This novel is so lovely, and it also feels like three novels in one. The multigenerational story of a family about genetics, love, and ambition. I was hooked from the first chapter onward, and it's the kind of novel I plan to return to again, knowing the characters so well afterward. Gorgeous prose.

I’m a big fan of both multigenerational stories and stories that are written from different perspectives and narratives and I feel like this book did both with grace! I really enjoyed this book and thought it really does have a little of everything and it’s all written really well and keeps you interested the whole time. I felt like it did drag at times, but overall, I thought it was a fantastic read!

Inherited trauma is a popular literary theme as of late. Real Americans explores the idea of inherited drama through three generations of a Chinese-American family. Lily is the daughter of two Chinese scientists who fled China under Mao's rule. Lily's son, third generation Chinese, tries to connect with his father, a wealthy white American. Lily's mother, born in China, deals with choices she made in a communist country she no longer believed in. Kong definitely blends the themes of racial identity and inherited trauma. Humans do not choose their ethnicity or genetic makeup. We are forced to live every day with other people's perceptions of race and culture. Choices of generations before us are in our blood, especially the choices made under circumstances beyond anyone's control. Family shapes our identity as well as our experiences. Real Americans conveys the idea that the past may be our blood, but family is our bones.

Preface: thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC ahead of the release date of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading this book because I love a multigenerational saga, but I have to give it a 3 star rating because of a few things that fell short for me. The beginning of the story was incredible, I became really invested in Lily’s story and her journey of meeting Matthew and giving birth to Nick. Things took a turn for the worse when bringing in Nick’s and Mei’s stories. Nick’s experiences with Timothy and different girls were overall irrelevant to the plot and his story flattened completely when we get to Mei’s perspective. I enjoyed hearing Mei’s story but I didn’t feel like there was enough discussion on the ethics of what she got involved in, no resolution to the story about Mr. Ping, and generally a lot of plot points left unresolved. I also didn’t like how Lily totally flattened out after her part of the story. I would have liked to see more interweaving of all of the stories and less focus on the in-moment happenings for each character. I would have liked to see more insight into Matthew’s and Otto’s lives. In the end I felt like it was “almost” an amazingly epic multigenerational saga but just felt incomplete and the wrong parts were emphasized. Also, I didn’t understand the “time standing still” trope and maybe I missed it but that, too, felt unresolved.

Overall I love the idea. Some key parts should be reworked to develop some of these great characters more and remove the fluff and unnecessary stuff. Once that’s done, you’ll have a masterpiece!

I greatly enjoyed this multigenerational family story. Rachel Khong has filled it with interesting and thought provoking themes - from biotechnology to race to family and communication and questions of identity. I was invested throughout the novel. I do wish the book had circled back more to the earlier stories of certain characters. It shifts to different narrators and tells of past narrators from the other narrators' perspectives, but I kind of wanted to know more from the original narrators' viewpoints. Yet as a whole, this was a very good read and I am very glad I had the opportunity to read an early copy!

I have mixed feelings on this book but, ultimately, I think it's a solid 4-star read. To me, it read like three separate books and I didn't enjoy them all equally, so that was tough. I LOVED the first section (Lily). And I enjoyed Nick's section enough, but was a bit confused as to why Lily left Matthew in such an extreme way when he apparently didn't have much to do with what happened. That did not seem believable. I wasn't that interested in the final section (May/Mei) because we pretty much already pieced together what happened and this just confirmed it, so it felt a bit repetitive. One plot point that continues to bug me: I thought for sure that the meeting/relationship of Matthew and Lily was arranged, but it doesn't seem that was the case... so we are left to think their first encounter is a coincidence? I also didn't love the magical elements with the seed... too little was said about this so it felt random and underdeveloped. I did enjoy the book as a whole and felt it was a compelling read. It just had some problematic elements. Also, it read a bit long toward the end.

