It’s Y2K when Lily Chen, a struggling intern in NYC, crosses paths with Matthew, a wealthy heir to a pharmaceutical dynasty. Despite their vastly different backgrounds— Lily has humble beginnings as the only daughter of Chinese immigrates who escaped Mao’s Cultural Revolution—the two fall in love and begin their lives together.

Lily’s story is the beginning of a multi-generational immigrant tale that takes the reader to Mao’s China in the 1960’s to San Francisco in the future (2030). Lily and Matthew have a baby and then the story jumps to 2021 where we meet Nick Chen, the son of Lily who desperately wants to connect with his father. Finally we jump to May’s story (Lily’s mom), her experiences in China and why she emigrated to America, and it’s her story that provides the ultimate answers and connections between the three stories. Weaved throughout these accounts are questions many of us have: How far would you go to shape your life in the mold you want? What if you had made a different decision? What makes us who we are? Is it fate? Genetics? Environment? Our own actions? What does it mean to be a Real American?

There were a lot of questions and themes about immigration that I don’t feel qualified to expand on, but felt tremendous empathy for as a parent— pressures to fit in, pressures on the children of immigrants, decisions made by immigrants for what they believe is the good of the family or child, but in a different culture, is that always the best way forward?

Multi-generational stories are my jam and I’m always considering what makes people tick— why do we make the decision we do? Lily, Nick, and May were fully fleshed out characters, each with their dreams and insecurities on display, making it easy for the reader relate and sympathize with the choices they made.

Read this if you are interested in:
Multi-generational sagas
Immigrant experiences
Complicated family relationships
Chinese culture

I definitely expect that this one will be on my top 10 for the year— it’s been a few days and I’m still thinking deeply about many of the questions above! Thank you to @aaknopf for the ARC!

I was hooked from the first line, and while I enjoyed Parts I and II the most, I overall really liked this. The questions are our fates truly inevitable, do we have the right to influence others’ fates even if capable, and what really makes us…us were all explored here. It’s important to note there are some not fully explained or fully believe scientific things central to who Khong is answering these questions. I was okay with that, despite wanting a bit more. That aside, I have a feeling these characters and this story will stay with me for awhile.

This is such a remarkable novel and I am in awe of the story Rachel Khong has created for this book. I absolutely loved her debut novel, Goodbye Vitamin, and have been looking forward to this one for some time; it did not disappoint.

Separated into three parts, each in its own time period (1999, 2021, mid-60s) and with its own narrator, the story brings together three generations of a family that has simultaneously separated and come together. There are so many interesting themes here: fortune - both wealth and luck; choices - those we make and those that are made for us; legacy - including the timely topic of genetic engineering; and the American "dream," through the lens of class, race, education, and several other factors. Khong's writing is take-your-breath-away beautiful, full of highlightable phrases and sentences that forced me to pause for further reflection.

If you enjoyed books like The Vanishing Half and/or The Dutch House, you should give this one a try!

This multi-generational story about a Chinese-American mother and her son explores identity and family. The book started out really strong but took a twist that I could have done without.

A beautifully written fascinating story of an American family. Told in three parts, it starts with Lily, daughter of Chinese immigrants, who meets and marries Matthew, scion of an incredibly wealthy family. Theirs is a charmed life until the birth of their son Nico when a secret comes out. The narrative then shifts to Nick, a high school senior living on an island in Washington State with his mother Lily. His friend prods him to find his father, who Lily has stubbornly refused to identify, and this changes everything. Critical to Nick's story is that he does not appear to be Chinese, that he looks almost exactly like Matthew. The narrative then leaps ahead once Nick has graduated and is working in tech to Mei, Lily's mother, who suffered mightily in China. She tells her life story to Nick and wants nothing more than to see Lily again. Khong pulls the threads through these people, makes them seem very real, and will keep you entranced and engaged. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A terrific read.

I really enjoyed this multigenerational novel about the choices that people make, and the effects on future generations. It's told by three people: Lily, her son, and her mother. I liked the first two parts best! The third part, a mix of Lily's mom and her son's story, was a little messy, and a little hard to follow. I saw one reviewer say it reminded them a bit of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, and I do see that connection. I think many readers will like this book, though!

This is a beautifully written story. I loved the multiple POVs, the almost fantasy feel to it, and the way the stories wove together. The pacing and the way the stories connected through the different timelines are what really sets this book apart. This was a very unique read and I was sucked into the story for the entire book.

