“Well, isn’t it nice to know, Qian Qian, that we’re not alone?” But I didn’t think it was nice at all. It didn’t seem right that there were many more people out there feeling alone and homesick and hungry in the same moments when we were feeling those things. Hundreds of lonely people, I figured, was far worse than three lonely people.”

TITLE—Beautiful Country
AUTHOR—Qian Julie Wang
PUBLISHED—September 2021

GENRE—memoir, nonfiction
SETTING—the story begins in China and continues in America (in 1994, when the MC moves to the US, she is 7 years old)
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—immigration, undocumented immigrant experience, Chinese-American identity, fear, poverty, oppression, corruption, exploitation, trauma, family, community, coming of age

WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️

“I did not need to turn to Ba Ba to know that he would have no questions. He asked fewer and fewer questions in America. Somehow, by leaving China, Ba Ba had grown more Chinese, starting to adopt our government’s silly ideas about how asking questions was bad and disrespectful. He took on the form of what America expected of us: docile, meek. He had even started teaching me the importance of keeping my head down, of not asking any questions or drawing any attention, seemingly forgetting that he had taught me the exact opposite in China.”

There are an infinite number of individuals differing perspectives and life experiences and reading is a great way to expose yourself to as many of them as possible and this book certainly did that for me. This book taught me a lot and I’m so glad I got the chance to read it. ❤️

A couple observations:
- I couldn’t get over the fact that the author and I are the same age. So while she was describing what her life was like as a seven-year-old, in the same country, at the same time, as I was growing up as a seven-year-old… it was really surreal. Especially when she and I actually had a lot of similar life experiences (due to both of our family’s extreme poverty, obviously not bc I have any idea what it’s like to be an undocumented immigrant) but her story about the hello kitty pencil, the polly pockets, and the tamagotchi, and her experiences at school with lunch vouchers and becoming a bully in order to compensate for her lack of self esteem due to the traumas of poverty in her friend group, and her experience of the public library as a huge sanctuary… There was so much I related to on such a deep level! 😅

- I was a little confused about how I was supposed to feel about the fact that the author seemed to feel that NYC was her “real” home, and she ended up falling in love with NYC/America (where she attended college and eventually lived permanently), when she and her family had ended up needing to move to Canada in order to be safe… I wish I could have gotten a bit more clarity on why this was from the book… perhaps it was there and I missed it.

“Ma Ma turned to me and instructed, “Bie shuo hua.” She would say this more and more to me during our time to come in Mei Guo. Be silent. Say nothing. My voice no longer had a place.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

TW // trauma, poverty, animal death, suicidal thoughts, sexual harassment, animal cruelty, vomit

Further Reading—
- Zami, by Audre Lorde
- To Hair and Back, by Rhonda Eason
- The Undocumented Americans, by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio—TBR

This was such a fantastic memoir. Beautifully written and one I won’t forget. I love reading about others lives and how they overcome hardships. This book wasn’t on my radar but I’m so glad I had the chance to read it.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my advanced ebook copy.

I could not put this book down. It is so beautifully written. Qian Julie Wang tells her story of being a little girl, a Chinese undocumented immigrant in New York City. Her story is full of hunger, loneliness, and fear. Her story is also full of curiosity, problem solving, and dreams. Her story is uniquely an immigrant story but also a human story. Wang does an amazing job of looking back at her early childhood and remembering her attempts to make sense of the confusing world around her and in the process she has written a memoir that is a must read. I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wonderful book with such vivid writing that you are sitting next to young Xian throughout the book., seeing life through her eyes.

Beautiful Country is a beautiful and engaging memoir and I highly recommend this book. You will love getting to know Qian, an intelligent and precocious little girl who tells her story in a charming and imaginative way. This book reminds me of “The Glass Castle.” If you loved “The Glass Castle” you will be equally moved by “Beautiful Country”.

