4.5 stars. I've had this book in my shelf for ages, and I don't know why I didn't read it sooner.

This book can mean a number of things to you: wealth and the middle class, falling in love, immigrants, being Chinese and born into both unforunate and fortunate circumstances, science and DNA, or all of the above.

Real Americans by Rachel Khong is a story told in three parts. The first can be considered a story of two very different people falling in love. The second can be about a young man finding out who he is, and the last is about a Chinese matriarch born into communist China. All three stories interconnect by fate, fruition, and discovering oneself.

Lily, when we first meet her, is an unpaid intern who falls in love with the heir to a pharmaceutical company (think Bayer). She is a chinese-american woman, broke, unsure of her next path in life, but along comes Matthew. Whether or not he falls first or if she does, doesn't matter. They are together by both love and fate.

Nick, a young man destined to get away from his over protective mom, by applying for a colleges far from the Seattle based island he grew up on.

May, a grandmother living in Chinatown San Francisco, with her own immigrant story to tell.

All three people are connected in ways that will leave you guessing. While I didn't care as much for the science backstory, I loved that this story was about love and coming of age. Those were the parts that had me wanting more. Khong's ability to write about America in the eye of somone coming to this country and working hard for the "dream" was exquisite.

"The men were exactly who I pictured when I imagined Americans, whitre men who loked like they meat at every meal."
"Everything getting worse: inequality, corruption, racism. White supremacists were feeling threatened, lashing out, believing themselves to be the arbiters of who were and weren’t real Americans."

All while, we learn what it's like to be raised as both a Chinese woman in America, versus one born and raised in China. Considering I am this person, Khong writes instances of assimilation mixed in with the harsh reality of having to balance both.

"When my mother was given a compliment about any of her children she had to immediately shoot it down, by calling attention to how ugly or stupid we truly were, and then to compliment the speaker’s offspring."

"She never told me she loved me. It wasn’t the Chinese way. She showed her love to me in the way she defended my studies to my father, who would have preferred that I stay home and be married. She showed her love when she scolded me the most harshly."

"We were an American family, my mother and I, and yet it wasn’t American, I thought, for her to love me as much as she did. Was it Chinese? It was some synthesis of the two—elements brought together, combined to form a new compound. So often I felt it was a burden, to be loved by her. Yet, here, without her, I missed her."

Yet, in the end, I loved the story about falling in love the most. While others who read this may feel differently, perhaps this is what Khong intended to do - to make us wonder how falling in love can alter generations for years to come. Can we pick who we are and who we love by genetic default? Should we?

"If I lost him, I thought then, feeling his cool breath against my hot arm, I would never recover."

Thought-provoking, beautifully written, and a terrifically specific character study in the form of generational saga, though I’ll stop short of calling this one of the best books of the year, as many reviewers have done.

I think I appreciated this more than I truly liked it, but that’s mostly because I found the ending largely unsatisfying and felt that the text was overwhelmed by theoretical science. I could get interested in that, but there’s a lot of it here and I’m not sure it’s ideally presented.

As a character study this was terrific, and I loved the specificity with which Khong treats her characters. It’s too bad the story ends mostly with Mei as the primary POV, as her story doesn’t resonate as well as Lily’s and Nick’s do, though the narrative does essentially demand they go in this order.

I think I wanted to love this more than I did, and it certainly poses a lot of really interesting questions about both situational opportunities and the idea of playing God. But the best of this is Khong’s unadorned by beautiful prose, which builds a fascinating, multilayered story.

Real Americans by Rachel Khong is a multi-generational novel about destiny, family, and genetics. I enjoyed the multiple timelines and multiple perspectives. This book made me think about the choices that parents make for their children in order to make their children's lives better than their own. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

This is a great family story, following characters from three generations. I liked how each character gets one part of the book focused on their perspective and experience. The similarities and differences in each character's voice are clearly described in Rachel Khong's insightful writing. I truly felt I knew Lily, Nick, and May by the end.

This story offers interesting thoughts on wealth, inheritance, cultural background, race, and (unexpectedly) genetic ethics. It touches on so many different topics that some of it gets a little confusing. Overall, I appreciated the attempt, even if the end execution fell short occasionally.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in how culture and family influence individuals and their choices. I will definitely be seeking out Rachel Khong's other works.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for providing an advanced ebook for my review.

The novel starts out with Lily Chen, an unpaid intern and daughter of Chinese immigrants who meets Matthew, the wealthy heir to a pharmaceutical company, just as the new millennium begins. But their love story doesn’t end happily and the past has much to do with it.

20 years later, Lily’s son, Nick, is on a quest to learn about the father his mother never speaks about. As he uncovers secrets from the past, Nick also grapples with the truth about his father’s family in a way that is different from his mother.

Lastly, we hear from Lily’s mother, who leaves her rural village to study in Beijing just as Mao’s control in China is threatening academics. Faced with limited options, she makes choices that shape the path of her future daughter Lily and her grandson, Nick.

