length of the book, but honestly it’s such a small qualm.

Seeing New York City in the 1990’s through the eyes of a seven-year-old is a unique perspective in and of itself, but when that child has also just immigrated from another country it makes it even more exclusive, and quite gut-wrenching.

I cannot even begin to imagine how hard it must be for immigrants to adapt, not only to a new environment, but obstacles imposed by those that hold prejudice. I have never, and will never, understand prejudice, and how people can hate other people for things that are out of their control, yet it happens every day, and I will never not be angry about the unfairness of it all.

This memoir actually reads like a novel, which I appreciated and admired. I can’t help but wonder if the author wrote it this way to help her cope with what she went through, and to help her see the situation through a different lens. I ended up listening to the audiobook as well as reading the story, and hearing the author’s voice was truly powerful and added such depth and emotion to her story.

Through the lens of Qian Julie Wang, Beautiful Country is the story of her family immigrating to the US from China, eventually becoming undocumented when their temporary visas ran out. In China both of her parents held jobs of high esteem, but in New York they restored to menial grunt work in deplorable places just to survive, and lived in utter poverty. It broke my heart that all of this happened so recently, and that there are so many that have to live like this now.

Though the main focus is on Qian’s childhood, I was so glad to read how things worked out into her adulthood, and where her family ended up. Qian is a fighter and reading her heartbreaking upbringing made me so grateful for the childhood that I had. I grew up very poor, but I also never had to worry about where my next meal would come from, and had both my parents there by my side. I took for granted just how lucky I was.

This was such a beautifully written, impactful novel and though it was hard to read at times it opened my eyes to a fresh perspective and is a story everyone should hear.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and Doubleday (publisher) for granting me early access to an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I gave this book 4 stars.

This is a memoir that takes the reader through Qian and her family's experiences in China and emigrating to the US. It tells of struggles, hardship within and without the family, as well as in each of their members.

As an immigrant myself, I related quite closely to rejection for being a foreginer, emotional issues because you're mourning your old life and your own country, the people you left behind. However, Qian's family had problems I've never had to go through, such as arriving to a place whose language you don't speak, being treated inhumanly for the colour of your skin or inner family struggles that I never suffered when travelling because I have no family. I reckon everything has its positive side.

It also shows that people don't really change, but adapt or not to new situations in life which, at some point, shows other aspects of their personality that had not been seen before. We all have the good, the bad and the ugly inside; it's up to each individual and the tools they have to cope, what side comes to the surface.

Back to the book, the writing style made it an easy and fast read, not being simplistic at all, but blunt and honest.

There were only two objections for me. One is I cannot understand how she could continue loving her father. I totally get that family is sacred in certain cultures and you cannot just unlove them, but there are limits to things. Anyway, that's just a personal opinion and she has every right to love him has much as she wants.

The second thing was that were were given some details that were unnecessary for the reader, but I also get why Qian deemed them important. It is her life anyway that's being told.

All in all, I do recommend this memoir, even if you're not used to reading them.

This was one of the best immigrant stories I’ve read. Qian writes in a style so vivid and moving. This is one I’ll be thinking about for a long time.

Lately I feel like immigration memoirs have been providing me with such a powerful learning tool. Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang is most certainly one such case.

Qian came to the United States as a young child when her father had to leave the country due to his lack of ability to express himself freely. He had left first and then Qian and her mother followed later. When Qian arrived she was taught to say she was born in the US and could not let anyone find out her true status or she could be deported. Her parents were both well-educated professors in China but in the US they were forced to work in menial jobs and sweat shops to survive. Qian would also work in the sweat shops when she was not in school. Qian worked very hard and taught herself English despite being put in classes for very low functioning students for a period of time in school. As she went through the educational system she had to learn to play the game where she couldn't turn in papers that were too good for fear of being accused of cheating. She was able to survive and in the end thrive becoming a Yale educated lawyer.

