susiedoom 's review for:

Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang

4.0

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In China, Qian Julie was a precocious tomboy and her parents were respected professors. But when the family moves to New York as undocumented immigrants, Qian Julie is shunned for her limited English skills and her parents are forced to work in a sweatshop. In this lyrical memoir, Qian Julie looks through her own childhood eyes at her family’s struggle to make a home in America.

This is a quiet, thoughtful, often painful memoir of a traumatic childhood. Qian Julie Wang writes honestly and clearly through her own younger eyes in a way that really resonates. This is a powerful testament to the hidden pain of undocumented immigrants, and especially to the children who can too easily fall through the cracks.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.