Cover Image: Beautiful Country

Beautiful Country

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Member Reviews

This immigrant memoir broke my heart and made me so grateful for the rough childhood I had. The author's story opened my eyes to a lot of things I hadn't known or realized before.

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It's not often that we have an opportunity to see the American way of life through those who risk everything to come to this "beautiful country". The challenges that faced this family were many, the opportunities few, yet they still believed in America. We sometimes forget how lucky we are.

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This true story grabbed hold of me. This book was hard to put down. People's greed just astounds me. The reality of life for undocumented immigrants in the U.S is a key theme in the memoir. . The author’s story was compelling. This was a “walk in another person’s shoes” experience for me. Even though I knew beforehand that Ms. Wang would ultimately succeed, I still rooted for her and her parents while reading the book. The end part was an emotional release for me with happy tears. Excellent memoir. Highly recommend this book. thank you to Neutrally, the author and publisher for the opportunity.

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This review is based on the first 45% of the memoir. I'm glad that the author told her story, and this is not a reflection of her life, but of the writing.

It is constant whining. Which fair, she's telling the story of her 7? 8? year old self, being taken from a home/country where everyone is like her, and free to roam around, then thrust into a situation where she isn't familiar with the language, and she's constantly made to hide and feel small.

The writing feels like it is trauma porn written for the white gaze, which isn't a story for me.

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I usually don't read many memoirs and was pleasantly surprised. The author relates the story of how she came to America with her mother to join her father in New York. Her parents were respected professors in China and were now reduced to menial jobs in order to survive. A new sensation for her was constant hunger. In spite of the hardships, she learns her new language and thrives.

The author writes beautifully and with clarity of purpose. I was particularly struck by the contrast between their life in Maoist China, where her parents were successful, respected professionals who escaped to America to have a better life only to live in virtual squalor and constant struggle to survive. This is not the typical American view of life as it was under the oppressive Maoist regime.

As an animal lover, I hated the way her father treated the poor cat and how the author also came to ultimately reject it too.

The ending seemed rushed, as if she were trying to finish to meet a deadline.

Overall, I am happy she survived and became successful in spite or, or maybe because of, the difficulties.

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I always find it difficult to review a memoir as it is someone's lived experience. In Beautiful Country, Wang provides a look at the immigration story of her family. Like so many families, Wang's family moved to America (Mei Guo or The Beautiful Country) to search for a better life. Her parents are forced to work menial jobs is horrible conditions, a complete reversal of their careers as professors in China. The majority of Beautiful Country is focused on Wang's childhood and her early years in America.

This was a highly emotional read for me as my heart broke for Wang and her family. The stories she describes, from the blatant racism her family faced to not having enough to eat were really harrowing. While there are a lot of heartbreaking moments, Wang manages to incorporate hope in every aspect of the memoir. Wang shares her tremendous resilience while growing up and beyond. The final chapter and the author's note really helped round out the story. I really liked Wang's writing style and I thought the writing really helped the story. I would highly recommend this memoir. It's an important read as the conversation around immigration in the United States continues to evolve.

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Not all books about poverty, immigration, and the desire to fit in are the same. Beautiful County takes you on a profound journey that makes you look a little longer when waiting for the train, crossing the street, and shopping at the market. This truth and account of the modern immigrant is moving. A beautiful read that will leave a lasting impression that everyone counts. Has our economy, healthcare, and education in the United States grown in the last thirty years? These topics will allow you to form your own opinion through the eyes of Qian.

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This was eye opening. It’s so great to have stories about immigrants BY immigrants. This story resonated so much more for me because it was her experience. Seeing the focus on "being American" from her family. How demoralizing it was for her mother. How her dad just lost himself. It was all so sad. It’s also sad to see how shitty Americans can be to people that come here for a better life.

