Useful Phrases for Immigrants: Stories

by May-lee Chai

In the title story of this timely and innovative collection, a young woman wearing a Prada coat attempts to redeem a coupon for plastic storage bins while her in-laws are at home watching the Chinese news and taking her private phone calls. It is the lively and wise juxtaposition of cultures, generations, and emotions that characterize May-lee Chai's amazing stories. Within them, readers will find a complex blend of cultures spanning China, the Chinese diaspora in America, and finally, the world at large.

With luminous prose and sharp-eyed observations, Chai reveals her characters' hopes and fears, and our own: a grieving historian seeking solace from an old lover in Beijing, a young girl discovering her immigrant mother's infidelity, workers constructing a shopping mall in central China who make a shocking discovery. Families struggle with long-held grudges, reinvent traditions, and make mysterious visits to shadowy strangers from their past--all rendered with economy and beauty.

With hearts that break and sometimes mend, with families who fight and sometimes forgive, the timely stories in Useful Phrases for Immigrants illuminate complicated lives with empathy and passion. Chai's stories are essential reading for an increasingly globalized world.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Asian American, China, Contemporary, Asian Literature, Collections

146 pages, Paperback

First published October 18, 2018

Reviews

[Charlie Anders · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a powerful book of stories about displacement and families and changing values. I tore through most of this book on an airplane ride after picking it up at a book conference, and it really stuck with me. Probably the best story is the award-winning "Fish Boy," about a boy who comes from the countryside to the big city in China and goes to work at a restaurant where they serve some not-too-appetizing-sounding fish to clients. The whole thing reminds a little bit of some of Lao She's more trenchant short fiction. Some of these stories are about Chinese immigrants living in the United States and learning to balance Confucian traditions with American liberalism, and others are about people moving from one part of China to another, like "Fish Boy." In both cases, the stories keep circling back to generational tensions and the conflict between traditional values on the one hand and the realities of postmodern urban life on the other. Also, Chai has a great eye for the complexities of damaged families, as seen in stories like "First Carvel in Beijing" (in which the main character is still dealing with her mother's decision to leave her family, years later) and "Ghost Festivals" (where the main character's mom is still kind of in love with her husband's brother, even though he's gay). There are so many great lines about family here, like "Far from home, in Rose's memories, Ma had become like a black-and-white movie that she had watched on TV when she was a kid. Flickering and quaint. Up close in real life, Ma burned like a live coal against Rose's heart." Highly recommended!

[alex (winter break!)]

i read 6/8 of the short stories! we’re almost done w/the unit, started on december 3rd, ended on december 15th!

[Nev · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 - This was a lovely collection of short stories focused around Chinese and Chinese-American characters. Themes of family, displacement, and feelings of not belonging permeate most of the stories.

This was very balanced in terms of quality. Many times when I read short stories there will be one or two that stand out as being the worst or lesser than the rest, but that didn’t happen here. “Ghost Festivals,” “Canada,” & “First Carvel in Beijing” were my personal favorites but I don’t have any to point to as a least favorite. Perhaps some stories could have benefitted from being a few pages longer, just to have some extra development. But I have no massive complaints about anything in the collection.

Useful Phrases for Immigrants is the first thing I’ve read from May-lee Chai, but I look forward to reading more from her in the future. Her writing is beautiful and her characters are all unique and fleshed out.

I’d definitely recommend this.

[Alexandra Ye]

Many of these stories seem to end just at the point where you think another, bigger story would begin.
The stories quietly and plainly introduce the reader to a character, make clear the implications of the character's circumstances, and then end, leaving the reader to imagine the wider possibilities of the story--which feels incomplete and unsatisfying, but also says something interesting about the characters and situations we often don't see in short stories, or fiction, or books overall.

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

I generally don't care for short stories, but this was wonderful. Full of insight, interesting characters, and stories, I devoured this slim collection. Recommend.

[Jenny Shank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dallas Morning News, November 23, 2018

Chai, the accomplished author of 10 books and a regular Dallas Morning News contributor, plunges the reader into complex relationships in this Bakin Award-winning collection.

In the title story, Guili, a Chinese immigrant turned California entrepreneur, must downsize when her family's business falters. "Guili had not expected it to be so difficult to run a business in an American recession," Chai writes. "Why didn't people in movies complain about taxes and insurance and the cost of rent?" Guili's stress is so acute, with her dependent in-laws and zoned-out son, that she's actually relieved that a cancer diagnosis provides an excuse to shirk obligations.

Young Xiao Yu leaves the countryside to work in Hong Kong in "Fish Boy." At first city kids beat him up, but soon he's smoking, knife-fighting and flinging insults like his urban counterparts.

