Real Americans

A novel

By: Rachel Khong

Narrated by: Louisa Zhu, Eric Yang, Eunice Wong

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • READ WITH JENNA’S MAY BOOK CLUB PICK • From the award-winning author of Goodbye, Vitamin: How far would you go to shape your own destiny? An exhilarating novel of American identity that spans three generations in one family and asks: What makes us who we are? And how inevitable are our futures?

"Mesmerizing"—Brit Bennett • "A page turner.”—Ha Jin • “Gorgeous, heartfelt, soaring, philosophical and deft"—Andrew Sean Greer • "Traverses time with verve and feeling."—Raven Leilani

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. Matthew is everything Lily is not: easygoing and effortlessly attractive, a native East Coaster, and, most notably, heir to a vast pharmaceutical empire. Lily couldn't be more different: flat-broke, raised in Tampa, the only child of scientists who fled Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Despite all this, 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.

In immersive, moving prose, Rachel Khong weaves a profound tale of class and striving, race and visibility, and family and inheritance—a story of trust, forgiveness, and finally coming home.

Exuberant and explosive, Real Americans is a social novel par excellence that asks: Are we destined, or made? And if we are made, who gets to do the making? Can our genetic past be overcome?

Narrators Poor - Story Not Engrossing

I was hoping the hype was real. This story is a mixed bag, I really didn’t care about any characters.
The narrators often mispronounced words.

Didn't do it for me

This was a book that a lot of people said made it to one of their greatest reads of the year. Sadly, it didn’t do the same for me. I loved the narration as I listened to this on audio. It is very easy to listen to. I was listening very intently up until the last leg when it switched to the 3rd POV. It just got boring for me. Am I alone in this?

Chinese perspective broadened my perspective.

Towards the end, the voices didn't seem to match the POV. It was confusing. Multiple stories converge in the end, getting there required paying attention.

Multigenerational mystery and family drama

The book swept me up completely. Rachel Khong’s writing was absolutely beautiful and relatable as the daughter of a Chinese mother myself. The way that she wove three characters’ perspectives together was brilliant and the story itself made me want to stay up late into the night reading. I liked the first two sections/characters better than the third, but overall loved. Fabulous book and highly recommend!!

Beautiful generational story

A compelling tale of a Chinese family's emigration to America and the generational cultural changes that they go through, as well as an interesting science twist.