Qian’s Dad and his family had suffered under China’s communism. He leaves and goes to America, and a few years later, Qian and her mother follow him to New York City. Qian and her family are young and educated. They were brave to make this change. They spend about five harrowing years trying to survive as apparently undocumented people in NYC. Qian’s mother obtains a college degree in computer science. Qian is honest about how tough it was for her family to work the dirty jobs and live in poor housing.

How does Qian fare? She’s a spunky and thoughtful child. She loves to read and does well in school and finally makes friends. She gets around on the subways and feels she should look after her parents. She adopts a cat, who she names “Marilyn” after Marilyn Monroe. Her remembrances of her daily life, the ups and downs, are so sweet. I like the story of their “shopping trips”- wandering through the neighborhoods looking for treasures in the trash.

Qian’s memoir ends with the family moving to Canada. In the Epilogue, we learn that Qian returns to America and earns degrees at Swarthmore College and Yale Law School. Well done! Her parents also came back to America. Qian is now a practicing attorney. I hope she still has a bit of her childhood glow.

High praise for this readable and honest book. Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for an advance review copy. This is my honest review.

I really loved the story and how the author reported her personal journey. As an immigrant myself, I see the material difficulties, but most of all, the emotional struggles to fit in and do not lose where you come from at the same time.
The author used some sentences in Chinese, but there are no translations and it seems odd (and made it hard to follow the scene).

I received this book as an ARC and this is my review. This story documents the heartbreak and strife of an undocumented family as they attempt to fit in to an unbelievably strange new life in America. The author relates the sad and difficult saga as she attempts to understand and be understood. This is a beautiful story, rich with the never forgotten memories of a long ago childhood with unfamiliar people and awkward situations. I loved this book and recommend it to anyone who can relate to a past filled with missed chances and unfulfilled dreams.

Qian Julie Wang's account of growing up as an undocumented child in New York City gripped me from beginning to end. Written from the perspective of a precocious and academically gifted child, I felt like I lived through impoverishment, invisibility, and fear of being deported right along side her. I caught glimpses of how hard it must have been for Qian's parents to leave respected positions in Chinese academia to start over in America and it was a unique experience to read this through a child's experience. Beautiful Country is a must read for anyone who seeks to understand the American immigrant experience.

Wow! What a book! Such a courageous story of struggle, determination, strength and resilience. This was at times a difficult story to read but so informative. I highly recommend it.

I am recommending this book to everyone I know. There were times I had to remind myself that this is a memoir and not a work of fiction. This is so powerful yet so engaging to read. The memories put to paper here about a young girl’s experiences as an undocumented Chinese immigrant in New York City are at times heartbreaking, but they always resonate with a strength of spirit and an underlying hope.

This is being published at a pivotal time in American history and I both applaud the author for her courage in sharing her experiences and hope that there can be advancement in society for how we treat children, the poor, immigrants, and trauma.

Thank you to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

Such. A. Great. Book. Thanks to @netgalley and @doubledaybooks for an advanced copy.
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This is a memoir of a woman who immigrated to the United States from China when she was 5. Qian’s father had fled 2 years earlier after many years of persecution and oppression at the hands of the communist government. The separation was difficult and yet once reunited in Brooklyn life was not easy either. Their visas quickly expired with no path to permanent legal status. Their lives were filled with hardship, poverty, fear, abuse, and isolation. This is Qian’s story of trying to assimilate and also remain in the shadows as to avoid the authorities and possible deportation.
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I really enjoyed this book. It’s not an easy read although the family’s determination to survive is remarkable. Also, there has got to be a better way to handle immigration in this country. There has to be a way to administer it safely, securely, AND humanely.

Read if you: Want an unforgettable, moving, and harrowing at times memoir about a childhood shaped by poverty, the constant stress and fear of being undocumented, and books.

Librarians/booksellers: Your memoir fans will relish this; it's a powerful read.

