Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
A moving memoir, but with the narrator admitting to being an unreliable witness, I sometimes found myself with unanswered questions. The trauma is also still so obviously raw and unprocessed, which perhaps is a good read for some folks but not what I was looking for at this time.
3.5 stars (?)
This memoir about a little girl who arrives in the United States as an undocumented immigrant checked a lot of boxes for a book to catch my attention. Immigrant stories are close and dear to my heart.
Qian's memory was heartbreaking, but as us immigrants come to show, our histories are also full of resilience, determination and making the best of the cards you've been dealt. In that sense, this book delivered and I really recommend this beautiful read.
However, we read about Qian's history until the point she is in the 6th grade, and moves to Canada. I felt like the second part of her story (the part where her life turns around, where all the hard work, tears and sweat pay off) is crammed into one chapter. I wish there had been more details on how she overcame her challenges, how she got accepted to an Ivy league school, show the journey back to the US and what that looked like, legally, what became of her parents, even how she met her husband. We know her life turned out well, and that she has achieved so much, I just wish I could have heard more of that from her own pen.
This memoir about a little girl who arrives in the United States as an undocumented immigrant checked a lot of boxes for a book to catch my attention. Immigrant stories are close and dear to my heart.
Qian's memory was heartbreaking, but as us immigrants come to show, our histories are also full of resilience, determination and making the best of the cards you've been dealt. In that sense, this book delivered and I really recommend this beautiful read.
However, we read about Qian's history until the point she is in the 6th grade, and moves to Canada. I felt like the second part of her story (the part where her life turns around, where all the hard work, tears and sweat pay off) is crammed into one chapter. I wish there had been more details on how she overcame her challenges, how she got accepted to an Ivy league school, show the journey back to the US and what that looked like, legally, what became of her parents, even how she met her husband. We know her life turned out well, and that she has achieved so much, I just wish I could have heard more of that from her own pen.
This book is such a captivating look at immigrants and being undocumented. The perspective is so well used and explained in this book. It sounds like a child as she lives through this but is from the deeper understanding of an adult looking back at these experiences.
medium-paced
3.5 stars. Very intense and sad, reading about such poverty and fear. That being said, I didn’t really feel emotionally connected to Qian throughout much of the book, there was a distance in the writing, almost an analysis rather than an emotional opening. It’s all very traumatic so I don’t blame the author, but it made the book feel too removed.
I feel like I need to stop rating memoirs, especially after reading this one. However, I fully recommend this book. It made me feel so sad almost the entire time I was reading it, but it’s important to understand the experiences of others.
I read some of the other reviews and was disheartened by how many people had such negative things to say about the trauma of an immigrant child living in a country full of immigrants—yet one that does not protect them.
I read some of the other reviews and was disheartened by how many people had such negative things to say about the trauma of an immigrant child living in a country full of immigrants—yet one that does not protect them.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
This is a memoir of the author’s childhood as an undocumented immigrant from China growing up in Brooklyn. In China, Qian’s parents were professors. In the US, they are “illegal,” and her parents work in a sweatshop, barely able to feed themselves and living in one-room housing with shared kitchens and bathrooms. Qian struggles to fit in with her classmates, despite them being from immigrant families too, and bears the burden of her parents’ stresses about finances, deportation, illness, and their marriage. Yet, she’s a child who tries to see the bright spots in cat ownership, making friends she can relate to, and applying to a prestigious middle school.
—
I read this for one of my book clubs and it fostered a really good discussion. Like many lawyers, Qian Julie Wang is an excellent writer and story teller, and she also provided excellent narration for the audiobook. This is an engaging immigrant story worth reading, but as with other memoirs, I’m not rating.
—
I read this for one of my book clubs and it fostered a really good discussion. Like many lawyers, Qian Julie Wang is an excellent writer and story teller, and she also provided excellent narration for the audiobook. This is an engaging immigrant story worth reading, but as with other memoirs, I’m not rating.