In China, Qian was a precocious tomboy and her parents were respected professors. But when the family moves to New York as undocumented immigrants, Qian is shunned for her limited English skills and her parents are forced to work in a sweatshop. In this lyrical memoir, Qian looks through her own childhood eyes at her family’s struggle to make a home in America.

This is a quiet, thoughtful, often painful memoir of a traumatic childhood. Qian Julie Wang writes honestly and clearly through her own younger eyes in a way that really resonates. This is a powerful testament to the hidden pain of undocumented immigrants, and especially to the children who can too easily fall through the cracks.

An absolutely magnificent memoir told through Qian's childhood eyes of what it's like to be undocumented in America. Parts will make you laugh out loud, and others will have you crying with the trauma she endured. Qian is a beloved narrator and I am so grateful she told her story. Many thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday for the eArc.

I greatly enjoyed this book. It is the story of an immigrant family, loving parents empowering their daughter to dream despite challenging circumstances. I found the writing powerful and the author's observations sharp and moving. This was especially true given the age of her life and timeframe she focuses on. It is important to shed light on the poverty and exploitation that many undocumented immigrants face--even those who were highly educated and led upper class lives in their native countries.

This book convincingly takes readers on a journey to discover what it is like to be an immigrant in America. The author's parents were reduced to sweatshop jobs as opposed to their professional jobs in China. The book informs readers as well as entertaining them and also provides a heartbreaking story of resilience in the face of hardship.

I received this novel from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

This is easily one of the best books I read in 2021. Qian Julie Wang grew up in the same American I did, with many overlapping years but our experience was worlds apart. Her storytelling is incredible, and I'm so grateful to learn from her about what it was like to grow up as a poor immigrant. My heart broke hearing how similar we were despite our drastically different circumstances. I am tremendously grateful for the courage of Qian's story and to be invited to learn from her. If I could press this book into your hand and ask you to read it I would.

An absolutely gorgeous memoir, raw with emotion, honesty, and the naivety that accompanies moving to a new place, particularly a new country. There was such beauty in the simple stories of adopting a cat (her first pet) and meeting her first friend. The pain was palpable when discussing the bullying and racism that she faced in schools, as well as her mothers journey through the healthcare system.

Great memoir about an immigrant girl and her family. I especially liked how it focused on her role as primary English-speaking spokesperson for her family and the challenges associated with this role. Her parents are not able to work in the same careers they had in China and this adds to their frustration and poor economic situation.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” reads a poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty. But for many people immigrating to America from other countries, these words are just that: words. In BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY, Qian Julie Wang exposes the darker side of immigration to America: the plight of the undocumented, forced to live in abject poverty in the richest country in the world.

In Chinese, America is called Mei Guo, literally “beautiful country.” When seven-year-old Qian is told by her mother that they will be leaving China to live with her father in Mei Guo, she expects streets paved with gold, endless opportunities and, of course, a hearty welcoming. Instead, she is immediately met with fear, desperation and scarcity. Mei Guo smells strange and looks different, and Qian and her family rarely see anyone who looks like them, despite hearing about so many friends, neighbors and acquaintances who made the same trip from China before them. Qian’s mother, Ma Ma, views everything in their new home as “wei xian,” dangerous. Her father, Ba Ba, tells her only, “Whatever happens, say that you were born here, that you’ve always lived here.” Having lived in America for two years before his wife and daughter, he knows far more about the dangers of being found out and deported.

With breathtaking honesty and exquisite prose, Qian walks readers through her years in America, starting with that fateful plane trip to her first taste of pizza and its delicious grease, all the way through high school. Upon her family’s arrival in America, her parents, formerly professors, quickly take up work in sweatshops where they are subjected to brutal conditions and low pay, all to barely make ends meet. The love they feel for their daughter is palpable through the sacrifices they make for her.

But even with the gift of hindsight, Qian is able to inhabit her childhood perception and highlight the stark differences between her upbringings in China and America. Whereas in China she was often told she was beautiful, sure to be on television one day, in America her own parents readily criticize her appearance, her weight (any extra pounds the product of sodium-rich foods, not greed or indulgence), and her inability to make the most of the opportunities they have granted her. It is easy as a grown-up to read the fear and desperation in their criticisms, but Qian is not here to reflect or to judge, but to lay bare the ways that the American dream can sully even interpersonal relationships when it becomes impossibly unreachable.

Qian’s schooling offers little reprieve. Her limited English quickly places her in an overrun class for children with “special needs,” and her teachers, blinded by racism and prejudice, take little interest in helping her move forward. Her classmates, with all the cruelty of children, are no different, though she does eventually make friends with other Chinese girls. But as she learns, even America’s Chinese citizens are starkly different. Many of them shun Chinese traditions and culture in order to assimilate, and even more of them are quick --- quicker, even, than their American neighbors --- to judge Qian and her “no-income” parents.

Bold, precocious and steadfast, Qian finds solace in books that she slowly teaches herself to read, and in the small treasures she hunts down on her family’s “shopping days,” where they walk the streets and turn the phrase “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” into reality. They take whatever is clean and unbroken enough to fill their home, while taking great care never to grab anything they can’t part with, knowing that one day they may have to flee in the dark of night.

