Rachel Khong

Real Americans traverses time with verve and feeling. Khong captures how people can be strange to themselves, how bewilderment can be a site of creation (or change, or becoming)

Aglow with love in its many forms, suffused with questions of where-and to whom-we belong, Real Americans is a book of rare charm. Khong untangles the roots of family with a wry, tender attention that will leave readers as comforted as they are challenged

Gorgeous, heartfelt, soaring, philosophical and deft, Real Americans turns the multigenerational novel inside out. Fate, honesty, our bargains with life. You will keep turning it over and over in your mind

Real Americans is a truly special novel. It&rsquo;s an elegant portrait of how we disappoint those we love, despite trying our best, and how attempts to tame humanity misunderstand its complexity. Khong masterfully unfolds each character before us, revealing their dreams and regrets, and their undying hope for better.

Real Americans is a grand novel that explores the American psyche, dramatizing the fundamental American belief in the ability to change the world and improve humanity. Rachel Khong shows infinite and colorful perceptions of the world, which are often leavened with wisdom. Besides being a page turner, this book is also an eye-opener, imaginative and exhilarating

Khong is a magician . . . Brilliant

Khong masterfully explores a family splintered by science, struggling to redefine their own lives after uncovering harrowing secrets. Real Americans is a mesmerizing multigenerational novel about privilege, identity and the illusions of the American dream

Khong manages to imbue seemingly mundane topics with charm and pathos through her attentive, humorous and personable writing

Like a chain of fairy lights in the darkness

A million small, human and often deeply funny details gather force to tell a tale that is ultimately, incredibly poignant

Miranda July, author of The First Bad Man, on Rachel Khong

Rachel Khong&rsquo;s gripping second novel explores how biology, our parents&rsquo; abstract hopes for us, sheer luck, and the forces of history itself make us who we are. Real Americans is both a tender story of the intimate relationships between people and a sharp examination of very big questions of ethics, politics, and fate

Rumaan Alam, author of Leave the World Behind

A tale of identity, belonging and betrayal

Beautifully written . . . a confident, immersive story that explores three very different-but-interconnected lives . . . binding the story together is a clear-eyed look at money and power, lost connections and what we inherit from our families - with an unexpected sprinkling of sci-fi and magic too

Easy to inhale . . . Khong observes this pervasive sense of unbelonging with cutting precision, and perfectly captures the dislocation, insecurity and erasure that are facets of Asian-American life . . . The novel&rsquo;s real beauty lies in its amazement at the sheer luck of being alive.

A poignant and contemporary multi-generational novel . . . Khong's candid and humorous storytelling shines as she explores the challenges and complexities of straddling multiple cultural worlds . . . An expansive story of secrets, betrayal, and forgiveness. Khong's narrative resonates deeply, offering readers an insightful and heartfelt exploration of race, family, and the pursuit of the American Dream.

[An] ambitious multigenerational saga of money , migration, dreams, secrets and the lure of scientific progress

Evocative and gripping . . . a beautifully told multigenerational story about the Chen family, and what identity really means

This compelling family saga tackles big issues with insight and a light touch

A multigenerational family epic, one that asks big questions about whether we make our own decisions, but does so with a wonderfully light touch

** THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ** 
 
'Insightful and heartfelt' GLAMOUR 
 
'Easy to inhale' GUARDIAN 
 
'Mesmerizing' BRIT BENNETT, author of THE VANISHING HALF 
 
*** 
 
New York City, 1999. Lily Chen is an unpaid intern, pursuing the American Dream, when she falls for a young financier – and the life of luxury his vast fortune promises. Everything she wants seems to finally be within reach. But deep down, she knows that her ambitious scientist mother, Mei, imagined so much more for her when she fled the unspoken horrors of Mao’s cultural revolution. 
 
Twenty years later, Lily is a single parent, estranged from her own family and increasingly isolated from her teenage son, Nick. Desperate to break free from their life on a remote island in Washington State, Nick strives to live better than the generation before him, unable to understand his mother’s choices. But when he looks into the past and is unexpectedly confronted by the ghosts of his grandmother’s young life in 1960s China, he risks unsettling a legacy of family secrets – passed on from mother, to daughter, to son. 
 
