A review by richardbakare
Real Americans by Rachel Khong

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Rachel Khong's "Real Americans" is a multigenerational exploration of an immigrant family's journey from new arrivals towards a literal mutation of their fully assimilated selves. Khong leverages historical fiction with a bit of magical realism and science fiction to create a compelling and challenging narrative about what it means to be American. 

 

I deeply resonated with this novel, being a first-generation American in my own family. Like our main characters, I can understand what it means to be stuck between two worlds. You never truly belong to a singular culture, language, traditions, or mores. The plot devices and character arcs that Khong employs create a story that wrestles with the construct of society and how it shapes our experiences. 

 

Khong is examining in many ways what roles nature and nurture play in defining identity and belonging. In doing so, she also explores different ways that people are "passing" as another persona in society. One particular experience is a type of passing we can trace down to the DNA. The navigation of society by our core characters helps us also peer deeply into the repressed histories of their immigrant parents. 

 

This book is wonderfully paced and offers unexpected plot turns coupled with endearing character development. In the end, Khong offers us a moral observation that is timeless. Khong demonstrates for us in the end that we repeat mistakes from one generation to the next through the very act of trying so hard not to repeat them.