It is not until Qian is older that she finally sees a glimpse of the Mei Guo that was promised to her when her mother takes her to see the Christmas tree and lights in Rockefeller Center. Slowly but surely, Qian’s life starts to look normal. Without realizing it, her family has climbed out of the poverty they lived in when they first arrived in the United States; she has learned to read and is able to write such strong essays that her racist teachers accuse her of plagiarism (a terrible meter for success, but a sure one nonetheless); and she even gets a pet, a cat named Marilyn after Marilyn Monroe, with her perfect white skin. And then tragedy strikes: Ma Ma becomes terribly ill, a product of a lifetime (crammed into only a few years) of harsh working conditions, poor diet and limited access to medical care. Qian sees her dreams start to crash and burn around her, but little does she know that her family has one last grasp at a life worth living: a new country with a far more lenient and humane approach to immigration.

Through every obstacle, achievement and growing pain, it is Qian’s parents who bear the weight of their sacrifices. Distracted and fearful, Ma Ma and Ba Ba are always looking over their shoulders, often squabbling and occasionally taking out their pains on Qian herself. Once respected members of their communities, they become “just Asian,” a collective group of the “weakest race,” small and fragile, but somehow still blamed for ruining a country they barely inhabit. Forced to assimilate but punished for anything viewed as “pretending to be white,” they walk an impossible line, one that tortures them mentally, emotionally and physically. Viewing them through the white gaze, Qian, even as a child, is not blind to the scars inflicted upon them. But she is also unwilling to let them down by becoming lazy or giving up, even when racism, poverty and perversion come right to her front door.

Now a managing partner at a successful law firm and a US citizen, Qian has clearly “made it.” But although her rise to glory is awe-inspiring, it is not her success that makes this book so affecting. Successful or not, her life, her journey and her horrific arrival in America should mean something. And as she reminds us, with her nearly supernatural ability to view every slight, joy and tragedy through her own childhood eyes, there is far more to her story, and the story of other children like her, than a happy ending. She shines a harsh but revealing light on the shadows of poverty, prejudice and life as an undocumented person, leaving her readers with a crucial and essential addition to the wealth of literature about the American dream, immigration and life in the world’s richest country.

Full of keen emotional insight, gorgeous, heartrendingly lyrical prose, and the humbling story of a girl coming of age in an impossible situation, BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY is an astonishingly poignant and unforgettable book.

In Beautiful Country, Qian recounts her childhood as an undocumented Chinese immigrant living in poverty in New York City. Her parents were reduced from working as educated professionals in China to living in the shadows in NYC, her mother working in sweatshops and her father doing laundry for a barely livable wage.
My heart broke over and over for Qian. As an only child with limited opportunities for friendship, her relationship with her parents was especially difficult to read about as they were emotionally absent and struggling to make it. It was hard to hear of the loneliness and struggle for a child to relate to the people who were supposed to love and protect her.
I loved the resilience that came through in Qian and her mother. Its a beautifully written memoir and I felt so much emotion as I listened. It’s one of those books that makes me grateful for my own childhood and it’s relative simplicity.

This book, this book, this BOOK!! I picked up a hardback copy so I could annotate to my heart's content, and I think I wore out my favorite highlighter by about halfway through. Qian Julie Wang could write the dictionary and I would read it, but writing the story of her family's experiences in Mei Guo (America, the Beautiful Country) makes her beautiful narrative style into so much more.

I loved the balance she strikes between lovely and candid—even though the writing is a treat, she isn't sugar-coating anything about her experience. I was utterly fascinated by each chapter, and distraught at the life that her family gave up to come make those 'big American dollars'.

Thank you for the opportunity to enjoy this book in advance. I will continue to shout about this one from the rooftops.

In the past, I haven't reviewed books that I haven't read. But, I have changed my mind. Firstly, I think that the fact that I couldn't finish a book is a valid criticism, and this is where we give feedback to the publisher. Secondly, I need to get my score up. I will not post this anywhere else but here. My rating will be based on what other people would think about this work.

I read about 30% of this book. I think that is a valuable contribution to the discourse surrounding race and immigration. I found that I was not motivated to pick it up. I couldn't get on with the writing style. However, I would encourage other readers to give it a try.

“Secrets. They have so much power, don’t they?”

Qian Julie Wang is born in China to a professional couple living under the shadow of governmental disfavor. Her father’s elder brother has written critically about Mao Zedong, naively signing his own name to the article, and as a result, the entire family lives under a cloud and the threat of violence, courtesy of Chinese Stalinism. When her father finds a way to relocate himself and his family to New York, it is under a tourist visa, and so they cannot legally remain in the USA, or get any sort of legitimate employment. Wang’s memoir tells of the deprivation and terror, combined with occasional lifesaving windfalls and ingenuity, of growing up as an “illegal,” and of how, against all odds, she ultimately finds success and citizenship.

My thanks go to Net Galley and Doubleday for the invitation to read and review, along with my apologies for being inexcusably late.

