3/5 stars
Real Americans, by Rachel Khong (2024)
This is a reluctant 3, but the book is better than a 2, so here we are.
The story is told in three parts, by three different generations of a Chinese-American family, the Chens. First, we hear from Lily - as she grows up in that gray area of a first-generation American with immigrant parents. At home (and later, in China) she's too American, and at school and work, she's too Chinese. Her story follows her through childhood, college, and into the workforce, where she struggles to find her purpose and passion, the way her scientist parents have. She also finds love unexpectedly in an extremely wealthy, blonde-haired, blue-eyed businessman, Matthew.
Next up is Nick, Lily's son. We know from the get-go that he and his mother live alone, and he has no relationship with his father - doesn't even know his name - nor does he know his mother's parents. All Nick knows is that he looks nothing like his Chinese-American mother, so he must look like his white father. As the story unfolds we learn more about how this came to pass, though we don't learn the extent of the secrets and betrayals that led to it until the next section. That final section is Mei's story, Lily's mother. She recounts what happened so many years ago to cause the rift between she and her daughter, and her daughter and Matthew.
While I usually really like a story that spans generations and tells multiple versions of events from different viewpoints, in this case it seemed like Khong used the device to distract the reader from plot holes. It's either that or she didn't do a very good job of mapping out the story beforehand.
There are a lot of topics covered in this book, which is partly what makes it interesting, but also what makes it feel like Khong really overextended to cover it all. Everything is touched upon, but nothing is examined in a meaningful way. Immigration and assimilation, race and racism, wealth and privilege, the ethics of gene editing, family expectations and responsibilities, class systems, communist China... it's a lot. And it kept me engaged, but throughout the book I kept waiting for something to land with more intention. I kept waiting for a deeper dive, only to get more elements that I wanted deeper dives into!
But the thing I really didn't like about this book, which very nearly brought it down to a 2-star rating, is the random bit of magical thrown in to the narrative, where some characters can literally stop time (that's not a spoiler since it happens within the first two pages of the book). It made zero sense and was completely pointless. It was never really explained except by attributing it to some obscure Chinese folk tale / superstition. Feels like Khong wrote an entire book about these people, then someone told her magical realism sells, and she added in this element that served no purpose.
So... I don't know. I don't think it was a waste of my time, nor would it be a waste of yours, particularly if you're interested in a philosophical exploration of genetic alteration. I just think the book had lofty goals, like the questions below from the jacket, and it never was fully able to deliver on them.
How far would you go to shape your own destiny? What makes us who we are? And how inevitable are our futures?
UP NEXT: Every Heart a Doorway, by Seanan McGuire
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