Real Americans by Rachel Khong is a multi-generational novel that centers on American identity and the theme of nature vs. nurture.

The novel starts with Lily Chen and tells the meet cute story of how she meets and falls in love with Matthew. I found this part of the novel the most enjoyable.

Unfortunately, we then jump forward in time and follow Nick Chen as he struggles with feelings of not belonging. As we follow Nick, desperately seeking his place in the world, we meet May, Nick’s grandmother, and Lily’s estranged mother.

This introduces another time shift. Here, we learn how May and Charles fled from Mao’s Communist China and ended up in America.

Going back in time loses momentum in the story. Also, at this point, I don’t really care about the story or the characters. I just want it to be over.

Others may enjoy this more than I did. It’s not a bad book, but it’s not one that I loved either.

🧬 Book Review 🧬

Is this Historical Fiction? Magical Realism? Yes, and yes, and it works! The novel starts out as one thing and then sprinkled in between are little surprises that make it so unique and clever keeping you completely engaged.

I thoroughly enjoyed the way the author explored the concepts of identity, race, legacy, genetics and family. I loved every main character and identified with each in a different way. I completely get the question of are you American or are you a “real American”?

Thank you to NetGalley and AlfredAKnopf for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 ⭐️

I was SO grateful to get an advanced copy of Real Americans by Rachel Khong thanks to NetGalley and Knopf!

This book had some of my favorite elements - multiple generations, an immigrant story, questions of what it means to be an American, with some ethical questions as well as a little bit of magical realism.

This book introduces us to May in the opening scene with a glimpse of a story that will leave you wanting more. It then follows the main characters, May, Lily and Nick, in separate timelines moving forward with each of their perspectives in each section.

The first part of the book was a little slow for me. The opening scene was great, but then I spent much of the first part wondering where the story was going.

When I figured it out, it started reading faster. I became invested in this family, and with the short chapters, I wanted to keep turning the pages. Mei/May's sections, her history, and her internal struggles were my favorite parts of the book. Her story was richly perceptive of every time period we saw her in, as she struggled to survive while never letting go of her ambitions and dreams.

While I love books that play with time, and how Khong tried to connect the the reference to Chinese folklore here, I don’t think the magical element worked as well in the story. I think the central story of this family was strong enough to hold up the story without that element of magic.

Through this family's stories, Khong raises strong questions about dreams, ambitions and choice. Do we choose, or are our choices made for us (by our families, society and culture norms?) What does it mean to belong? Can you belong while still maintaining your sense of self? Can belonging and connection be found in celebrating differences rather than in sameness? Can we ever truly leave behind the past, or does it follow us around? And what does it mean to be a “real American?”

Immigrant parents wonder of their first-generation American children, what will you become with this fortune you’ve been given? Children wonder, who were you before me? Would I have been happier “there?”

Overall, I think this book brings up so many important questions that as a first-generation American resonated strongly for me. Indisputably, Rachel Khong’s writing is BEAUTIFUL. Of the choices the older generation makes, based on survival, not love, Khong writes that having had no such precedent, they didn’t believe that love was a sturdy enough scaffolding to a life. My first-gen heart was devastated by this devastating and profoundly true idea. How difficult must life be for people who are willing to let go of their country, homes, families, language and culture - for just a chance at freedom and opportunity? And what trade-offs must they make along the way?

While this was different than what I expected, and the magical element didn't piece together perfectly, I am so glad I read this. Rachel Khong is an expert at writing about immigrant families’ experiences, and I will absolutely keep reading everything she writes.

Thank you to Net Galley and Knopf for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. I very much enjoyed this multigenerational story from mainly a 1st person perspective. There are three parts. The story starts with Lily Chen who meets Matthew at her job in New York. They couldn't be more different and fall in love and marry. We then jump about 20 yrs in the future and meet Nick, Lily's son, who lives in Washington state with his single mother. He eventual searches for his biological father who he knows nothing about. And finally Mei, Lily's mom, tells the story of how she came to the US and her life trying to find her way in a new country. In each generation, there are many secrets that are kept from their children which affect them in the end. Using these three perspectives made the telling so much interesting - learning about immigration, belonging, racism, being bi-racial and how the world sees you, and family dynamics. It was a very satisfying read with twists and turns.

I haven't read Rachel Khong before but I will read anything she write after finishing Real Americans. I have really expanded my world view the last ten years and I very much enjoy learning about the cultures and families throughout the world and this book fit the bill.

