Reviews with content warning for Abortion - Beautiful Country

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Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang

14 reviews

bookish_garden's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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kiakrat's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad

4.0

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erebus53's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

I really don't know if I would have been able to manage this memoire without listening to the Audiobook, deftly narrated by the author. Being self-narrated it dodged a lot of messy casting issues such as having a reader who could not pronounce Chinese. I'm thankful for that.

Beautiful Country is a direct translation of the Chinese term for USA 美国 - Mĕiguó . Whenever I hear " Mĕiguó " spoken, I picture the characters in my mind. A year working at a Chinese Newspaper will do that to a nerdy lass who likes languages. I have always been struck by how ironic the name is. The memoire written is an awakening from a childhood where the author needs to protect herself over and again, from the perils of being an "illegal" migrant. When any false word could get you deported, you learn to say what people want to hear.

From sweat shops, and bigoted teachers, buying the cheapest food possible, and making do with forgaed treasures, this is a candid story of poverty, Racism, and survival. I found the descriptions reminded me of many things that have been part of my life, and drew stark contrast between some of my own experiences as a White New Zealander ( Pākeha ) living in a country with social security.

I expect that some of this recounting may be affronting to those who are unaware of the type of life that oppressed people can easily fall into. The story is that of someone who has survived, but doesn't really feel as saccharine as a lot of inspiration stories can be.

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internationalreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

5.0

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karina_dreamsinwords's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

An honest, raw, vulnerable look into the author's experience through a child's narrative on immigrating to the United States. Beautiful Country is a powerfully moving story that brings forth empathy to a world in which more is absolutely needed.

The audiobook is narrated by Qian Julie Wang herself, which really elevated the whole reading experience.

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charlottie93's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

This book is heartbreaking in a beautiful way, it starts with Qians life in China before her Ba Ba leaves to go to the USA, eventually her and her Ma Ma also get to go to the USA and are reunited with her Ba Ba.

This is a memoir of Qians life as an undocumented person in the USA, the family has little money and has to adjust to a life in a country that's unfamiliar and where they don't speak the language.

While some parts of the book were alien to me (moving to a new country for example) other parts really brought back memories of my childhood (only having 1 pair of shoes for the school year, worrying about class trips because money was tight / non-existent).

Honestly I couldn't put this book down, it should be a must read for everyone so that people can truly appreciate the sacrifices people go to in order to have a better life.

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