A gorgeous read about what matters most. I loved the generational perspectives and overall beauty of the story. I would definitely recommend this book.

In this collection of short stories, Wang paints eloquent, moving portraits of the Chinese immigrant experience across the decades and around the world. The characters include a hopeful young hockey player who must masquerade as a girl to play, an expectant mother exiled from her distant husband during wartime, a washed-up hockey player trying to resurrect his marriage, a heartbroken theater director living under the shadow of ambition and several others. The stories span the globe yet they are intimate close ups of humanity. They show the universal desires to be loved, to have a family, to belong and to find fulfillment. Studies have shown that reading fiction increases empathy. Here in the U.S. there is an awakening occurring as people begin to realize what kind of racist treatment many people of Asian descent endure. I believe books like this one can be agents of healing and understanding. These characters, with all their flaws and insecurities, represent the commonalities in all of us. I really enjoyed it. It will be out June 1.

I really enjoyed this collection of stories about the varied lives and experiences of Chinese people living all over the world. I appreciated how big a role geography plays in these stories; Wang explores the many ways that place and home affect the lives of those living in diaspora. Some of the stories stood out more than others, but overall this book was a compelling read, full of richly drawn characters across a variety of time periods.

I read this book at different times - the wonder of reading short stories I've found is being able to read them as you wish, over time or all at once. The collection is described as covering the Chinese diaspora across the globe over the past hundred years, and yet there are only seven stories, a few heartbreaking. Cultural and racial prejudice, the demands of society and family, and the intrusion of real life impact the relationship between people in each of these stories. This explains the title of the short story collection, We Two Alone.

*special thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review!

4 stars
2021 has really been killing it with the short story collections. I can’t get enough.
This centers on Chinese diaspora across the globe.
I liked how these stories spanned the world and time. We visit Asia, Europe, Africa, North America and moves from the 1920’s to present day.
It touched on many different aspects of living as an immigrant and politics that surrounded the people of China for the last 100 years.
All the stories packed an emotional punch and the characters and the stories were very diverse. There’s sadness, loss, hope. It’s a beautiful collection.

This is a beautifully-written and collated collection of short stories, each chronicling a different, and often unexpected, aspect of Chinese immigrant life. The characters are expertly crafted and the story lines, while short, and are deep and engaging--I wanted to read more, to know what happened next. But the stories are perfect as they are, and made me aware of politics and events I should have known more about in the experiences of Chinese in North America. This is an excellent book for book clubs and schools, especially if read in conjunction with other factual and literary accounts of late 19th and 20th century Chinese and American history.

Short stories focusing on the experiences of Chinese Immigrants in a wide range of countries and situations.