Book No. 27 of 2020
This book was outstanding. I kept stopping to highlight the passages that punched me in the gut, of which there were many. Zhang uses specific lenses of the immigration/first-gen experience to examine the concept of American identity (and proving, with beautiful and devastating prose, that American-ness is not a thing that needs to be performed or proven, COUGH COUGH).
The structure of the book is beautifully constructed; the first and last stories are from the perspective of the same protagonist, and the stories in between are all different families with a passing connection to the first narrator. Watching the disparate storylines wind, briefly touch, and then meander away makes for a really beautiful reading experience.
Zhang’s stories, in capturing the struggle of different immigrant families, with their unique advantages and struggles, also show that the Asian-American population is not a monolith, and the model minority myth is a sham. (Again, COUGH COUGH 👀)
Similar Reads
The NYC-centric setting, model-minority-mythbusting, and cultural tension reminded me of Lisa Ko’s The Leavers.
The structure of the stories, as well as the light cast on poverty and POC families, reminded me of Bryan Washington’s Lot.
The poetic aspect of Zhang’s writing reminded me of Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous.
Some of the stream-of-consciousness sentences reminded me of Anna Burns’ Milkman.
Thank you @tiffanyhyu for the rec!