Real Americans by Rachel Khong is a multigenerational tale of family that asks the question what makes us who we are? This gem of a book makes you question what it means to be a real American from three different viewpoints while examining race, class, and inequality by contrasting wealth and poverty. These topics show that there is a complex tapestry that makes a person into who they are and helps to shape who they will become. The one drawback of this novel were the scientific components. I enjoyed the book and would like to thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for an advance copy for review.

Real Americans begins on the precipice of Y2K in New York City, when twenty-two-year-old Lily Chen, an unpaid intern at a slick media company, meets Matthew.

I really loved Goodbye, Vitamin so I was very excited to be approved to read this advanced copy of Real Americans. Multigenerational family sagas have the ability to become lengthy and boring very quickly, but Rachel Khong's use of multiple narrators keeps everything paced perfectly. Everything in this book is a lesson on skilled writing. Not one story line is heavy handed or exaggerated.

This one is really good. It'll make you think and feel and want to discuss.

A story told from multiple perspectives from multiple perspectives from multiple generations of a family that explores race, class, and identity. There’s a bit of family drama, a bit of romance, a bit of sci-fi—it has it all!

How far would you go to shape your own destiny? This moving and thought-provoking story about race, class, identity, and family follows three generations of the Chen family. Lily Chen, an unpaid intern at a media company, meets Matthew, who is easygoing and effortlessly attractive, a native East Coaster, andheir to a vast pharmaceutical empire. Despite their differences, Lily and Matthew fall in love. In 2021, fifteen-year-old Nick Chen has never felt like he belonged on the isolated Washington island where he lives with his single mother, Lily. He can't shake the sense she's hiding something. When Nick sets out to find his biological father, the journey threatens to raise more questions than it provides answers, and leads him to his maternal grandmother and a hidden family secret.

Thank you so much @netgalley, @rrrrrrrachelkhong, and @aaknopf for the ARC! This was a beautiful and incredibly well-written story that gripped me from the start. With a touch of magical realism and foundations in science, the book raises important questions about choice and identity. The story also addresses the moral boundaries of gene modification and whether you can truly ever change who you are. The theme of trust and forgiveness was well explored in all of the relationships between the different characters, and they were each so well developed. The prose was powerful and pretty, and really set the tone for each character and their inner thoughts. I definitely recommend adding this to your 2024 TBR!

Real Americans by Rachel Khong is a beautiful novel about family, relationships and the choices we make in our lives. In the acknowledgements, Khong says that this a book about fortune. It certainly does explore fortune and all of its varied meanings and definitions. The book also forces us to look at the choices we make to create our own fortunes, and the fortunes of our family members. Underlying all other themes is the question of what does it mean to be a "real American".
The story revolves around 2 characters- Lily a Chinese American daughter of scientists, and Matthew, the son of a mega- wealthy established American family. We then learn the stories of their extended families, and the secrets that were kept for generations. The book switches perspectives and we hear the story from many different viewpoints. In the end it all comes back to the same idea- who are we as individuals and how do we show love to those most important to us?
This is a book that will grab you on the first page, and will keep you reading until the last line. It is perfectly written and the characters are real and relatable. I loved every minute of it!

This is a wonderfully written book about family and the choices we make. The characters are beautifully layered and I wanted the book to go on and on! Very good book!

I wanted to read this because I loved Rachel Khong's last book, Goodbye Vitamin. This book has a genre problem. Part one, Lily's section, is fine, but nothing remarkable. It reads like new adult contemporary fiction. The second part, Nick's part, I had a hard time getting through. It was much too long with various pointless side characters & tangents. The voice was also very YA. The last part, Mei's part, I really enjoyed, but then when Nick came back into the story, it felt tedious again and it turns more into speculative fiction. The science/speculative fiction parts did not feel developed enough as a whole, I just don't think the 3 parts work together cohesively.

I absolutely loved this book! Khong is a brilliant writer and the way she weaves the different POVs kept me engaged through to the last page. This is going to be one of the best books of 2024 and I can’t wait to reread it when it comes out in April.