This multigenerational family saga takes the reader from the days of the Cultural Revolution in China to the beginnings of genetic engineering in the U.S. and explores themes of family, wealth, privilege and racism through the lens of scientific advancement. I thoroughly enjoyed this thought provoking novel.

Thank you to @netgalley @aaknopf @pantheonbooks @vintageanchorbooks for a complimentary digital review copy. This novel is available today, 4/30/2024.

When I requested this book on NetGalley, the “multigenerational saga” phrase jumped out at me- I’m a sucker for those. However, this book stands apart in that sun-genre in the BEST way.

There are 3 timelines and points of view:
- Lily in 2000, a Chinese-American young woman whose family, education, work, and love life all toe the line of the dash in between her cultural identities.
- Nick in 2021, Lily’s son as he comes of age trying to reconcile his odd upbringing, his heritage, and trying to discover the truth about his past.
- May, Lily’s mother. She recounts her history and all of the circumstances that shaped her destiny starting during the Cultural Revolution in China.

I have 2 things that set this book apart for me.
- The POVs and timelines don’t end up being oldest to newest. It ends up feeling circular as it is only at the end that the roots of the story are shared.
- Each POV felt like a different book, and that adds to the novel in my opinion. It has enough cohesiveness to weave the threads through each character while also contrasting the wildly different experiences of each main character.

And perhaps the number one biggest reason to read this book is simply the writing. Rachel Khong is a word master. Her descriptive and figurative language was easy to access and yet added so much depth and complexity. There is so much that could be discussed from the plot, from culture and identity to genetics and ethics.

I can’t recommend this book enough! I think it would make the perfect read for my friends who find themselves loving both historical and contemporary fiction. Thank you to NetGalley, Knopf, and the author for my advanced copy!

What I enjoyed the most about this book is the 3 different POVs, even though sometimes it took a little bit of adjusting from one to the other (this happened mostly with Nick).

The story centers around a Chinese-American family and how trying to shape fate affected them. I loved it. I loved the dynamics and how the author developed the characters and presented the story.

This was a great story! My attention was grabbed from the first chapter and I stayed up way too late reading! Loved hearing the story from such a diverse range of viewpoints. Impressive writing. Definitely recommend to those who enjoy intricate family sagas spanning multiple generations. Raises some interesting thinking points too.

ONE OF MY FAVORITES OF THE YEAR!!!

I'm usually wary about multigenerational family dramas. I feel like I went through a phase where I read a lot of them in a row and became disillusioned with the subgenre - so many of them feel so similar and derivative! I was hesitant to pick this up, but I'm so glad I did because it was nothing like I expected it to be.

One of my favorite parts of this book was that each of the three parts following three distinct characters FELT so different. Being inside each of their heads was so fascinating, and their perspectives on life made each section feel almost like its own specific genre. Reading Lily's section almost felt like a romance book, but when we got to Nick it felt like reading a coming-of-age YA story, and then when we got to May's POV it almost felt like a memoir or historical fiction. Each of their voices was so well defined and engaging. I literally couldn't stop reading this book once I started.

I loved that even though we skipped through time as we changed perspectives, I never felt lost. I was perfectly willing to accept that things happened off of the page, and it almost felt like I could build the rest of the story in my head because of how well I got to know these characters.

This book offered such interesting perspectives on the concept of time as currency, on what it means to be an American, what it means to make your own fortune/luck, and how choice (whether ones we make or ones made for us) affects our lives. I loved the magical realism and scifi elements and how perfectly they played into the story as a whole. I loved the structure of the book and the beautiful and (at times) lyrical prose. Everything about this book was absolutely perfect in my opinion.

This story is told in three parts from three different perspectives and honestly there just wasn’t enough cohesion for me. Each section reads like a different genre - romance, ya, literary fiction - & they end so abruptly. It disappoints me to say I found myself bored and just trudging through for the sake of finishing. I wonder if the timelines were more intertwined if I would have been more into it?

I really enjoyed this sweeping multi generational story. We follow 3 different members of a family through 3 different time periods. I definitely found the last part to be the most interesting, but I loved how all the stories combined at the end.

I could connect with them all, but I found myself really relating to Nick. His isolated feeling and trying to figure out his identity while looking for his father really resonated with me.

I recommend reading this if you like family dramas that span several years.

This story was so good! I loved the pacing of the story and the family dynamics depicted. It was just the right length which added to the overall experience!

I loved GOODBYE, VITAMIN, Kong's debut novel, and had high hopes for this sophomore one. Goodbye, Vitamin was a quick and quirky read while Real Americans is a more ambitious novel narrated by three generations of a Chinese-American family. With GOODBYE, VITAMIN I reflected on my relationship with my own father. With REAL AMERICANS, I was dealing with the decline of my mother and felt most connected to Mae. Her choices may not be agreed by all readers but her choices were complex. How could she have foreseen the consequences? Through Mae I learned more about Mao's communism and the cultural takeover. Her story was the most compelling to me. I am however, still left wondering why the time jump/freeze was something genetic. I'm not convinced that eating a century old lotus seed would do anything. Did I miss something? That premise was interesting but not quite hitting the mark. I guessed the magical realism (if we can call it that) flew over my head. Was it just me? I wished that part of the story tighten a bit.