In the masterful "The Body," told through a chorus of voices, construction workers discover a dead woman on the site of the "future Happy Prosperity Shopping Center." As the narration passes between the crane operator, a young reporter, an itinerant priest, a migrant worker, and a developer, each character tries to avoid blame and misfortune from the death and calculates how to seek advantage from the situation.

Chai conveys the ache of being human with humor, sensitivity and insight, whether her characters are caring for an elderly parent or purchasing a first bra. (Blair, $16.95)

https://www.dallasnews.com/arts/books...

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read Chai's previous novels, TIGER GIRL and DRAGON CHICA, and her memoir HAPA, I was very excited about this collection. Chai's characters work their way through complicated family dynamics and cultural differences. Although there are only eight stories, each one packs a punch. With all of the current talk about immigrants, it may be timely, but you should have been reading Chai's work all along!

[Veronika · Rating 4 out of 5]

a collection of stories showing unique experiences of immigrants. I liked the mix of stories capturing an immigration both to the usa and to the urban areas of china. family dynamics was not that obvious for someone from outside but gave me deeper insights

[Abbey (The Open Bookshelf) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an easy book to dip in and out of, each story is as powerful as the last but they don't leave you feeling obligated to continue. In today's age of multidirectional migration, it's an absolutely necessary read.

[Amisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories weren’t bad. I’m sure they had some deeper meanings than an English teacher worth her weight in classics could spend hours tearing apart. But feeble minded me found them underwhelming. Sometimes downright boring.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely, engaging short stories, some take place in China, some in the US. Some involve mixed Chinese and American families. A gentle sense of humor in many of the stories, others are a bit melancholy in a sweet way. I just picked this up randomly at my library’s new fiction shelf, a lucky find!

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Asian-American writer May-Lee Chai is a gifted storyteller. The 8 stories in this collection are beautifully crafted with their tender tellings of the human condition crossing generations, lifestyles and countries. The characters were believable, strong, convicted and lasting. Their voices truly carried each scenario of the page. Loved Chai’s writing; she feels passionately and her inspiration for life shows in her words. Brilliant.

[Shayna Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short stories that mostly take place in China (and America) about family, displacement, and immigration over the course of time, Chai writes a beautiful series of emotional tales about a wide range of individuals. In the title story, we have a Chinese entrepreneur in California dealing with the stress of her in-laws while managing difficult finances and situations that are not revealed in American cinema. As for "Fish Boy," we watch as a country boy quickly learns how to become a city native while working in a restaurant gutting fish. During "The Body," which is my favorite of the stories, goes through multiple viewpoints of a construction dig finding a dead body on the premises. "Ghost Festivals"focuses on a young girl learning about her attraction to women while watching her uncle's homosexuality creating rifts in the family. And in "Canada," a young 11-year-old girl struggles with the reality of getting a trainer bra while discovering a darker side of her mother's personal life.

The stories are beautifully written and dig deep into the tensions between family members and loved ones, while also creating intense character studies. Each individual mentioned had such depths to their personalities that made you want to know a little more about them. Great for lovers of short stories, especially those interested in China and Chinese identities.

[Sachi Argabright · Rating 4 out of 5]

This slim short story collection features 8 immigration stories centered around Chinese families. Each story explores the hopes and dreams, hard work and dedication, and complex family dynamics of these immigrants in a short amount of pages.

I’m usually not big on short story collections, but I enjoyed reading this one! While some of the endings felt a little sudden or incomplete, there were subtle hints throughout the book that suggested many of the stories were actually linked together which I really enjoyed. I was expecting all of these stories to feature immigration stories to America, but was pleasantly surprised to see some other stories exploring the immigration experience from rural areas to cities. May-Lee Chai’s writing is so beautiful, and she could really suck me into a story in a short amount of time. Plus, Tayari Jones selected this book for the Bakwin Award for Writing by a Woman (and who can argue with her!) Pick this one up if you love short story collections, or want some interesting viewpoints of the immigrant experience!

[Sophia Li · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a rare gem: fiction about Chinese people and Chinese-Americans that feels grounded in contemporary culture and society. Although a few of the stories didn't feel quite complete, raising questions that were never satisfyingly addressed, the title story, "Ghost Festivals", and "Canada" were standouts. A quick, enjoyable read.

[Lindsey Z · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful, tender, touching collection of stories. Each one has its own discernible story arc and there was a takeaway from each story. No story was a throwaway in this collection. Chai tackles immigration, gender, poverty & class, city vs. country living, family relationships, death, and love in her stories, and they are set in places across the world. There were so many emotionally resonant moments for me as a reader and I enjoyed each story. The depth of character development that she accomplishes in such a short span is also notable and impressive. A really strong collection overall.

