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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
I have nothing but deep respect for Qian Julie Wang for having the courage to open up and put into words the major hardships that immigrating to America put her family through. Abject poverty, unrelenting fear, never feeling comfortable or part of society, every emotion and obstacle that her family faced is presented as she remembers experiencing it as a child.
She's honest and forthright in her recollections, not parsing words to sugarcoat or simplify a situation. It's a look at a very grim reality where educated professionals are relegated to doing abusive manual labor for pennies simply because they tried to do what's best for their family with the knowledge and resources available to them.
This is not a book that you can just read and walk away from. It digs into your psyche and makes you question your beliefs and, most importantly, be grateful for everything that you have in your life.
Many happy thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the read!
She's honest and forthright in her recollections, not parsing words to sugarcoat or simplify a situation. It's a look at a very grim reality where educated professionals are relegated to doing abusive manual labor for pennies simply because they tried to do what's best for their family with the knowledge and resources available to them.
This is not a book that you can just read and walk away from. It digs into your psyche and makes you question your beliefs and, most importantly, be grateful for everything that you have in your life.
Many happy thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the read!
The end left me wanting but this memoir was overall so good. I can only assume it's a pretty standard experience for immigrants who are "illegal"
Audible always draws me in deeper to a memoir that's read by the author. In Beautiful Country, Qian Julie Wang leads us through her childhood as an undocumented immigrant who came to Brooklyn at age 7 with her professor parents. In the US, the professors had to work in sweatshops, not academia. All immigrant stories are unique and I recommend this one.
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Boring. My favorite thing about this book is the title.
Wang has an Ivy League law degree and highly-educated parents, and this is her "woe is me" tale of her childhood as an immigrant in the USA. It's really not much a story and is written in a way that caused me to feel annoyance instead of sympathy for her not-so-terrible experiences.
Wang has an Ivy League law degree and highly-educated parents, and this is her "woe is me" tale of her childhood as an immigrant in the USA. It's really not much a story and is written in a way that caused me to feel annoyance instead of sympathy for her not-so-terrible experiences.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5 stars. I listened to this in audiobook format, read by the author, and Qian’s story really came alive for me. I didn’t know (or honestly, think much about) what being an undocumented child might be like, and I’m glad she shared her story.
I also loved how we grew up reading the same books (Baby-sitters Club, Sweet Valley Twins, Julie of the Wolves), and I’m kind of partial to the name she chose for herself! Hehe.
Even though Qian had to hide who she was and didn’t have a great experience growing up in America, she still came across as a brave, spunky child, and I loved her! Highly recommend this book - a great memoir.
I also loved how we grew up reading the same books (Baby-sitters Club, Sweet Valley Twins, Julie of the Wolves), and I’m kind of partial to the name she chose for herself! Hehe.
Even though Qian had to hide who she was and didn’t have a great experience growing up in America, she still came across as a brave, spunky child, and I loved her! Highly recommend this book - a great memoir.
As I was reading the book I also was googling the author to learn about her now, which enhanced my experience reading her story. This humanizes the resilience and daily trauma of the immigrant and undocumented life and her personal fortitude to achieve what she has achieved. I found the acknowledgments as poignant as the story itself. Reading her wedding announcement in NYT it seems her parents also achieved status and roles in US that were akin to their success in china- would love to know more. Looking forward to hearing the author speak at an upcoming event.