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. Real Americans by Rachel Khong. Thank you to the publisher, the author and NetGalley for this ARC. Late 1990s, New York City. Everyone is all worried about Y2K. Lily Chen is the daughter of Chinese born scientists. She’s working at a dead end job when she attends the holiday party. There she meets the rich and very white Matthew. Surprisingly, they fall in love. The novel then jumps to 2021 where we meet Nick. He lives on a small Washington island with his mother Lily. Nick wants to find out who is his biological father. Then we are brought to China in the 1960s during the time of Chairman Mao. The beginning of the novel had me hooked, but it fizzled out. Disappointing. #books #whatiread #bookstagram #reading #netgalley #rachelkhong #bookgram #bookworm #libbyapp #goodreads

Sweeping, mysterious, and powerful, REAL AMERICANS was a pleasant surprise and a new favorite. It's a love story, but it's also a story about what we're willing to do for our loved ones - particularly our children - and a meditation on what it means to be a 'real american' and who gets that right. Brilliant all around.

"I'd only wanted my daughter's life to be better than mine."

An amazing, heart-breaking story full of hope, mistakes, and the unflinching, complicated love of mothers. This story is broken in three parts, POV I wish I'd known before I started.

The first part feels like a love story about an unlikely couple. I felt swept up but also curious where the story was going. There are parts about family drama, power, money and race (and racism) - some that felt just below the surface while others were right there, plain in the story. I felt confused but I wanted to know more.

Part 2 will jump many years and bring to to the story of the child, Nick. This story will both give more depth to the first couple and their love story, but also shine a light on the previous generations just a bit. It also gives us more of this "time stop" sci-fi part of the story that always felt like it didn't quite belong but I liked the comparisons that are later given for it.

The final story goes all the way back to the beginning, just liked I'd hoped it would. The three stories will bring a full picture of a young couple who wanted more from life. A bright, young, hopeful couple that wanted to come to America and give their kids more. In their push to change their child's futures to look different than their own, every parent wonders - have I done all I could? Did I do more harm than good?

Can I ever be enough? Will my children ever forgive my faults and all my mistakes?

It was such a touching story and I appreciated the little sparks of humor in the midst of all the times my heart broke. I didn't realize I was so emotionally tied into the story until I felt tears looming as I neared the end and had to say goodbye. I will definitely look for more from this author!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the eARC.

I had yet to read Rachel Khong's work prior to Real Americans and when I tell you she is now top of my must read list, its the truth. This book spans three generations and was just so, so good.

Real Americans by Rachel Khong follows three generations of a family: the daughter of Chinese immigrants, Lily, her son, Nick, and her Chinese mother, Mei, who survived unspeakable trauma in her younger years in China before fleeing to the US. Because of Mei's traumas and her background, the choices she makes alters the lives of her family in different ways.

I feel like this book tackled a lot, and because of that I had a hard time fully grasping what the whole point of it all was.. I do think Mei's story tied things together to some degree and it was interesting to learn a bit about Chinese history during that time period. In general, I enjoy family dramas, so that aspect of the book really kept me going. This book has definitely made me think, I only wish I didn't feel so unsure of what I was supposed to be getting out of it.

I really enjoyed this three generation family saga told by three different family members - mother, daughter, grandson. The Chinese immigrant parents had high hopes for their daughter who never quite lives up to their expectation. She struggles to find her identity between two cultures and has a strained relationship with her mother. Her son senses that there are some dark family secrets and is determined to uncover them. Recommended!

I had adored Khong’s debut Goodbye, Vitamin and I’m a big fan of multigenerational stories, so this one was a highly anticipated read for me. The story is told in three parts with a separate perspective in each: Lily in 1999, Lily’s son Nick in 2021, and Lily’s mom Mei in 2030. I definitely liked the way the novel was framed even though the perspective switches came at frustrating times. I was intrigued by each perspective in different ways. While it served as a good way to make some points about who people want to become vs. who people are destined to be, I found some of the character choices baffling.

Beyond that I thought the story flowed well and figuring out the mysteries was satisfying. I was especially curious to find out Mei’s backstory and how everything came together in the end. I did however wish for a bit more depth in each of the topics the novel explored.

Real Americans has potential to be great saga. But just falls short of an epic multigenerational story. It was hard to connect to totally connect to the characters. I felt like it needed a little more drama and action.

Thank you to Net Galley and Knopf Publishing for an advanced digital copy to read and review.

The book marketing machine had me counting down the days until this one's release. Unfortunately, I am the rare person that Real Americans really did not work for. There is some beautiful writing here to be sure, but so much of the buzz around this book was about how propulsive it supposedly was, and I fundamentally disagree. This book felt like the epitome of hurry up and wait. I found 4/5ths of each section quite stagnant with long descriptions on single people or things that had no baring on the plot. Then, suddenly there would be a massive surprise cliffhanger pulling you into the next section, to again wait out a long section of stagnation. I usually love multiple POVs, but I don't think it was particularly well used here. We got both too much and not enough of each POV.