[Mariam · Rating 3 out of 5]

The short stories were good and can be read as standalone pieces. But I just felt like some of them were kind of lackluster and at times a little… boring?? It was painful for me to finish after the halfway mark. And perhaps it might just be that I didn’t really resonate with any of the storytelling.

[charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful Phrases for Immigrants is a solid set of short stories. The ones I enjoyed most were "Fish Boy" and "Ghost Festivals," and "First Carvel in Beijing" was also quite strong. "Fish Boy" is tautly written and provides precisely the right amount of detail in each scene, and the eponymous fish boy Xiao Lu has the most distinct narrative voice in the collection—I understand why it won the Jack Dyker prize.

A big weakness of the collection is that Chai uses very similar protagonists and family dynamics across a number of the stories. Reading them back-to-back lessened their impact. There were multiple stories where an older sister protagonist with a Chinese name has a younger brother with an American name and a fraught relationship with her mother who is cheating on/doesn't love her father and drama with extended family, and the protagonists of each had identical narrative voices. So the first story with those details ("Ghost Festivals") was resonant and the rest weren't so much. I definitely think it is a book that should be read one or two stories per day rather than all at once.

[Shelby Gabello · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded up. Like with any collection of short stories, I enjoyed several of the stories whereas others felt incomplete or choppy.

[Carla Sofia Sofia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to sing this book's praises from every mountaintop and place a copy in every English teacher's mailbox. Chai writes with such grace and tenderness. Her stories cut to the quick of suffering, ambivalence, searching for self, and messy family ties. I had the joy of teaching the titular short story to a class of English language learners and it felt so good to see their identities receive some thoughtful representation on the page. My favorites of the collection actually arrive right at the end, "First Carvel in Beijing" and "Shouting Means I Love You." In these two stories, I think Chai is at her most masterful in showing how difficult it can be as a daughter, both child and adult, to navigate the mixed expectations of your parents. She offers so nuanced a view into these experiences, never creating one-dimensional scenarios or flat characters. And gosh, that scene of eating persimmons at the end of "Carvel" was everything, a sumptuous embrace of the flawed and un-artificial identity, both separate and aware of the influence we carry from being our mothers' daughters. This is a book I want to keep near me always, like a friend reminding me I am not alone.

[Darlene Laguna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Well written, intriguing pieces, but for whatever reason they felt somewhat emotionless to me.

[Chang Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of stories.

[Helen Marquis · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of short stories set in the Chinese diaspora. Chai's characters are richly drawn and in many cases beautifully flawed. A hugely recommended read.

[☆ Katie ☆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

These short stories were just glimpses into the lives of various Chinese immigrants and their families - how they adjusted to the American culture, how they interact with their families, how foreign they still feel, even after years of living here.

Objectively speaking, these stories are not the most “exciting” or page-turners. However, what they do have is a sense of familiarity for people who have experienced being an immigrant or the child of one, especially from China. I really appreciated the Chinese words and references Chai inserted into the book, without additional explanation. She wanted the stories to be authentic, without any dilution of the cultural context.

This book was written for a very niche target audience and as a third culture kid myself, I very much related to these stories. The nuances of how parents interact with their kids, how immigrants perceive school, education, careers, money, etc. are very well conveyed in these short stories. There are no major events going on, just people living their everyday lives. And I really enjoyed the sense of familiarity and relatability I felt as I read these vignettes of families just like mine. The variety of stories that Chai tells in this collection are well-written and descriptive. Even though the stories are short, I still felt connected and invested in the characters and their lives.

[Saba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable would read for lee-Chai again

[Cflack · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fine collection of short stories about Chinese immigrants - some taking place in the US and some in China. A couple of the stories were strong, especially Fish Boy, the story of a 13 year old boy to moves to the big city with his grandfather and what he learns. Others were interesting but didn't really stand out.

The reoccurring theme for me was the tension between parents and children, especially girls and their mothers. There were multiple examples where the daughter felt as if the mothers didn't love them or understand them causing years of tension and impacting the lives of the daughters, most of whom did not marry or have children.

[Lesley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received Useful Phrases for Immigrants for free through Goodreads' Giveaways program. This collection of short stories by May-lee Chai was well written, but ultimately unsatisfying to me. Most of the stories were a bit bland and not especially interesting. They wasn't any "spark" to the stories at all and they felt almost too finely tuned.

I saw that the book got a lot of praise, and I can see that the writing is good. But there is something lacking in the stories in my opinion.

[Kookie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good stories about what it means to be part of the Asian diaspora.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Told with humor, empathy, and with special attention to the dynamics of Chinese-American families. Really enjoyed. Especially loved how the stories existed in the same universe—characters were unrelated but all shared habits, preferences. Made the collection flow really well.

[Odelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Really enjoyed this book.