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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Eye-opening and touching. This book has given me a new perspective on undocumented immigrants. My parents immigrated here, but they came legally, and the difference in our life experiences is staggering.
emotional
sad
medium-paced
I hope the author has a great therapist. She has been on hyper alert since her earliest childhood, which is something that I think most of us in western culture will never understand. The heightened responsibility children have in many eastern countries is common, partially because we are entrusted to handle it, partially because we rely on the whole family unit for support (vs paying nannies, for example), and partially because filial piety is still a strong cultural driving force, among other reasons. Those children, that culture, once planted in the North American soil has nowhere to grow except as trauma. What's normal in Asia can only be abnormal here. The cultural values are too different to synthesize. There, the good of the collective is prioritized over the happiness of the individual. It's the opposite here. So when children look out for the wellbeing of their parents, it looks unfair and unduly burdensome. We are told and judged by therapists and authority figures and non-immigrant families that our family dynamics are messed up and that we are not responsible for the emotional health of our parents. Then we end up confused and the culture clash continues to tear and tug at our identity. I believe that's what's happened to the author.
It's also clear that her parents have their own inherited traumas, especially her father - some of it was environmental and some stemmed from the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Add to this the poverty and challenges to survive as immigrants, the racism and xenophobia directed at them, the constant fear of deportation, marginalization as the invisible model minority, and the constant disgusting fetishized western male gaze, and this book is born. It's her unique story, and it's the same story of millions of Asian immigrants, particularly Chinese immigrants (the Chinese Cultural Revolution happened to them, though many of our other countries have suffered political unrest and war as well in our "recent" histories). It's like she speaks for all of us in many ways. By giving voice to her life, it brings into the open the ugly truth of what it means when the Statue of Liberty says to bring her the tired, the poor, the huddled masses. And it lets us start harmonizing our lives in a way that makes sense - neither assimilating nor acclimating, per se, but building something new and uniquely ours. This was the advice my mother gave me at age 9 - to take the best of both my cultures and to create something new for me. I've been doing it ever since. I hope that by writing this book, the author is finding was to do this for herself too. This is not a book for the readers but a book for her personal actualization, to make sense of her past so that her future can be unfettered.
My friend is learning Chinese. She says the US is literally translated as "Beautiful Country." Guessing someone who thought the streets were paved with gold gave us this name. It was a common myth back then. My mother even admitted that a small part of her was disappointed to see the plane land at SeaTac on macadam instead of gold.
Rounding up to 4.
It's also clear that her parents have their own inherited traumas, especially her father - some of it was environmental and some stemmed from the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Add to this the poverty and challenges to survive as immigrants, the racism and xenophobia directed at them, the constant fear of deportation, marginalization as the invisible model minority, and the constant disgusting fetishized western male gaze, and this book is born. It's her unique story, and it's the same story of millions of Asian immigrants, particularly Chinese immigrants (the Chinese Cultural Revolution happened to them, though many of our other countries have suffered political unrest and war as well in our "recent" histories). It's like she speaks for all of us in many ways. By giving voice to her life, it brings into the open the ugly truth of what it means when the Statue of Liberty says to bring her the tired, the poor, the huddled masses. And it lets us start harmonizing our lives in a way that makes sense - neither assimilating nor acclimating, per se, but building something new and uniquely ours. This was the advice my mother gave me at age 9 - to take the best of both my cultures and to create something new for me. I've been doing it ever since. I hope that by writing this book, the author is finding was to do this for herself too. This is not a book for the readers but a book for her personal actualization, to make sense of her past so that her future can be unfettered.
My friend is learning Chinese. She says the US is literally translated as "Beautiful Country." Guessing someone who thought the streets were paved with gold gave us this name. It was a common myth back then. My mother even admitted that a small part of her was disappointed to see the plane land at SeaTac on macadam instead of gold.
Rounding up to 4.
I think everyone should read this book, it’s one of the best books I read in 2021. Not only is the story important for Americans to read, it’s beautifully written. This book is a gift and will shift how you view privilege, hope, and the “American dream”.
I’m not usually a reader of nonfiction, but this memoir reads like a novel in all the best ways. If you enjoy books that take seriously the interior lives of girls, if you appreciate prose that is both lyrical and grounded, and if you want to learn more about the trauma of secrets, add this book to your queue.
This book was very good. It gave me chills at the end and I almost felt emotional. It really opened my eyes to a lot of issues that I hadn’t imagined before reading this.
Here are some of my highlights:
It is 1966 and China’s Cultural Revolution has just begun.
Mao Zedong in writing for manipulating the innocent people of China by pitting them against one another, just to centralize his power.
The heartbreak of one immigrant is never far from that of another.
“But don’t let them know it. The smartest people always appear to be the dumbest.
I was the only full granddaughter, my dad being the only son to have had a daughter. Ba Ba told me that this meant I was the “pearl” of the family.
He did not like that they were told what to say, and that they could not answer when students asked about something called the Cultural Revolution.
All I remember is getting the blood test results and finding out that my blood was not Type A, but rather what I knew, from the order of the English alphabet, to be the inferior Type B.
Mei Guo. (“America”)
Sunday was for dumplings.
the crowd turned normal—gaunt New Yorkers wearing shabby clothes and exhausted faces.
“Try to understand her instead of judging her, Qian Qian,” Ma Ma had said. “You are luckier than her because you know you are worth more than that.”
Cooking well was a curse for women, she said, because it meant you would have to do it every day for the rest of your life.
Judge Morgan Christen
Here are some of my highlights:
It is 1966 and China’s Cultural Revolution has just begun.
Mao Zedong in writing for manipulating the innocent people of China by pitting them against one another, just to centralize his power.
The heartbreak of one immigrant is never far from that of another.
“But don’t let them know it. The smartest people always appear to be the dumbest.
I was the only full granddaughter, my dad being the only son to have had a daughter. Ba Ba told me that this meant I was the “pearl” of the family.
He did not like that they were told what to say, and that they could not answer when students asked about something called the Cultural Revolution.
All I remember is getting the blood test results and finding out that my blood was not Type A, but rather what I knew, from the order of the English alphabet, to be the inferior Type B.
Mei Guo. (“America”)
Sunday was for dumplings.
the crowd turned normal—gaunt New Yorkers wearing shabby clothes and exhausted faces.
“Try to understand her instead of judging her, Qian Qian,” Ma Ma had said. “You are luckier than her because you know you are worth more than that.”
Cooking well was a curse for women, she said, because it meant you would have to do it every day for the rest of your life.
Judge Morgan Christen
challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I love this extremely well-written memoir of a young girl’s life in America as an undocumented immigrant. Books that make me feel strongly and increase my understanding and empathy for others are my favorite to read. And this book certainly does both. The author is so fearless and honest in sharing her experiences and history. Don’t miss this one.
emotional
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
medium-paced