I didn't find anything particularly original here. There are aspects of magical realism that were never resolved and seemed to have no function in the narrative. There wasn't enough science to the science, which is an issue when science is so core to the main conflict of the story.

Overall, this one was hard for me to get through. I wanted to love it, but couldn't.

REAL AMERICANS is a lovely and mesmerizing literary family drama. Khong tells the story of three generations of the Chen family in three separate parts – Lily, Nick, and May. In that way, we see the whole story through different sides like a prism. I absolutely loved how Khong ordered the generational stories, with the eldest's story last. It was so rich! REAL AMERICANS is gorgeous and thought-provoking, touching on subjects like privilege, immigration, genetics, and the cost of keeping secrets.

This was a fascinating book about three generations of a Chinese-American family (with an absolutely gorgeous cover). The relationships between each generation are both loving and deeply troubled. May is a woman who flees Mao’s Cultural Revolution in China to come to the U.S. She’s a brilliant scientist (a researcher of biogenetics) but struggles to form a close relationship with her daughter, Lily. Lily wants the loving relationships she sees in other American families but her mother can barely say “I love you”.

Struggling in her career pursuits after college, Lily falls in love with a white American pharmaceutical heir who is trying to live independently of his family’s wealth and business. From the beginning, the two struggle with cultural and racial differences, but primarily socio-economic differences. Then they discover something they didn’t know about their families’ histories.

The third generation is Nick, Lily’s son. The book is told in an interesting order, through Lily’s perspective, then Nick’s, and then May’s. May’s story is the most interesting, from her childhood of poverty in rural China, to her life as a university student and scientist. I haven’t read many stories that take place in this setting, and it’s terrifying.

With each other they spoke loudly: Their voices periodically rose to excited shouts, and they laughed raucously. In English they were milder mannered, polite. My mother had always spoken English to me. Now I wondered if, in doing so, she had not fully been herself.

This is a family that does terrible, selfish things to each other, with consequences that span decades. I found each character sympathetic but also unlikeable, shutting each other out and making decisions without ever talking to each other. I could see in this book how the secretive nature of one generation is passed down to the next. And even as each generation tries to overcome the deficits of the previous generation, it doesn’t make things better. For example, Lily tries to be the affectionate parent her mother wasn’t, but she smothers her son with neediness while not being honest with him about his father and grandmother. Nick also finds himself in troubled relationships, because he’s uncommunicative and closed off.

The second half of this book, Nick and May’s stories, is much more interesting than the first half, so I’m glad I pushed through. I had trouble connecting with Lily, though I could appreciate her struggles with trusting a super-wealthy white family, at the same time feeling the temptation to give in and enjoy all that money can buy. Can two people from such different backgrounds really make a relationship work? It’s a very American story.

There are twists in the plot that I won’t tell you about, but this book covers quite a bit: historical fiction about Maoist China and the Cultural Revolution, ethics in scientific research, and an exploration of class and cultural differences. And through it all, what it means to be a “real American.” I did find it slow going at first, but it was definitely worth reading.

I received an advanced review copy of this book from NetGalley and publisher Knopf. It published April 30, 2024.

Real Americans was an absolutely beautiful book. The writing, the structure, the characters, the plot, and the themes were all done wonderfully. The depth of the characters was absolutely amazing. Usually when I read books that follow different characters there are certain perspectives that I don't care about as much, but that was not the case for this book. The stories in this book span the decades and generations of this family, so it will definitely appeal to readers who enjoy those types of stories. A lot of the book revolved around coming of age, finding your own identity, and what it means to be an American, which are topics that I find really interesting and they are handled with such care. This book will also be a great fit for people who enjoy character-driven stories. Overall, I thought the book was touching and just wonderfully done, so I would highly recommend it.

This is a fantastic novel and a perfect example of a layered family drama that doesn't have to feel like a soap opera. The first 100 pages or so were a little slow, but then there were a few twists that came in that really elevated the narrative. The structure was quite inventive; instead of having three perspectives alternating the entire time, they each got their own dedicated third of the book. I liked living in each character's mind for an extended period of time.

I loved Khong's first novel and was quite impressed by how successfully she developed a book with such a different structure. Great pick for book clubs or over the summer when you're looking to get lost in a book.

An introspective look at a family’s inner struggle and drama in America.
I thought the characters were well written and also believable.
I thought the story dragged in a few spots and some of the dialogue could have been cut out.
Overall it’s a solid read.

an addicting and mysterious family saga that opens with a woman eating a magical seed, traces the love story between an ABC intern and the white heir of a pharmaceutical company, and blooms into a young boy's search for his missing father. Despite an unsatisfying Act 3, Real Americans was a great read and is perfect for fans of Black Cake.
- quote I loved: "I would be a childless woman whose dreams were only her own."