"Real Americans" by Rachel Khong offers a captivating exploration of identity, family, and the pursuit of destiny across three generations. Khong's narrative effortlessly transports readers from the precipice of Y2K in New York City to the isolated Washington island in 2021, weaving together the stories of Lily Chen and her son Nick as they navigate questions of belonging and heritage. With immersive prose and thought-provoking themes of class, race, and forgiveness, Khong crafts a compelling tale that challenges readers to consider the influence of both nature and nurture on our lives. "Real Americans" is a rich and exuberant social novel that leaves a lasting impression, inviting readers to ponder the complexities of self-discovery and the power of choice.

A story told from multi-generations... and just when I really got settled into the story, it jumped to another member of the family leaving lots of loose thread and holes in the story.

However, Khong does a good job of tying most of the threads together as she brings the story to its conclusion, and no spoilers here, but the ending left me wanting more!

More importantly, Khong has the reader consider family, destiny, how much control do we have over our children, what our choices mean for those around us, and the strength of the family bond.

The writing is really beautiful and Khong made me think about so many things... for long after I finished the story!

I highly recommend. I give this book 4.5 stars rounded up to 5!

I would like to thank Netgalley, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the digital copy of this book. The book will be published April 30, 2024.

REAL AMERICANS by Rachel Khong to be published April 30, 2024

I was lucky enough to receive an early gifted copy thanks to @aaknopf.

Unfortunately, this very buzzy book was a let down.

The novel is organized into three sections that feel like three different books. First, Lily narrates her meet-cute with her eventual husband, Matthew. In the second section, Lily’s son takes over and we get a lot of angst and typical coming-of agey-type things as he moves through young adulthood, and in the third section we follow Lily’s mother growing up in China under harrowing circumstances.

This book is trying to do way too much without exploring anything deeply enough. I was hoping that Khong would examine assimilation in America in a way that would cause me to view the issue new or differently, but that was not the case. In fact, I don’t really understand the relevance of the title to the story she told. Yes, there are some references to the Chinese immigrant experience in America, but that was not the main thrust of the book. Now that I think about it, I’m not actually sure there was a main thrust. The characters made unrelatable choices and didn’t communicate with each other in a realistic way – there was no reason for them to be so secretive about their past and it made everyone feel flat and disconnected from each other. And it caused the three stories to feel disconnected as well. The magical realism was frustrating and unnecessary. There was no resolution or growth for pretty much any of the characters.

This was a miss for me!

Link to come.

What does it mean to truly belong? Who is a "real American?"

Real Americans is a sweeping epic of a novel that traces three generations of Chinese Americans as they wrestle with their destinies in America.

May is a scientist who fled China during Mao's Cultural Revolution. She gave up a great love and settled for a man that could provide her with a new life that would give her the freedom and the opportunity to forward her important scientific work in the field of genetics.

Lily is May's daughter who is unsure of her life direction and lacks the drive and the need to succeed of her immigrant parents. Her fate however becomes intermingled with Matthew Maier, an heir to a pharamaceutical empire. His wealth and privilege is light years away from the life that Lilly has led and the struggles that she has faced. Can their love surmount those daunting obstacles?

Nick is Lily's son who wants answers to the past that his mother has kept carefully hidden. He is determined to seek out the father he has never known and to find answers to the questions he has that demand answers. Little does he realize what those answers will do to life as he knows it.

All three viewpoints are told in intersecting timelines as we journey with the characters towards both realization and redemption.

This novel fascinated me. It's themes of belonging and acceptance are universal, but Khong just presented them in wholly unique ways and I became completely immersed in May, Lily, and Nick's stories.

I feel like this is a perfect book club pick-Jenna? Reese? Anyone?-just because there is so much discussion that could result from the different plot lines and themes. *I'm being vague purposefully to avoid spoilers.

DO NOT miss this one! It's a unique reading experience.

What I liked
-the writing is easy to read (it took me ~5 hours to finish)
-interesting ideas here and there (unfortunately none are fully-developed. See next part)
-I can see this being a good book club book. Lots of interesting topics for discussion! (I can see BOTM picking this for April/May 😆)

(I’m running out of good things to say 🙈)
-a pretty cover
-GOODBYE, VITAMIN was great - please read it if you haven’t already
-this is the first I’ve read about “imprinting” as an epigenetics therapy in fiction. A great day for science literacy 🤷🏻‍♀️
-a solid introduction to Asian literature (???