I loved this novel. Rachel Chong is a fantastic writer who is able to capture character and plot in a perfectly balanced way. Real Americans is a multigenerational family story told in three parts. Part one begins with Lily, a first generation Chinese-American, living in NYC in the Y2K era. Lily is unsure of what she wants to do with her life and struggles with finding meaning and connection in her life and laments her bad luck. When she meets Matthew, Lily feels like her luck has changed. He is good looking, wealthy and crazy about Lily. The couple marries and through IVF are able to conceive their son Nico.
Nico, now referred to as Nick, is the narrator of the second part of this story. Years have passed and he and Lily live alone in a remote home outside Seattle. Nick and his best friend Timothy, high school juniors, are trying to figure out who Nick's father is. Lily has never told him about Matthew and the reader doesn't know what exactly happened.
Part three is narrated by May, Lily's mother, years in the not too distant future. May begins her story as a little girl working the rice fields in China. She tells us about all that she has been through in life and all the choices that she had to make along with the consequences of those choices.
There is no way to quickly summarize this novel and do it justice. It's messy and complicated in the way that life is complicated and messy. There are many difficult topics weaved throughout including racism, family betrayal, and medical ethics. Khong's writing is compelling with just a touch of the fantastical. Thankful to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this 5 star book.

Author Rachel Khong continues to impress me with her writing; specifically her ability to inhabit her characters and develop complex plots. REAL AMERICANS is filled with juicy characters and the three timelines and accompanying subplots are thoroughly engaging. I was so engaged in following the story that I may have missed some crucial details; at times I felt as though there were missing pieces. I just wanted to see where the story was going; namely, where did the characters end up, after all was said and done. It was worth the wait to get there and oddly enough, might be even better when read a second time. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

A magnificent book that will stay with you.

Following three generations of „Real Americans“, the book is told, successively, from their three different points of view.

In 1999, we met Lily, the American-born daughter of Chinese immigrants May and Charles. Lily is working as an unpaid intern in New York and trying to figure out her life when she meets Matthew, the son of a pharmaceutical dynasty. Despite the odds, Lily and Matthew fall in love.

What follows - Lily and Matthew‘s relationship that‘s refreshingly drama-free and adult, their marriage and the birth of their child, Nico/Nick; Nick‘s own adolescence with his single mother, in search of himself; and eventually, May‘s confessions to her grandson - is a stunning, moving, utterly honest tale of family, identity, belonging, race, and fortune: how we might try to change it, and who we might hurt in the process.

Told in beautiful prose, sweeping four decades from 1999 New York to 2030 San Francisco, and including flashbacks to Mao‘s China, „Real Americans“ is an unforgettable book whose ethical questions - how much we can and should interfere in other people‘s fortunes, even those of our children - will stay with you for a long time.

Moving, honest, thought-provoking, unpretentious and yet unimaginably rich. A true triumph.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

„Real Americans“ is slated to be published on April 30, 2024.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a multi-generational family saga of a Chinese-American family. The story follows three POVs and timelines: Lily Chen, daughter of Chinese immigrants; Lily's son, Nick; and Lily's mother, Mei.

Lily does not really know what she wants to do in life and feels the weight of expectations. Nick wonders about his father his whole life and why his mother left him. Will he look for his father and if he does what will he find? Mei came from a poor family in China but always wanted to be a scientist. She gets into university right before Mao takes over China. She escapes China to come to the United States. Each character's decisions impacts the story and the family.

This is an interesting story that has me pondering where I came from and my immigrant ancestors. It will also make you think about choices that families make with the best intentions.

Recommend for literary domestic drama lovers!

REAL AMERICANS has an interesting premise and I think it’s very earnest. I read most of it in one sitting on a plane, and I was invested enough to not put it down. But ultimately it fell flat. Khong tried to tackle lots of BIG subject matter (ancestry, belonging, Asian-American identity, the American Dream, parenthood, friendship, secrets, college, etc etc etc....) but she bit off more than she could chew. Nothing was explored in depth enough.

The pacing and structure were often ham handed as well; this a book with a plot contrived almost entirely of unbelievable coincidences, and it was too long. The light speculative elements felt out of place....the prose was uninspired and merely serviceable...

I can see Khong's expansive vision and respect the promise here, but the execution was severely lacking.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC!