Overall, I highly recommend this one and think it will be a great hit this summer. Thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Real Americans was everything I love all in one package- multigenerational, family dynamics, character rich, multiple POV and a touch of magical realism. I was quickly immersed and even though it is more literary, I couldn’t put it down.

I felt very drawn to the characters and the story. I loved how it was told in three parts from three different POV at different times as well. I was sad when each of the parts ended and my only complaint is not every storyline feels like it comes to conclusion. I didn’t always understand why the characters acted like they did but I found I cared deeply about what was going to happen. The writing was just so well done- the author really paints a detailed picture.

I think this will be one of my favorite books this year. I just loved it and will be recommending it to people! Thank you NetGalley for the arc.

Real Americans is an immersive multi-generational story, and I think it's best to go in blind for the best reading experience. I enjoyed all three parts of this book and couldn't pick a favorite because they all have their place in the story.

I loved reading this multi-generational story - Khong takes us through three different generations and how they connect, what key life choices changed them, and how they choose to proceed.

The writing, pace, character development all worked wonderfully for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Knopf for the ARC.

By the rating on Goodreads, I seem to be in the minority, but I’m not sure what I just read. I felt no connection with Lily or her problems with her parents and Matthew (and his parents).

I am settling myself down with the reality that I will not be able to do this book justice, and that my praise will sound over the top. I have over the top feelings about this book. The writing is just. so. good. You could just coast on the fact that the plot moves so swiftly, and the characters feel so real, but there are also just the perfect sentences. There is a moment in the middle of the book when a character simply says, "Oh...we did," and you know his entire heart is breaking, and your heart is breaking too. Rachel Khong knows not to say too much, but when she says that love is like a "cooked fish" with its face peeled back, you don't need any other words.

I don't remember reading a book recently where I was as invested in the characters as I was in May, Charles, Lily, Matthew, and Nick. Every main character is significant. This is a mother/daughter book, a mother/son book, a first love book, a book about Class and Race, and immigration and ambition...I don't know how all of these topics are explored so thoroughly, but they are. And there are three different timelines! I am in awe.

Sometimes literary fiction feels like sad old trees and men just talking at you. This book feels like a life you have lived, and you yearn for it again. You cannot be separate from what is happening to these characters. I gasped a lot. I cried. I lost sleep. And even though I finished the book 24 hours ago, I don't know that it will ever leave me. I mull over my favorite lines again. I wish the best for everyone (Matthew and Ping!!!), and I turn back to Khong's words that make me feel less alone.

In the end, I don't know how to summarize or recommend Real Americans. I love it with my whole heart, and that's all there is.

Thank you NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had not read any of Rachel Khong's previous works so I was not sure what to expect with Real Americans.

This book is told in three different parts and from three different point of view. Part one is Lily's story who is the second generation in the family. Part two is Nick's story who is the third generation of the family. And finally Mei aka May is the third part and is the matriarch of the family.

Lily's story is of a young girl living in NYC trying to eek by a living while being an unpaid intern at an online travel magazine. She meets and falls in love with the heir to a vast pharmaceutical empire. As the only child of Chinese immigrants and an ABC (American Born Chinese) she has nothing in common with the heir, Matthew. But love does not follow social norms and the two fall in love.

Nick, who lives with his mother on a small island on the west coast, has lived a sheltered life. With it being only his mom, Lily, and him, Nick does not feel like he fits in and starts questioning his heritage.

Mei tells her story from 2030. Mei has the piece of the puzzle that Lily and Nick so desperately want and need. Mei's story is one of hardship and hard work.

Science and genetics play a large role in this story. Khong did a good job at balancing the science aspect along with the human side of the story. She also did a good job of each POV having a distinct voice.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

First thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis: a family drama spanning 70+ years where three generations go through multiples events and changes along with many secrets.

What I liked: this is literary fiction at it finest. We start at the turn of the millennium and meet Matthew and Lily. Matthew and Lily have a brief relationship while they work at the same agency. They reconnect several years later and rekindle their love. While Matthew is from a blue blooded American pharmaceutical family, Lily is from a family of immigrants that escaped mao’s cultural revolution. Lily doesn’t know much about her family history and doesn’t feel connected. She travels to China with Matthew and has her child nick early but also learns more about her parents especially her mother. At the end of part 1 she discovers a family secret that changes everything. Part 2 starts with 15 year nick also feeling isolated living with Lily. I really liked this part of him discovering more about his history and family. Finally part 3 brings it all together with the grandmothers story and how their history crosses. Rachel Kong’s prose throughout the book is beautiful. She provides enough information to keep you yearning for more and plenty to think about. I really thought about the themes and how she played with opposites to keep you thinking. I did get a hard copy for my shelves because I feel like I will revisit this later.

This is out now and a read with Jenna pick. Please do pick up and I know it will be a good bookclub choice.