This book was received as an ARC from Doubleday Books in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book was so beautiful in describing the difficult journey being an immigrant coming to America. Qian demonstrated great strength and perseverance throughout her journey in Chinatown despite being alone and having her parents constantly fighting. When in doubt, she found her safe place at the library. This book along with many others perfectly demonstrated how valuable the library can be in your community. I also knew the struggle Qian went through dealing with her mom and her sudden illness and no matter what in keeping her family name safe, lying and saying she was born here to save her family and provide them with the American dream. Readers will definitely learn many lessons in appreciating the blessings and gifts they have already and figuring out ways to pay it forward and help those in need. This is the reason why I became a librarian and I am glad Qian Julie Wang shared her story reminding me of the impact I have in our library community.

We will consider adding this title to our Biography collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

This is one of the best books I've read this year. This memoir is about a woman who, as a young child, left China with her family to seek a better life in America. Her educated parents left one kind of oppression to discover another kind. Their life became one filled with fear of immigration, mistrust of anyone outside their household, horrible under the table jobs at poverty wages, living in crowded slums, and lack of food and healthcare. Author Qian Julie Wang (the Julie part she added as a child), reflects that she did not realize quite how much her parents struggled until she became an adult herself. She recounts her own feelings of hunger, being mistreated by teachers, not fitting in with her peers, and wanting to protect her family. This book is also a love letter to her parents, whose struggles allowed her to succeed, achieve an education, and become a writer and a partner in a law firm that advocates for education and civil rights. Excellent and eye-opening read.

"Beautiful Country: A Memoir" was an emotion filled and eye opening story about Qian Julie Wang's experience on coming to America from China. The trials and tribulations that she and her family faced was heartaching to read, especially with it being 20 years ago which still seems very present day. There were times I wanted to reach into the book and offer a hug or a support system. I may not be able to connect on the level of moving to a new country, but I was also in my childhood and recall wanting many of the toys or the excitement of going to McDonald'ss and Pizza Hut as was portrayed in the book. Throughout it all, Qian was a beacon of hope and that is one of the biggest take aways for me. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in advance! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I never like rating someone's memoir because it's their life and memories but I will say right off that there needs to be a trigger warning for animal abuse because Qian has a cat and her father severely abuses that cat throughout this book. The memoir covers the time Qian arrived in America as a child and lived in New York while her parents suffered through menial jobs and Qian was left on her own to navigate learning a new language and adjust to public school. It's sad to see when parents can't look past their own struggles to realize they have a child dependent on them that they are failing every day. Sometimes things are brought up that aren't really ever followed through like Qian's own medical problems. Maybe an additional memoir will be written covering the years her family lived in Canada.

Wang's memoir recounts her experience immigrating to Brooklyn from China, where her parents were professors and her family was persecuted during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, at age 7 and living in poverty as her parents worked in sweatshops in their new country. Wang's story is compelling and told in an accessible way through a child's lens (age 7 through middle school). She talks about the shame of poverty, being treated like she was stupid for not yet knowing English, and then teaching herself English by reading books like The Very Hungry Caterpiller. My one quibble is that I wish she'd included some insight into her high school and college years...and how she made it to Yale Law School.

Beautiful Country gave me perspective I didn’t have before about both immigration and poverty, and how often those two are intertwined.

Qian Julie Wang’s story, which is told from the perspective of her childhood self, is eye-opening and heartbreaking. It serves as a huge privilege check to anyone born in the U.S. Even in the face of the many different struggles children in the U.S. can face, being American-born affords an ease and security we probably didn’t grow up aware of.

I felt like this memoir required a bit of suspension of belief, though, from a scientific standpoint; humans don’t remember much from early childhood, and often the things we think we remember are false memories. Since the book is told entirely from Wang’s perspective as a child, I found myself getting caught up in asking myself how she remembered such vivid detail. However, Wang notes that she feels she remembers more because of the trauma that makes it hard to forget.