Wang comes to the USA, which in Chinese translates to “Beautiful Country,” as a small child. From the moment her feet touch American soil, her parents drill the story into her: “I was born here. I’ve lived here all my life.” Because they are in the US illegally, they must find work to do under the table, and so they are exploited by the most malevolent sweatshop owners. At first, Wang is also employed, toddling off to do piecework with her mother, but eventually she is enrolled in school, where she proves to be highly capable once she overcomes the barriers of language and culture.

More than anything, her life and that of her parents is dominated by fear and secrecy. Opportunities that would otherwise be helpful must often be bypassed because of the documentation required. Her parents’ emotional stability, their marriage, and her mother’s health are broken.

If this story seems unbearably grim—and I confess, this is why I delayed reading it, moving other, pleasanter stories to the top of my queue—it is ultimately a story of resilience and of triumph. Wang is a gifted writer, and she breaks up the horror by recounting small victories and pleasures that punctuate her youth. But the most important aspect of how the memoir is presented, is that everything is told through the lens of childhood, and so we see everything as a seven-year-old Chinese girl, a nine-year-old, etc. would see it.

Because I had fallen behind, I checked out the audio version of this memoir from Seattle Bibliocommons, and Wang does her own narration, which is my favorite way to hear a book, because there’s no danger that the reader will add emphasis or interpretation that conflicts with the author’s intentions. The climax arrived as I was wrapping Christmas gifts, which made me all the more aware of my level of privilege.

Wang tells us:

“Most of all, I put these stories to paper for this country’s forgotten children, past and present, who grow up cloaked in fear, desolation, and the belief that their very existence is wrong, their very being illegal. I have been unfathomably lucky. But I dream of a day when being recognized as human requires no luck—when it is right, not a privilege. And I dream of a day when each and every one of us will have no reason to fear stepping out of the shadows.”

Highly recommended.

While the time spent to finish was long (I miss placed my Kindle) I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir. In my youth, growing up in Southern California I had many friends who migrated from Vietnam. While I understand it is nothing compared to the experience of the author, much of her story reminded me of many friends who endured misconceptions of Vietnamese immigrants. The writing is powerful in that I felt her emotions in her words. The worry and angst of a young girl. I was glued to the text waiting for the happiness to come from such an experience as hers. I highly recommend this memoir to everyone and especially those who want to understand the immigrant experience that has floated through the American experience since the inception of this country.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this wonderful novel.

“Secrets, they have so much power.” One of the best lines in the book. This story of a young girl moving to the US as a young immigrant and all the trauma associated with trying to hide their immigration status.

It is hard to imagine all the pain but the author tells the story with such detail and the reader feels they are sitting next to her trying to understand what the teachers are saying.

A great story with so many messages.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book! I will be posting my review on social media, to include Instagram, Amazon, Goodreads, and Instagram!

Qian, the author tells the story of her youth. She grew up in China to professional parents until her Dad, Ba Ba decided to go to America……the land of opportunity. Or so he thought. Two years later her Mother, Ma Ma manages to leave China to join him. Life is not what she expects. The family lives in severe poverty, suffering hunger and often despair. Qian does a magnificent job portraying her young life, the story captured me, irritated me and yet I marvelled at her resilience. I highly recommend reading this autobiography.

Reading Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang was a fascinating and heartbreaking experience for me. Growing up as a near contemporary of the author, it is sobering to think about how different life experiences can be by mere chance of birth. This one should be read widely and discussed deeply.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

I found myself thinking this book took place longer than 40 years ago. How could people have been treated like this, in America in the 80's?
I felt strongly for the family and they what they went through.
It was interesting to read about a different culture and their introduction to a new country.

This memoir is an essential book for everyone to read -- intimate, open, honest, and gut-wrenching, this book reveals 2 versions of America: 1) the America that is created in propaganda, this dream that is then cut down by 2) the harsh reality of hatred and bigotry white "Americans" have towards immigrants that don't look or talk like them. This book illustrates the complicated relationship of America as "both savior and oppressor." This book serves as a reminder that this is a country built by immigrants and we can do so much more to help these families. I learned so much from this book, it was a privilege to read, and highly recommend it.

I am overjoyed that Wang’s story gets to be told. This story is important for many reasons but for me the one that sticks out the most is that most Americans don’t know that a lot of undocumented immigrants include a significant Asian population. When we think undocumented folks, we think of latinx folks and that’s just not the full reality. Bringing in some knowledge from Erika Lee’s THE MAKING OF ASIAN AMERICA: in the Americas, the Chinese were the first to be considered “illegal” because they were the first to be banned/excluded by immigration laws. This hits me hard because so many Asian Americans (even in my own fam) say stupid things like “those people should get in the RIGHT way” and I think… dude, these were our people just a couple hundred years ago.

On a general level, BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY captures (1) not only the undocumented experience but the socioeconomic experience — a glimpse into what it’s like starving during formative years of school and not being able to get any help, (2) the fear of living a “normal” life because of your immigration status, and (3) the nuanced loving-but-restrictive-and-pushy relationship between parent and child.

Beautiful Country is a must-read for everyone.