Many thanks to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book in two days. Qian Julie Wang captured my heart with her beautifully written memoir of growing up as an undocumented immigrant. I was heartbroken by the racism and disconcern that left her family in dire poverty.

Her parents were educated professionals in China, her mother a math professor and her father an English literature professor. In America, they worked as menial laborers. In China, Qian was a fearless, intelligent, tomboy. In America, her teacher accused her of plagiarism, unable to accept her gift with words.

Qian's father had believed in the myth of American freedom. In China, he was punished for independent thinking. He left his wife and child for America, and it was years before they could join him. 

Fear of being discovered kept them caged in poverty. When Qian's mother gains a degree, she can\'t work without proper paperwork. 

Qian did not see the 'beautiful' country for a long time. The trauma of her childhood haunted her. When her family relocates to Canada, their lives improve. They were welcome. They had free health care and found appropriate work. Qian received a good education that prepared her for Swarthmore College and Yale Law School.

As a girl, Qian found solace in books. "I read until my loneliness dulled, and I felt myself to be in the good company of all my vibrantly colored, two-dimensional friends. I read until excitement replaced hopelessness," she writes. She bristled when a teacher pushed her to read 'boy' books as more 'worthwhile' than the stories of girl's lives. She found role models such as Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg who taught her that you did not have to be a white male to succeed.

Their family trauma began in China during the Cultural Revolution when her father was a small child who observed his brother arrested, his parents beaten. At school, he was berated and tormented.

"Half a century and a migration across the world later, it would take therapy's slow and arduous unraveling for me to see that the thread of trauma was woven into every fiber of my family, my childhood," Qian writes.

Qian dreams of a day when all people are treated humanely. She writes so others know they are not alone and they can also survive and even flourish.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Immigrant stories are classic and unique. With each one that you read, you learn something about that person, her country, and our own country. Qian's story is a painful one that illustrates the need for more services for immigrants and more compassion and empathy training for our schools and teachers. She succeeds, but at such a cost!
The ending felt abrupt and I wanted to know more about her college life and beyond. Perhaps that is upcoming.

If you are interested in the Chinese American or Asian American experience, or if you are interested in immigration or citizenship or belonging or nationhood, there is much to learn from Qian Julie Wang's Beautiful Country. First, her use of language is clean, masterful and a treat to read. Beyond the skill and style of writing, her voice and the story that she tells drew me in from the start. She tells us about her family, her childhood in China and the journey that she and her mother took to join her father in the US.

If you share this story of coming to America as a child, Wang's narrative will hit you hard. The Asian American community is diverse because Asia's nations are diverse and our histories so varied. Asian Americans have the largest disparity in wealth, education and opportunities when compared to other racial/ethnic groups in the US. It's one thing to have these facts stated and it is another thing altogether to read the details of a life built on courage, hardship, determination and hard work. It is hard to stop thinking about how Qian describes her childhood. The details of her life, the interaction with fellow Chinese immigrants and the "regular" immigrants and Americans that she comes across

If, like me, you pick up Beautiful Country because you are interested in the details of Qian Julie Wang's story, I do not doubt that you will be moved by her courage, humor, and spirit. If challenge you to read the Kindle sample and not download the entire book afterwards. Beautiful Country forces us to think about what we want as a country, who we welcome, and how we will move forward.

I'm a Filipino American in New York City during Covid and during a surge of Anti-Asian attacks that have been largely violent but occasionally just malicious and terrifying. When I read Beautiful Country, I appreciated the courage it took for my parents to come here in the 1970s. I remembered what I went through in the 1980s and 1990s coming to New England for school and in the 2000s for graduate school and work. Qian Julie Wang's Beautiful Country reminds me what it means to carve out a home in a new country, that I can claim this space, that this is my home now. Qian Julie Wang writes her story in Beautiful Country and reading her story lead me to remember my own and to reclaim my space. Thank you, Qian Julie Wang.