As I teacher I feel this book was so very enlightening and provided me with so many takeaways. I also teacher a class for future teachers and this is a book I have referenced many times throughout reading to the course. I defintely recommend them picking it up to read.

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I really enjoyed reading it the plot was interesting and the characters made me want to know more about them. I highly recommend.

This is an essential and truly American story, one that shows us the importance of treating all we meet with kindness, especially those coming to the country to start new lives.

This is a DNF at 40%. I appreciate the struggles of Wang as an undocumented immigrant, but the writing feels childlike with a lot of metaphors. The timeline is stuck on toys and hunger and it hasn’t moved much out of her primitive years. There is not much mention of the parents struggles, just of the toys the author couldn’t have. I think it is just not the memoir/style of writing for me. I appreciate the opportunity to review this title.

LOVED! I loved this book. What an emotional, devastating roller coaster. I think this is such an important read when we talk about immigration in the US. It makes me so sad how this family had to go to Canada to receive any real assistance, whereas America was fine to watch this family and young child suffer or face deportation. The authors prose was poetic and lovely to listen to.

Beautiful Country is a raw and real memoir. From beginning to end, I was fascinated by the authors family journey and story. I think it is important for more stories like Qian’s to be published. Her story was written beautifully and I hope to read more from her in the future.

This is not only a story of immigration and growing up undocumented. It is a moving and often heartbreaking tale of dreams, fear, and survival. The way in which Qian Julie Wang describes her personal journey makes it impossible not to feel the emotion and pain depicted on the pages. Highly recommend this powerful memoir.

Qian Julie Wang’s debut memoir Beautiful Country, is about a child who has no hand and no control in an immigration decision, a child who perhaps has no knowledge of that decision, a child whose mother hides an illness for fear of what a doctor's visit will mean for her undocumented family, a child who has no home other than the known neighborhoods of New York. What is to become of this undocumented child as she becomes an adult? Where is home?

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2022/12/beautiful-country.html

Reviewed for NetGalley.

I’ll never tire of reading another person’s life story. I love memoirs, and this one was no exception. I learned so much from Qian’s story: a life I can only imagine. Thanks to netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I guess I was expecting something else when I requested this book. I pictured more of a non-fiction memoir that examines the trauma of immigration and poverty. However, for me, this read more like an autobiography in which the author's life details were laid out chronologically and her life events weren't that interesting or unique. Not to invalidate her experience as I'm sure she encountered many challenges and trauma but it wasn't portrayed or carved out very well in the book.

It would've been more engaging to write a biography of her dad or mom or even her grandparents as those tidbits were the parts that I wanted to know more about.

This book just didn't work for me although the author did a nice performance on the audio version. Lots of high praising reviews so might be a story worth trying for yourself.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A story of love, a story of survival, a story of immigration and heartache.

A story if strength and one I won’t soon forget.

A wonderful debut novel. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this copy.

It is so hard to judge a memoir, and even harder being written from a childs side.

It wasn't fair for her and her mother to be going through, when the father knew the routine and still letting their visas expire. If he's working with people today know the routine, it's not impossible and they don't always get rejected. If her parents had great jobs where they lived, what enticed him to come here and then become "illegal:"?

I did feel sorry for the way she was treated as a child. Children are so cruel to other children and not being taught my many. Her mother should not have never been sweat shop worker, along with herself the times she was in there. People running those need to be stopped.

I am glad that life highly improved for her and her mother, it was just hard to keep the book going without putting it down many times.

I thank the author sending me the link before the book came ot though Netgalley.

Memoirs are usually tough to rate and review because it’s the author’s life and experience, but Beautiful Country is an exception- it’s a beautifully written memoir! Ms. Wang takes us through her childhood arriving in New York City at seven years old, full of wonder and curiosity but also overwhelming and daunting. Not speaking the language and just trying to adapt & adjust to new surroundings. She writes about her parents’ struggles with parenting and working just trying to survive in a new country. It’s raw, emotional, and honest about being an immigrant. I highly recommend this book! Thank you to Doubleday Books for a gifted copy.