It was difficult seeing Wang’s childhood so swiftly stamped out and replaced by the kind of adulthood no child is equipped to handle, but knowing that she goes on to become a successful lawyer advocating for immigrants gave the book a little bit of hope.

Of course, not all stories end this way. That felt important to remember as I was reading. The takeaway should not be that individual immigrants are responsible for their own survival and success and that the failure to do so is some sort of moral failing on their part. I hope privileged readers (like myself) will be reminded that the U.S. needs better systems in place to help communities.

This is a MUST read memoir.

Qian's memoir is about her childhood as an undocumented immigrant in NYC throughout the 1990s. It was raw, vulnerable and beautiful. I loved reading the dynamic between Qian and her parents, as well as her understanding of the United States as a child. It was also interesting to read because Qian and I both experienced our childhood throughout the 1990s (and I feel like most memoirs I've read have not explored that time period through the eyes of a child).

Five stars! I am so thankful I had the opportunity to read this memoir through netgalley.

In Chinese, Mei Guo translates to Beautiful Country, the nickname for the United States; hence the title of this moving memoir. Qian (Julie) was brought to the US in 1994 when she was 7 years old. She came with her mother, as her father had preceded them by 2 years. She paints an excruciating picture of their lives as undocumented persons in New York City in the 1990s. Both parents were highly educated and worked as professors in China, but had to work grueling menial jobs in this country, due to their undocumented status. The author, it turns out, is the same age as my youngest son and it really drove home what a safe, soft and luxurious childhood he had, in comparison with Qian’s hard one. Example: their family referred to “shopping day”, but what they really were doing was hunting through trash for usable items. That’s how they got their couch, a broom, and many other items. So many scenes were utterly dismaying but I don’t want to give the impression that the entire book is bleak. There are many funny and many heartwarming scenes along the way. Not a long book, but I found I could only handle it in short bites, needing to digest what I’d read before diving back in. I just wish the book had continued and shown more of her life as a young woman.

Recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Beautiful Country recounts Wang’s arrival from China to NYC with her mother in 1994, finally joining her father who had to flee years earlier. Wang was seven years old. From this point on, the family was forced to start over from everything they had in China. They lived undocumented, striving to achieve the American Dream while also staying invisible and hyperaware at all times in order to survive. It cost them everything.

The word 'shocking' doesn't even begin to accurately mirror the conditions. There is unimaginable stress and heartbreak among Wang’s family, with the struggle to constantly evade deportation, navigate language barriers and shield themselves from racism and poverty. But there is also so much palpable delight from making friends with books, trying pizza and McDonald’s for the first time, and finally, the release that comes with the first steps of overcoming the shackles of generational trauma and reclaiming your humanity.

In an interview, Wang describes this book with three emojis: 🌆❤️‍🩹🗽This couldn’t be a better choice to accompany a story of desperate self-preservation and the importance of celebrating tiny joys and victories in a country that has much to make up for in its promises of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as both attainable concepts and undeniable rights.

This book tells the story of undocumented immigrants from a child's perspective. It's eye-opening, sad, and at times the author finds humor in situations. As an educator it certainly makes one think about the situations your students may find themselves living in. I felt the last few chapters were rushed and it was almost like reading another story.

I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion.

A riveting story of the journey to America, and all the additional baggage it entails. Often baggage many of us don't even blink an eye at.

This story resonated with me because I teach many students that are in the throws of the immigrant experience, often separated from loved ones for many months/years.

Thank you to the publisher for my gifted copy.

Tender, humorous, and heartbreaking all at once. It was interesting to read an immigrant experience from a child's perspective -- the amusing misunderstandings and the terrifying powerlessness of living in a strange land are all magnified. I thought Wang did a fantastic job of conveying a whole range of emotion and nuanced feelings about her family and their situation.

