Lead Review (Real Americans)

• Book: Real Americans
• Location: Beijing (Peking), United States (USA)
• Author: Rachel Khong

Review Author: tripfiction

Real Americans by Rachel Khong tells a familiar story, of first-generation children of immigrants and the efforts they need to make to fit in, but also the disconnection they feel from their heritage. Lily Chen’s parents immigrated from China and made every effort to ensure that their daughter would fit in to American life. They spoke only English, so that Lily would be fluent. They worked hard at jobs they were well qualified to fill and encouraged her to study and make the most of her situation. But Lily never felt the same as her American peers – even her appearance gave away her heritage. And she never felt truly Chinese either, since she couldn’t speak Mandarin or Cantonese.

Lily is an unpaid intern at a magazine when she meets Matthew, who is rich, powerful and everything Lily is not. Nevertheless, Matt falls in love with her and she with him. But she is plagued with doubts about whether their relationship can last. The novel is an account of their relationship over many years, one part told by Lily and another told by her son, Nico, many years later. The author very cleverly works her way to revealing what happened to Lily, Matt and Nico in the intervening years, and why, keeping the reader engrossed.

The book moves between different settings in America and China, including several key historical events that occur during the timeline of the story. While each place is well described, the beauty of the book is in the descriptions of the people and the things each considers important, depending on their personality and the shared beliefs and customs of their heritage. Some characters others enjoy privileges that are un-earned, simply because of the way they were born, while others, while others are straining to escape their heritage. As the story unravels, it becomes apparent that the self-interest of some characters has the potential to ruin the lives of others – and may also have done so in the past.

I particularly enjoyed the “scientific fiction” aspect of the book: several of the main characters are involved in scientific research or affected by it. It appears that the author either has a  scientific background or has done scrupulous research and it’s very convincing (though I confess I’m not qualified to judge!). As a whole, Real Americans is a fascinating insight into American and Chinese cultures, as well as being a beautiful love story and an intriguing mystery. Quite a combination!

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