Beautiful Country
100% recommend
In Chinese, the word for America, Mei Guo, translates directly to “beautiful country.” Yet when seven-year-old Qian arrives in New York City in 1994 full of curiosity, she is overwhelmed by crushing fear and scarcity. In China, Qian’s parents were professors; in America, her family is “illegal” and it will require all the determination and small joys they can muster to survive. In Chinatown, Qian’s parents labor in sweatshops. Instead of laughing at her jokes, they fight constantly, taking out the stress of their new life on one another. Shunned by her classmates and teachers for her limite
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…literature, fiction stories, primarily women authors. I didn’t read any bad books in my opinion, I guess I picked well. Standouts, Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata Lakota Woman - Mary Crow Dog Beautiful Country: A Memoir of An Undocumented Childhood - Qian Julie Wang Gather Around in My Name - Maya Angelou The entire autobiographical series by Maya is a must read imo, but this one is my favorite. Maybe also…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023” ↗Beautiful Country, by Qian Julie Wang. Beautifully written memoir about immigrating to NYC as a child in the 90s. Poignant, sweet, honest, easy to read, fun, not too too emotionally heavy, but also full of lessons about…
on “Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?” ↗