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A review by christygoldsmith
Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang
5.0
This memoir is truly a marvel. So many books written by adults in childlike voices feel hokey, distant, and flat. That's not the case with Wang's telling here. She demonstrates it's possible to strike the perfect balance with details a child would absolutely care about (the food, the seemingly (to adults) silly worries, her Tamagotchi's health) while hiding the real impact of the story between these lines.
Before picking up the book, I read other reviews, and so many readers wanted her to continue the story to show how she attended a prestigious school and became a successful lawyer. But, you see, that's not the point. I know Americans love a bootstraps story, but Qian Julie isn't reproducing the shallow narrative that folks like, say, JD Vance continue to parrot. We know she's successful because she's writing this story--but as she tells us in the end--the trauma of an undocumented childhood will always lurk in her bones, in her mind, and in the little girl in the corner of her room. That's the reality that bootstraps stories like to hide, and that reality is laid bare in Wang's story. It's remarkably brave.
There is also a real sweetness between these lines; rather than an unreliable narrator, Wang highlights the tiny joys only a child could celebrate. As she recounts her first, second, third, and fourth gifts in America. As she discovers the joy of a library. As she makes her first real friend. This memoir reminds me of McCourt's Angela's Ashes but with more emphasis on the desire for community, revealing the isolation that accompany undocumented immigrant life. I highly recommend the audiobook so you can enjoy the Mandarin words read in the author's own voice.
Before picking up the book, I read other reviews, and so many readers wanted her to continue the story to show how she attended a prestigious school and became a successful lawyer. But, you see, that's not the point. I know Americans love a bootstraps story, but Qian Julie isn't reproducing the shallow narrative that folks like, say, JD Vance continue to parrot. We know she's successful because she's writing this story--but as she tells us in the end--the trauma of an undocumented childhood will always lurk in her bones, in her mind, and in the little girl in the corner of her room. That's the reality that bootstraps stories like to hide, and that reality is laid bare in Wang's story. It's remarkably brave.
There is also a real sweetness between these lines; rather than an unreliable narrator, Wang highlights the tiny joys only a child could celebrate. As she recounts her first, second, third, and fourth gifts in America. As she discovers the joy of a library. As she makes her first real friend. This memoir reminds me of McCourt's Angela's Ashes but with more emphasis on the desire for community, revealing the isolation that accompany undocumented immigrant life. I highly recommend the audiobook so you can enjoy the Mandarin words read in the author's own voice.