What didn’t work for me
-A LOT of telling

-each section focuses on a different POV. But especially for sections 1 & 2, they end right after a big event happens that’s supposed to change the character. And then we stop there 😅 It was frustrating to trudge through loads of descriptions of food, architecture, events, yet stop right when these flawed characters are supposed to develop. It’s like seeing before vs after pictures of these characters as we move through the story chronologically, without knowing why they made their decisions this way

-the beginning of part 3 is the strongest in terms of character development but quickly dissolves into a mishmash of cultural revolution history x science fiction x social commentary on inequality

-I think it’s trying to do too much without fully committing to any idea. It wants to be a multigenerational family saga but lacks the sprawling historical feel. it wants to be a coming-of-age of finding belonging but stops short of developing characters through their darkest moments. it wants to be sci-fi but just throws around big terms. It wants to be a complex mother daughter relationship lit fic but what is that ending 🫠

-so. many. overwritten. tropes. The Asian women x white men trope is getting a little tiring for me to read especially when it’s repeatedly pointed out in part 1 without adding anything new to the conversation. Same with wealth inequality, being white passing, etc. again, the book just throws around these ideas in short bursts without diving deeper into them

-idk if it’s intentional but there’s a lot of unresolved internalized racism from Lily’s POV(part 1). Compounded with the lack of emphasis of solidarity, it sometimes reads like the three MCs are just whining about how people around them have disappointed them (rightfully so) but without committing to building community themselves. There are instances where I feel each MC is also perpetuating white supremacy but they either aren’t aware of it or don’t care when it’s used for their own gain 🥲 Maybe that the author’s intention in having unlikable characters (and not developing them into relatable people), I just feel there’s such a lack of love for community in this book

Real Americans connects the stories of a grandmother, her daughter and her grandson in three parts. Rachel Khong has described the immigrant experience of Lily whose parents are Chinese scientists in Florida. Lily meets the ultra rich Matthew in NYC. Though she has some trouble living in his world, the two fall in love and marry. Years later she gives birth to Ben but something tears the marriage apart and Part 2 is told from the viewpoint of Ben beginning in his high school years outside of Seattle. The final section of the book is narrated by May, Lily’s mother who immigrated from China seeking a better life. Throughout the book there are secrets interwoven and slowly revealed in the story. Like the double helix her parents study, Lily’s family and Matthew’s keep coming together and moving apart over many years. In addition to being a solid plot, Khong raises several issues involving genetics that I found very interesting as a former scientist teacher.

Real Americans is a stirring novel that spans 3 generations.
Rachel Khong explores many themes including class, race, family and genetics.
It's an insightful book.

I was enraptured from beginning to end. The different perspectives of the characters were easy to follow but didn't feel like I know exactly what happens with each and why they did what they did. Will definitely be recommending this to others.

I liked that this story was told from three different points of view that is my favorite type of story. This story is about rac, class and identity. I really enjoyed this story and look forward to more books from Rachel Khong.

I found Real Americans both fascinating and at times kind of boring. There were times where it was powerful and times it focused on the mundane. It tells the story of three generations of the same family, staring with the mother Lily, then moving on to her son Nick, before tracing back to Lily's mother May as she forms a relationship with the grandson she's estranged from. There's a part of me that understands why Khong saves May for the last section, but there's a part of me that feels like I would have interpreted Lily's relationship with her mother in a completely different way if I had known about the life she led in communist China and the relationships she had with two different men. A storyline that doesn't get a lot of attention but causes the fracturing of the relationship between Lily and her husband is the idea of gene editing, and editing for the genes desired to be expressed. I wish Khong had explored this more. Matthew, Lily's husband, is also a hard one to figure out for me. He seems at times to find his family's money repugnant. But then he goes into the family business. He seems desperate to have a relationship with Nick but can blow him off and shuts himself away from the problems of his younger son Sam. I also feel like Lily's part of the story ends abruptly, and even though we see some of why she made the decisions she did from Nick's perspective, her thoughts, feelings and opinions seem to disappear entirely while still having a profound effect on her family. I see why other people could really enjoy this book, but I think I would have liked it better if it had been arranged differently. It also felt like it was really long, but I tend to feel this way with books that are character studies and relationship based. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Real Americans by Rachel Khong is a multigenerational novel told in three parts, told by a mother, her daughter and grandson. It starts with the daughter, then her son, then her mother. I felt some of the changes between the narrators were abrupt which made it difficult for me to engage fully with them. However, I enjoyed reading of their hardships and successes, and how they assimilated into American culture. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