I loved this beautifully crafted multi-generational saga. Lily is studying and working as an unpaid intern in New York city in the late 1990s-early 2000s when she falls in love with Matthew. Matthew turns out to be richer than Lily imagined and although initially skeptical of the relationship, the two quickly get married. Lily's parents, May and Charles are geneticists who migrated from China in the 1960s and have kept their past mostly hidden from Lily. This is the setting for this fantastic novel told in three parts and three different points of view over a period spanning decades. While the story started off as a light-hearted romance, it really sucked me in by the time I got to Part Two. I am unable to decide whether Part 2 or Part 3 is my greater favorite. If you love a well-told tale with elements of relationship drama, history, scientific possibilities and some magical realism thrown in, look no far. This is one of the best books I have read recently. Love the original plotline, the well-developed characters and the lucid, easy writing. Totally recommend!!

Thank you Netgalley, Knopf Publishing and Rachel Khong for the ARC.

3.5 stars rounded up

Typically, I enjoy a slow-burn, multigenerational family saga, and Real Americans was definitely a slow burner. Each part of the book is from a different character's perspective, and in a different time period. The story of Lily and Matthew, May and Charles, and Lily and Matthew's son, Nick, was emotionally wrenching, as they tried and mostly failed to heal past wounds. I felt like the relationships were fairly realistic, even though my questions about how things happened were not completely answered. The family saga aspect of the novel is its strength.

I struggled a bit with some of the scientific experimentation and time warping that was woven through the story; it felt a little unnecessary even though it demonstrated a connection between the generations. Also, the ending of the book felt strangely rushed and ultimately unfinished. Overall, the book is enjoyable, albeit a bit uneven.

Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage & Anchor for the digital ARC of Real Americans. The opinions in this review are my own.

Great writing and an interesting concept. I had a tough time with the pacing. This is definitely a slow and steady type of book. I didn’t mind the three parts and the different timelines but I felt they ended a little abruptly. Too much and not enough.

Lily is an unpaid intern when she meets Matthew. Matthew is the opposite of Lily, mostly in that he has more money than he knows what to do with. Though different as can be, the two fall in love and marry, eventually having their son Nico, who weirdly looks like a blue eyed little white boy, though his mother’s half of him is Chinese. Now Nick is getting ready to go to college and while he loves his mom, he wants to know more about his father. With secrets filling the family history, everyone just wants to know who they truly are.

This book has gotten a lot of hype on instagram and from the publisher, and it’s not hard to see why! I did see some reviews say it felt like three different books, and honesty, they are not wrong, but I also really enjoyed that aspect. At one point I was like “wait what other book did I read recently where she talks about never being lucky?” Only to realize it was the first section of this one! While it did feel like a whirlwind to be thrown into a completely new story, I did love how they all connected and how you got to really dive in to each persons individual story. It felt unique and fascinating to read about how each mother just wanted a better life for their child, yet it still somehow backfired each time. This book kept me up well past my bedtime because I just could not stop reading! I highly recommend picking this one up, especially if you enjoy family drama/history through the years.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for review.

This is a sweeping family drama, set over several decades, and featuring narration from the matriarch, her daughter, and that daughter's son. We go back and forth in time, and see how family secrets, genetics, and racism all play into each character's lives. This was beautifully written and I loved reading it.

This was an interesting read from the viewpoints of different generations of a family. After the first chapter, we jump into Lily's story. It's 1999 and we find out that she is Chinese but born in America. Her parents immigrated during Mao's Communist regime. Lily meets Matthew, the all-American type of guy (blond hair, blue eyes) from an extremely rich family. Even though they are from very different walks of life, they click. The second section of the book is from their son, Nico/Nick's, perspective. He looks just like his dad, even though he's half Chinese. We end up finding out why as the story continues. We also realize his dad isn't in the picture and they live in Washington on an island. We are in 2021 and move through his high school and college years. The last section is Mei's (Lily's mom) point of view. She's telling her story. This was an interesting way to discuss the racism someone like Lily during the late 90s & early aughts. Nico/Nick also has some interesting issues with this in a different way. If you enjoy family sagas and a little bit of science fiction, this one is for you. I got a little lost with some of the genetics and DNA information, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of this book.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for advanced copy, and I give my review freely

This was a strange one. It is an intergenerational family story with speculative science and possible supernatural/science fiction elements as well. The first section centers on Lily in an extremely unengaging romance. I almost dnf’d it there.The second part concerns her son Nico/Nick and the third part with Lily’s mother Mai.
The book is full of major plot contrivances as well as tangential characters whom we spend a lot of time with while some major plot points are not well developed.
Some parts of the book are engaging and the prose is well written.
I give this book 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for this e-arc.

A stunning book pondering questions of family, what we owe one another, the impact vs intent of the choices we make, and forgiveness. The ending felt abrupt, but was still satisfying. Khong will remain an auto-buy author for me, and I’m excited to see the discussions this book will generate. It would make an excellent book club pick!