My heart ached for Qian Wang as she went from being a pampered child surrounded by her loving extended family in China to an illegal immigrant barely surviving in the meanest neighbourhoods of New York City. Wang's first days of school, when she she had no inkling of English and she's bullied and starving are painful to read. Her parents, both professionals, are forced to work in sweatshops under brutal conditions for meagre pay. Wang, her mother and her father each carry a huge burden and each hold it in, thinking that makes it better for the others. Precise and detailed and ultimately uplifting, this book will appeal to fans of The Glass Castle and Uneducated. I have deep admiration for Qian Julie Wang, Ma Ma and Pa Pa.
#netgalley

This was a powerful story about Wang's experience as an undocumented child living in the United States. It was heartbreaking to read of the poverty, racism, and constant fear of being deported that she and her family experienced once they arrived in America.

I loved the role that books and the library played in Qian's experience, helping her learn English through some of my childhood favorites. She was committed to trying to educate herself to escape her dire circumstances.

The story reads a bit young because she's telling stories from her childhood. The ending also felt a bit rushed — I wish she shared a longer span of her life and provided a bit more on her journey to present day.

Overall I recommend for fans of Educated or those interested in understanding an immigrant's experience.

Due to a family illness, and unexpected events, I am very far behind in writing my reviews.I found my self reading one book after another without writing the review -- that was a big mistake. I found this book to be eye opening and sad. I gave it 4 stars,

This is a beautiful written memoir about the life of a Chinese undocumented immigrant family in New York City. This is definitely a heartbreaking and captivating story. However, if I'm being completely honest, I struggled connecting with the author for whatever reason, which translated into this not being a story I eagerly kept coming back to. Also, I felt like the story wrapped up rather abruptly, almost like the story is incomplete.

Thanks to Doubleday Books, Netgalley and author Qian Julie Wang for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

Beautiful Country is a really beautifully written, page turning, and at (many) times a heart-breaking memoir. Ms. Wang writes about her experience as a young child (age seven) traveling to the United States from China and the struggles she and her mother and father faced living in the U.S. as undocumented immigrants. Her story is uniquely told through the eyes and understanding of a child leaving the life she knew and the struggles and hardships she finds in this strange new world.

Ms. Wang vividly describes the struggles she faced – working in a sweat shop, having no understanding of the English language, constant fear of deportation, very little money for basic needs – and the toll these took on her family. Her story is one of both struggle and perseverance, and at times she finds joy in the simplest things – discovering Clifford the Big Red Dog, family dumplings on Sunday, teaching herself English at school.

At times this memoir was difficult to read, thinking about this child living in poverty in a strange country, her parents – highly educated professionals in China – barely able to feed and cloth her. It is a moving and important look at the “American Dream” and the struggles immigrants face when they make the decision to leave everything behind in the hopes for a better life.

All is can say is the last chapter is perhaps the most beautiful and powerful one I have ever read. The rest of the book is hard to read at times because of all the difficulties she and her family faced but it sure is an inspiring story for all those who feel they don’t belong.

Although upsetting at times, this is a must read for everyone. It is very upsetting to me what immigrants constantly have to go through, even their children who are born Americans. Shame on this "Land of the Free". All people are created equal and should be treated as equals!!

I got this from Net Galley and if I had the choice I wouldn’t have put it down ! It draws you in but I must warn you it really is a world of hardship, trauma and so much more but it is also a word of hope some how there seems to always still be hope. I cannot imagine growing up as she did - this book really speaks to the hardships of undocumented immigrants and the fear they live in but also how some Americans profit and take advantage of them at times - the working conditions and situations I cannot even imagine and to go from professor and publish author to working in fish factory or for pennys sewing shirts !?! I do love that the author had a strong love of reading and like many found an escape in books and the stories on the pages , I also love in the acknowledgments she thanks her rescue dogs I mean come one!!!! This really is such a heart breaking yet inspiring story , thank you Qian Julie Wang for being brave enough to bare your soul to share what you have - I think your story can inspire anyone coming from a place of hardship we often feel we are trapped or stuck due to genetics or generational patterns and hardship but we can do more and be more we just may have to work a bit harder to do so! I hope you and your family have found peace and happiness - glad Canada was able to give you safety and security you couldn’t easily find here in America when you arrived.

If you have any interest in seeing another perspective I highly recommend you get this now