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I was judging the L.A. Times 2020 and 2021 fiction contest. It’d be generous to call what I’d been doing upon my first cursory glance—reading. I also don’t take this task lightly. As a fellow writer and lover of words and books, I took this position—in hopes of being a good literary citizen. My heart aches for all the writers who have a debut at this time. What I can share now is the thing that held my attention and got me to read on even though it was among 296 other books I was charged to read.

Beautiful Country was lyricism captured my attention right away. Wang’s short sentences followed by long meandering ones, made it a harrowing yet delightful read

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Congratulations to @qianjuliewang! I don’t think there is another author this year that needs to share their story more. Perhaps it’s her vulnerability in her story and how it resonated with me that I feel deeply this way.

Her memoir spans across the years she and her family lived as undocumented immigrants in New York City. Her parents, professors in China, now are relegated to working in sweatshops and menial jobs. All the while, fear of deportation constantly looms over their household. Her parents typical happy and curious demeanors turn inward and cold. Qian survives through this traumatic time through libraries, books and her undying love for her parents.

I loved her descriptions of growing up in the 90’s and 2000’s— Babysitter’s Club, Sweet Valley High, Tamagotchis, and Charlotte’s Web. The sections when Qian described her hunger as a young child was especially hard to read. I wonder how many of these students go unnoticed in a regular classroom.
The fact that she’s where she is now is a testament to her hard work and belief in herself.

This was an emotional read for me— I felt very connected to her young self, either because of our closeness in age, both our immigration stories, our parents’ traumatic experiences, or the fact that she wrote from a child’s keen observations. Her writing worked for me too, descriptive and emotional but not overly complicated or metaphorical. I appreciate this story very much!

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Well, this was an exceptional memoir!

It's a gripping narrative that captures the challenges and triumphs of an undocumented family, seen through the eyes of a resilient young girl. A poignant and deeply personal look at the immigrant experience in America. A unique and eye-opening insight into the lives of undocumented immigrants in the United States and their hardships, from working in sweatshops to living in fear of deportation, underscores the importance of understanding and empathy.

You can't help but relate to Qian Julie Wang as she grapples with issues of identity, belonging, and the pursuit of the American dream and empathize with her struggles and victories. She is an unforgettable and powerful protagonist. Her courage, determination, and unwavering love for her family are deeply touching!

Wang is also a great storyteller! The writing is both vivid and engaging!

I can't recommend "Beautiful Country" enough with its universal themes of resilience, hope, and the pursuit of a better life, demonstrating the human capacity to overcome adversity and find light even in the darkest of circumstances. A source of inspiration and a testament to the enduring human spirit and the pursuit of a brighter future.

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In this memoir, Qian shares her story about being an undocumented Chinese immigrant and her family's journey from China to America. Overall, I thought the book helped me to see things from a different perspective - how fear, hunger, and secrecy changed how they viewed things that were happening around them. (Ex - their fear of calling 911 for help or even seeking medical care because it may result in them being deported). While a lot of Qian's shared story is heartbreaking, I wish she would have shared a bit more. Why weren't they able to become legal citizens? I ask this question not as a judgment, but as someone who would ask the follow-up question - how can we help immigrant families in their desire to become legal citizens?

This book does allow me to see illegal immigration from a somewhat different perspective, and for that, I am thankful to Qian for sharing her story.

I received a free copy of this book for my honest review.

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This was a beautiful debut by author Qian Julie Wang. Her story is a humbling one of a childhood as an undocumented immigrant in New York City. Wang's writing so vividly captures the experience of moving to America through the eyes of a child. The memoir focuses mainly on Wang's childhood (up through sixth grade, if I remember correctly), which is unusual for memoirs in my experience, but in my opinion it does not take away from the narrative at all. I both read and listened to this memoir at the same time, and the author does a really good job bringing this story to life.

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A unique memoir told through the eyes of a child about what it's like to be an undocumented immigrant. Emotional and heartfelt - this memoir will move you.

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Immigration, undocumented, struggles from a childhood prospective. Coming from China to New York as a child, American lawyer Qian Julie Wang shares her story. The book will stay with me , it’s a beautiful memoir.

