Real Americans : Discussion Thread

[Trisha]

From the award-winning author of Goodbye, Vitamin: How far would you go to shape your own destiny? An exhilarating novel of American identity that spans three generations in one family, and asks: What makes us who we are? And how inevitable are our futures?

Real Americans begins on the precipice of Y2K in New York City, when twenty-two-year-old Lily Chen, an unpaid intern at a slick media company, meets Matthew. Matthew is everything Lily is not: easygoing and effortlessly attractive, a native East Coaster and, most notably, heir to a vast pharmaceutical empire. Lily couldn't be more different: flat-broke, raised in Tampa, the only child of scientists who fled Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Despite all this, Lily and Matthew fall in love.

In 2021, fifteen-year-old Nick Chen has never felt like he belonged on the isolated Washington island where he lives with his single mother, Lily. He can't shake the sense she's hiding something. When Nick sets out to find his biological father, the journey threatens to raise more questions than answers.

In immersive, moving prose, Rachel Khong weaves a profound tale of class and striving, race and visibility, and family and inheritance—a story of trust, forgiveness, and finally coming home.

Exuberant and explosive, Real Americans is a social novel par excellence that asks: Are we destined, or made, and if so, who gets to do the making? Can our genetic past be overcome?

[Trisha]

I'm currently reading this one and plan to update as I go along!

[Trisha]

Through Part 1

huh, I wasn't sure where this was going, at first
(view spoiler)[ so wow! the families already know each other?
were they fated to be together?
why did they have trouble conceiving? what has her mother done? and why was her father so abrupt and rude?

interesting what that other man said, who else has her mother affected?
and how can Lily make time stop? (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

Through Part 2

(view spoiler)[ it's sad, the way the 2 sons aren't getting along and that Sam is struggling
I'm glad he still occasionally sees Timothy
I didn't understand his pull to the girlfriend but I can imagine how sad he was when it was over

the storytelling is a little high level and no too much into the weeds of the day to day life. It keeps it interesting and fast moving but a little impersonal. I'm not sure if that is because that's how Nick is but it was the same way with the mom's POV (hide spoiler)]

curious to see who part 3 is about. . .

[Trisha]

and I'm done

what an emotional and well-done story. I loved it!

(view spoiler)[ I was so glad we got the mother's story. The information about her growing up and how hard that was, how hard she had to work to get out. I love that we learned the story as Nick did - so he could know his grandmother.

sometimes science advances too fast and sometimes we shouldn't attempt the things we do. I loved that, in the end, Nick and Lily could harness time and give themselves more - the very thing that Matthew couldn't possibly throw money at. Nick was such a good person, I love how he was willing to listen to all of them.

the only part of the story I am the most sad about is the fact that Lily never did give her mother the letter. she should have (hide spoiler)]