Fantastic social commentary on immigration, broken into 3 perspectives of interconnected people. Very discussable- this book will be great for book clubs! I really enjoyed it. 4.5⭐️

Multi-generational stories from multiple perspectives are so enthralling when done well and Real Americans fully delivers on that front. Lily’s part of the novel was pure magic to me. I could not put this book down. It’s a beautiful story of womanhood, motherhood and family. I would highly recommend this book for fans of Pachinko.

"Real Americans" by Rachel Khong is a thought-provoking exploration of the intricacies of time and the choices we make in the pursuit of control. The narrative, while undeniably compelling, occasionally ventures into convoluted territories, leaving some relationships and storylines with open ends. However, it is within these complexities that Khong weaves a tapestry of human experience, prompting readers to reflect on their own desires for control and the consequences of those desires.

At the heart of the novel lies a powerful message—everyone, regardless of their background, yearns for control over time. Khong artfully explores this theme, particularly in the context of parenthood. The notion that individuals may inadvertently try to hasten their children's journey through life to spare them mistakes and save time is a poignant observation. The author skillfully navigates the delicate balance between the universal desire for control and the individual right to choose one's path.

The characters in "Real Americans" are intricately portrayed, each facing their own struggles and navigating the complexities of life. Khong's ability to capture the essence of diverse human experiences adds depth to the narrative, making it a genuine page-turner. The relatability of the characters and their dilemmas draws readers into the story, fostering a strong connection between the audience and the book.

In the end, "Real Americans" is a compelling exploration of the human experience, I highly recommend this book for those seeking a thought-provoking and emotionally resonant journey through the lens of three generations of imperfect, very human characters who are only trying to be "American."

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for my eARC. All thoughts were my own.

Wow. My mind is buzzing and my heart is full after reading this one. Where do I begin? This is a story of family and trauma and choices and love written beyond-beautifully. The impact of generational trauma is turned on its head a bit as the author chose to illustrate its impact in a way I had not seen before all underlined with the running theme of "REAL AMERICAN". What does that mean to you? A few times as I was reading I stopped and just sat with the nuance of a passage or the weight of a sentence or character choice. This one is really good. It'll make you think and feel and want to discuss. What more does anyone want in a book, right?

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for this advance readers copy, in exchange for an honest review. Real Americans is a multi-generational family story, which poses probing questions about what it means to navigate and balance your individual identity/sense of self with class, racism, cultural identity, and inheritance. The book is told in three parts and we experience three perspectives from this family as we consider these deep concepts and questions.

I enjoyed this book and thought the writing was absolutely spectacular. Khong’s prose painted a very vivid picture and gave us a very clear glimpse into the characters thoughts. I did find the switch between perspectives throughout the story to be a bit jarring but, that might have just been me— I was very invested in each story and it took me a while to sink back into the story, as we switched time/place as well. I think this also made the book a bit difficult for me to get through at times because it took some time for me to reinvest myself in the new primary character of the section.

Aside from these thoughts on the pace of the book, I thought the themes represented in the story, specifically in regard to inheritance and carving a new path for yourself, were thought provoking and posed some interesting questions to consider. It was clear that this topic was very well understood by the author and the feelings described by the characters were very defined. One element I did struggle with was the magical realism element in the story; there was something about this that didn’t seem fully fleshed out but, it didn’t significantly detract from my reading experience.

Overall, I think this book was worth reading and would be excellent for group discussion, as there’s a lot to unpack here. I would recommend this book to any literary fiction fans or fans of family stories!

Interesting read on epigenetic therapies, longevity, etc. I liked Matthew (wish he had a story from his perspective!) and Mei.

Notable lines:

“As people we interrupted one another’s lives-that was what we did. If you sought to live your life without interruption you wound up like me: living life without interruption, totally alone.”

“All this while, instead of seeking more time, I could have been paying attention. I notice it now, my present . . . “

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