Thank you #NetGalley, #Doubleday, #PenguinRandomHouse, #QianJulieWang and #BeautifulCountry for the book for my honest review.

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An eye opening, well told account of the author’s harrowing childhood as an undocumented child in New York City.

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The Chinese word for America is "Mei Guo", which means "beautiful country" (on a side note, the word for America in Korean is based off Chinese, "mi-gook" and also means beautiful country). Author Qian Julie Wang had a shock coming to New York City as a child to find a place that did not welcome her with open arms as an undocumented immigrant.
As a librarian, I absolutely love that the place where Wang found refuge was her local library.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel, as Wang became successful as a lawyer, but the path there was certainly not a bed of roses. Some details about her parent's actions seem to be missing, but that could very well be that her parents did not share certain details about their struggles with their child. I still loved it and would recommend it to fans of memoirs.

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This was heartbreaking and beautiful. So painful and yet I couldn’t stop reading it. I struggled a bit with the length of the book, but honestly it’s such a small qualm.

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Seeing New York City in the 1990’s through the eyes of a seven-year-old is a unique perspective in and of itself, but when that child has also just immigrated from another country it makes it even more exclusive, and quite gut-wrenching.

I cannot even begin to imagine how hard it must be for immigrants to adapt, not only to a new environment, but obstacles imposed by those that hold prejudice. I have never, and will never, understand prejudice, and how people can hate other people for things that are out of their control, yet it happens every day, and I will never not be angry about the unfairness of it all.

This memoir actually reads like a novel, which I appreciated and admired. I can’t help but wonder if the author wrote it this way to help her cope with what she went through, and to help her see the situation through a different lens. I ended up listening to the audiobook as well as reading the story, and hearing the author’s voice was truly powerful and added such depth and emotion to her story.

Through the lens of Qian Julie Wang, Beautiful Country is the story of her family immigrating to the US from China, eventually becoming undocumented when their temporary visas ran out. In China both of her parents held jobs of high esteem, but in New York they restored to menial grunt work in deplorable places just to survive, and lived in utter poverty. It broke my heart that all of this happened so recently, and that there are so many that have to live like this now.

Though the main focus is on Qian’s childhood, I was so glad to read how things worked out into her adulthood, and where her family ended up. Qian is a fighter and reading her heartbreaking upbringing made me so grateful for the childhood that I had. I grew up very poor, but I also never had to worry about where my next meal would come from, and had both my parents there by my side. I took for granted just how lucky I was.

This was such a beautifully written, impactful novel and though it was hard to read at times it opened my eyes to a fresh perspective and is a story everyone should hear.

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I'd like to thank NetGalley and Doubleday (publisher) for granting me early access to an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I gave this book 4 stars.

This is a memoir that takes the reader through Qian and her family's experiences in China and emigrating to the US. It tells of struggles, hardship within and without the family, as well as in each of their members.

As an immigrant myself, I related quite closely to rejection for being a foreginer, emotional issues because you're mourning your old life and your own country, the people you left behind. However, Qian's family had problems I've never had to go through, such as arriving to a place whose language you don't speak, being treated inhumanly for the colour of your skin or inner family struggles that I never suffered when travelling because I have no family. I reckon everything has its positive side.

It also shows that people don't really change, but adapt or not to new situations in life which, at some point, shows other aspects of their personality that had not been seen before. We all have the good, the bad and the ugly inside; it's up to each individual and the tools they have to cope, what side comes to the surface.

Back to the book, the writing style made it an easy and fast read, not being simplistic at all, but blunt and honest.

There were only two objections for me. One is I cannot understand how she could continue loving her father. I totally get that family is sacred in certain cultures and you cannot just unlove them, but there are limits to things. Anyway, that's just a personal opinion and she has every right to love him has much as she wants.

The second thing was that were were given some details that were unnecessary for the reader, but I also get why Qian deemed them important. It is her life anyway that's being told.

All in all, I do recommend this memoir, even if you're not used to reading them.

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