2.22k reviews for:

Beautiful Country

Qian Julie Wang

4.25 AVERAGE

jend's review against another edition

4.0

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Heartbreaking and raw, but also so important to read and know the story of Qian and so many others like her. Her memory of detail and honest writing really made you feel like you were there alongside her. She captured so well the agonizing choices that parents make when they want a better life for their families, and the difficulties they face once they are here. Sad and hard, but so good too.

libraryofhani's review against another edition

4.0

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4.5!!

"Secrets. They have so much power, don't they?"

I truly can't decide whether to round this down or up. Beautiful Country is an absolutely gorgeous, raw memoir that will stick with me for a really long time. It's so important and I truly recommend it to everybody. The way Qian Julie Wang recounts her life along with her parent's lives and sheds such a light on an under-talked reality is unlike anything I've ever read. I really wish we got to see more of her in her adulthood though. Only getting a few pages dedicated to that at the end was a little disappointing.

read for aapi heritage month.

dagnygranger's review against another edition

4.25

emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad slow-paced

suzannew22's review against another edition

4.0

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An eye opening account of one immigrant’s journey. I’m impressed by her honestly, especially sharing those moments where the struggle revealed her darkness.

eeewhysee's review against another edition

5.0

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Loved it. The audiobook was fantastic.

anveri's review against another edition

2.0

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An important story that I learned a lot from but memoirs require a certain gift of storytelling that Wang does not have

nerd_inthe_wild's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Medical content

andoniacarter's review against another edition

3.0

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The writing is beautiful and the story is real and raw and heartbreaking. But 5 years spanned over 30 chapters became a repetitive sad story. I would have loved to have learned more about Qian's life after moving to Canada, her return to the US for undergrad and law school, how and where her parents are today, etc, etc, etc. I guess all of that to say, I wanted less of the US years and more of all the years.

thaths's review against another edition

4.0

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I am an immigrant to the US myself. I was lucky enough to be from a middle class family in India, educated in English and learning from friends the path of least resistance to immigrating to the Beautiful Country - Getting an education in an American university.

Qian's story is gut wrenching and heart-touching in equal measures. Her parents, wanting to escape the Authoritarianism and trauma of the Cultural Revolution in China, move to the US as undocumented immigrants bringing young Qian with them. The memoir is about the first few years of her life coming to America and growing up as a gifted child in dire poverty.

jeremymorrison's review against another edition

3.0

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Wang, Qian Julie Wang recounts her childhood years as an illegal Chinese immigrant in New York City in the 80s—the years of poverty, hunger, and fear that buried her happier and warmer self below her colder and more precarious family existence.