Following three generations of one Chinese American family, REAL AMERICANS is a mesmerising, multilayered family drama which explores the choices we make for ourselves, and for our children. Spanning decades and continents, it is a soaring, heartfelt story about fate, fortune, and what it means to belong. 
 
*** 
 
'Traverses time with verve and feeling' RAVEN LEILANI, author of LUSTER 
 
'An eye-opener, imaginative and exhilarating' HA JIN, author of WAITING 
 
'Gorgeous, heartfelt, soaring, philosophical and deft' ANDREW SEAN GREER, author of LESS

Rachel Khong

Praise for Real Americans

Real Americans traverses time with verve and feeling. Khong captures how people can be strange to themselves, how bewilderment can be a site of creation (or change, or becoming)

Aglow with love in its many forms, suffused with questions of where-and to whom-we belong, Real Americans is a book of rare charm. Khong untangles the roots of family with a wry, tender attention that ...

**Gorgeous, heartfelt, soaring, philosophical and deft, Real Americans turns the multigenerational novel inside out.** Fate, honesty, our bargains with life. You will keep turning it over and over in your ...

Real Americans traverses time with verve and feeling. Khong captures how people can be strange to themselves, how bewilderment can be a site of creation (or change, or becoming)

Aglow with love in its many forms, suffused with questions of where-and to whom-we belong, Real Americans is a book of rare charm. Khong untangles the roots of family with a wry, tender attention that ...

**Gorgeous, heartfelt, soaring, philosophical and deft, Real Americans turns the multigenerational novel inside out.** Fate, honesty, our bargains with life. You will keep turning it over and over in your ...

Real Americans traverses time with verve and feeling. Khong captures how people can be strange to themselves, how bewilderment can be a site of creation (or change, or becoming)

Aglow with love in its many forms, suffused with questions of where-and to whom-we belong, Real Americans is a book of rare charm. Khong untangles the roots of family with a wry, tender attention that ...

**Gorgeous, heartfelt, soaring, philosophical and deft, Real Americans turns the multigenerational novel inside out.** Fate, honesty, our bargains with life. You will keep turning it over and over in your ...

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Praise for Real Americans

Real Americans traverses time with verve and feeling. Khong captures how people can be strange to themselves, how bewilderment can be a site of creation (or change, or becoming)

Aglow with love in its many forms, suffused with questions of where-and to whom-we belong, Real Americans is a book of rare charm. Khong untangles the roots of family with a wry, tender attention that ...

Gorgeous, heartfelt, soaring, philosophical and deft, Real Americans turns the multigenerational novel inside out. Fate, honesty, our bargains with life. You will keep turning it over and over in your ...

Real Americans traverses time with verve and feeling. Khong captures how people can be strange to themselves, how bewilderment can be a site of creation (or change, or becoming)

Aglow with love in its many forms, suffused with questions of where-and to whom-we belong, Real Americans is a book of rare charm. Khong untangles the roots of family with a wry, tender attention that ...

Gorgeous, heartfelt, soaring, philosophical and deft, Real Americans turns the multigenerational novel inside out. Fate, honesty, our bargains with life. You will keep turning it over and over in your ...

Real Americans traverses time with verve and feeling. Khong captures how people can be strange to themselves, how bewilderment can be a site of creation (or change, or becoming)

Aglow with love in its many forms, suffused with questions of where-and to whom-we belong, Real Americans is a book of rare charm. Khong untangles the roots of family with a wry, tender attention that ...

Gorgeous, heartfelt, soaring, philosophical and deft, Real Americans turns the multigenerational novel inside out. Fate, honesty, our bargains with life. You will keep turning it over and over in your ...

**Gorgeous, heartfelt, soaring, philosophical and deft, Real Americans turns the multigenerational novel inside out.** Fate, honesty, our bargains with life. You will keep turning it over and over in your ...

**Gorgeous, heartfelt, soaring, philosophical and deft, Real Americans turns the multigenerational novel inside out.** Fate, honesty, our bargains with life. You will keep turning it over and over in your ...

**Gorgeous, heartfelt, soaring, philosophical and deft, Real Americans turns the multigenerational novel inside out.** Fate, honesty, our bargains with life. You will keep turning it over and over in your ...