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A review by smalltownbookmom
Beautiful Country: A Memoir by Qian Julie Wang, Qian Julie Wang
4.0
This was a really eye-opening #ownvoices memoir about an undocumented Chinese immigrant family's life in New York City. Beautifully written by the daughter as she witnesses her parents struggle to find work and live under the constant fear of deportation and health scares this was deeply moving.
I am fortunate enough to never have had to live a life of poverty and uncertainty but I really enjoyed how books and reading were a means of escape (and in particular The Baby-Sitter's Club books - as I was also obsessed with those as a young girl!). There's even a Canada connection, as her family moves to Toronto for a while before they're able to return to America freely. Highly recommend, especially on audio narrated by the author.
Favorite quote:
"Only later after living many years in fear, would I understand that the risks were much lower than we believed at the time. But in the vacuum of anxiety that was undocumented life, fear was gaseous. It expanded to fill our entire world until it was all we could breathe."
"I made my way through the classroom bookcase...I read until my loneliness dulled and I felt myself to be in the good company of all my vibrantly colored, two-dimensional friends. I read until excitement replaced hopelessness."
I am fortunate enough to never have had to live a life of poverty and uncertainty but I really enjoyed how books and reading were a means of escape (and in particular The Baby-Sitter's Club books - as I was also obsessed with those as a young girl!). There's even a Canada connection, as her family moves to Toronto for a while before they're able to return to America freely. Highly recommend, especially on audio narrated by the author.
Favorite quote:
"Only later after living many years in fear, would I understand that the risks were much lower than we believed at the time. But in the vacuum of anxiety that was undocumented life, fear was gaseous. It expanded to fill our entire world until it was all we could breathe."
"I made my way through the classroom bookcase...I read until my loneliness dulled and I felt myself to be in the good company of all my vibrantly colored, two-dimensional friends. I read until excitement replaced hopelessness."