Joan Mackenzie reviews Rachel Khong's Real Americans
Hello, my name is Joan and this book is called Real Americans by Rachel Khong. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I love big, epic, multi-generational family sagas and that's what this is all about. It is told essentially in three parts. It begins with Lily, a destitute young woman living in New York. One night he goes to a party and meets a very rich man named Matthew who takes him to Paris. They have a good time and become an item. Then when his parents meet his, the dynamic is kind of awkward and it's a little strange. A few years later, Lily is living on the other side of the country with her son Nick. Now Nick doesn't know who his father is, he's certainly never met him but he's interested enough to try to find him since he's a bit lost in the world. He doesn't really know where he is. He ends up meeting Matthew, his father, but it doesn't go very well. Nick then goes to San Francisco and the third part of the book is narrated by May, his maternal grandmother, where she lives in San Francisco. And she talks about how she met her husband right on the brink of China's cultural revolution. They got married, obviously they had Lily, they emigrated to America and things happened to them like they do in families. It brings this story full circle and, like I said, it's one of those wonderful multi-generational sagas with some really deep revelations. I found it gripping, I loved it from the first page to the last and I highly recommend it.
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