The Real Americans
Rachel Khong
April 30, 2024

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This novel has so many fascinating and beautiful layers, that I can’t even begin to describe how engrossed I felt with the novel. It is a book about the human soul and connections. It is a multigenerational and atmospheric novel with engrossing storytelling, a dash science, and deep secrets. If you like stories like Pachinko, this book will immerse you in their family’s lives.

This story follows three Chinese American main characters spanning over 70 years. It takes us through 1960’s communist China to the future of 2030’s, Silicone Valley.

It is a sweeping saga about fortune, fate, and desire.

The story starts in 1999 where we meet Lily. The MC has the pressures of starting a life and has difficulty finding purpose. She’s trying to find herself and navigate life in the complex city of Manhattan. She has a complicated mother daughter relationship and keeps her job and financial insecurities to herself whenever she asks how she’s doing. Lily meets Matthew at her company Xmas party where he wins a TV. Lily seems to know that luck just doesn’t happen for her. With a lot of awkwardness, these two hit it off. The whole time she’s with him, she seems unsure of herself by his side and thoughts of not being worthy enough for him start making her believe that she doesn’t belong with him. She ghosts him. She goes through life trying to make something of herself and continues to struggle financially, in her career, and with loneliness. Some years later, she is surprised to see him again at a function, yet embraces being with him again. This time they’re both in it for the long haul. Lily’s relationship with her mother comes up and we see Lily try to deal with her daughter guilt of somehow feeling like she let her mother down. Lily is convinced her mother isn’t happy with her decision of getting married. Lily feels she has led her mother down by not becoming something bigger in life or falling in her own mother’s footsteps as a scientist. Matthew also has a complicated history with his family. They try to conceive and promise to be different with their child. Conceiving the child proves to be difficult for the couple. Once the child arrives, things change drastically as she feels a need to be over protective.

The story then jumps to 2021. Their child, Nick, grows up and starts to have questions about his father. He is navigating similar things like his mother. There’s the awkwardness of High school and not fitting in. There’s only one friend he has. And the immense feelings of not feeling good enough for college and again not fitting in and isolation. He grew up without his father and little by little with the help of his maternal grandmother learns the reason why. He finally meets his father, but has never felt comfortable enough with him to form a good relationship with. He learns of a half brother. He tries to live with these feelings and tries to make something for himself knowing life has thrown him this. His half brother has his own jealousy towards him. We feel the complexity between the father-son relationship.

In 2030, May, Lily’s mother tells her POV. She is seen earlier in the book with a bit of mystery to her relationship with her daughter. We all want to know what did she do? She’s been following her grandson, Nick, since her daughter cast her aside. Nick notices one day and wants answers so he agrees to hear her story. She takes us through her rough childhood in China and how hard she worked to get into a university even with everything stacked against her. She takes us through China’s revolution and how she was forced to choose between love and living. Eventually, she makes her way to America where she continues to work as a scientist focusing in epigenetic work. She wants the best for her daughter and makes a decision that will alter not only her daughter’s future, but have lasting consequences for herself and family too.

I knew I was going to have a book hangover. I could feel myself getting close to the character’s storylines. I was invested. You can feel Lily’s love for Matthew and her son. At times, lyrical writing was moving. We feel the love between the characters. This is a thought provoking with the ideology of what it means to be American, the American dream, genetics, destiny, multigenerational wealth, loneliness, and our parents hopes and dreams for us, just to name a few themes. This book is perfection for those looking for deeper, moving novels that will leave you thinking about the character long after you finish it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Receiving an advanced copy was a delightful surprise. I believe both existing fans and newcomers will find it equally enjoyable.

3.5 stars
I really enjoyed the 3 POV's of this intergenerational Chinese-American family.
That part I loved. The struggles each endured, the wins, the effort to fit in.
The race, class, family, inheritance, etc. Very well written and really enjoyed that aspect.
Although I didn't get the magic side of it. It just didn't seem necessary.
It felt like it was just thrown in there, without any real depth to it.
I also enjoyed the science and genetics. Kind of scary to think about, actually. Very interesting.
Give it a try! I really liked the author's writing style.
I look forward to reading her other novels

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rachel Khong's sophomore novel REAL AMERICANS poses the reader with the question who is a "REAL American." Told in three sections, this a multigenerational look at a Chinese American woman named Lily, her son Nick, and Lily's mother Mei/May. Each of the characters narrates a section of the book (although the third section ends up being narrated by Nick as well as Mei). The first and second sections end rather abruptly, which might frustrate some readers. I had some problems with Nick's section, where the story didn't seem to unfold in an authentic way and felt a little forced to tie the first and third sections together.

There is a lot in this novel, so much that the novel has an identity crisis as much as the main characters (i.e., the immigrant experience told as historical fiction, science fiction with the epigenetics, the time construct with the magical elements that aren't ever fleshed out, etc.). I did like this novel better than Khong's debut GOODBYE, VITAMIN. Others have said this would make a book club selection. I disagree. I am in two in-person book clubs, and I can't see this one landing well in either one. That's not to say it's not a good book. I think it very much is, but it will have to search for its ideal reader more than the standard airport novel.

I realize that my tone may come across as negative, which isn't at all the case. I do like to caution readers where they might go sideways with a book. Switching gears, there are a lot of things I did really enjoy about this novel:
* I liked the three main characters as individuals. They are doing the best they can with the options they have.
* In most of the book, the text stays core to the "Real Americans" theme. I liked the additional layer of choice (epigenetics) added to the considerations for being "Real Americans" in the third section.
* I do appreciate learning things, including science, in a novel. I'm not sure how close the science discussed in this novel reflects where we are scientifically speaking. I appreciated how this element propelled my thoughts and reflections.
* I really liked the beginning of the third section that is historical fiction. It gives great context. I'm sure the author considered starting the novel with this, and I see why she chose to structure the novel differently than chronologically.
* I think this will be a memorable read.

I tried to get into this but I couldnt engage. The writing was good but the character’s voices didn’t resonate with me so I had a hard time connecting to the story.

Loved this multi generational story of family, culture and what it means to be American. Ot was a fast read filled with compelling stories and thought provoking questions. What makes you American? What would you do to help the ones you love? What sacrifices would you make for others? I love the way historical events were woven into the years. This would make an excellent boom club read - lots to discuss!

Beautiful storytelling across three generations. Khong does an incredible job weaving the stories of Lily, Nick, and and Mei. In the process, we face questions of fate, genetics, and identity. There were times that points in the story felt somewhat unresolved, as the book had already transitioned to the next character's story. However, overall loved this book and the telling of a family's story.

Top new favorite. Lyrical, taut, devastating and unlike anything else I’ve ever read. Just read it. Now!!

I received a free ebook from Netgalley for an honest review. This was my first book from Rachel Khong. The book started out really strong for me.

The book was divided into 3 different stories. I loved the story of Lily. I was hooked. I was disappointed when it was over. I would have given this story 5 stars

I really liked the story of Nick. I was really into the story. I was sad when the story was over. I would give it 5 stars.

The story of Mei was hard for me. She was so different from the other characters. It took me a long time to get into her story. Her story was such a long period of time. It was from different demographics.

This part of the story went from different points of view. I had such a hard time with the story. I had a difficult time with so MUCH that happened with her.

The first 2 stories I read really quickly. I really wanted to know what happens next. I truly lost interest in Mei's story. It took me a long time to finish the book.

Luckily, the book has short chapters. The chapters are divided into even smaller sections. It is pretty easy to read.

I want to read the authors next book. I do find her to be a very good author.