Real Americans

Probably my favorite book I've read this year, due in no small part to how captivating I found Rachel Khong's writing to be. I had heard this billed as part romance novel, part inter-generational family story, and it was that, but Rachel was able to make each person's perspective so captivating within itself that I would have loved to read more on any one of the three main narrators.

The book starts with Lily, which is where the romance part takes place. I loved Lily pretty immediately. Despite her tale taking place in the late 90's and early 2000s she felt so modern and relatable to people her age today. I was so interested in where her story was going to go and page after page wanted to hear more of her inner monologue. I loved watching her romance with Matthew bud, I loved seeing the two expose themselves to one another, and I loved them questioning the families they were born to as well. I especially loved seeing Lily progressively explore the people in her life as she got older. She began to see more and more microaggressions against Asian people, which was fascinating and insightful. She began to see the frays of her family's treatment of her as she grew up. This and more, I truly loved Lily's half of the book and was frankly sad it ended as abruptly as it did.

Next it flung us forward in time to follow Nick. Nick himself was so interesting to follow. I loved how relatable he felt as a teenager, but without feeling like "just another teen" rebelling in his own way--He was very vindicated. As a person of mixed race, white-passing myself, I felt a kinship with some of his issues, though they went far further than my own. I really loved this part of not only Nick's story but of the larger one on display in this book. It was especially fascinating seeing Lily in this time period and how she developed past her story's ending.

I won't speak about the final part, but this would be the weakest part of the book in some ways, in my eyes. It was a bit slow and was when I started to lose interest at some small parts, but it was by far the most illuminating too. It provided context for all the other stories as well as serving as a neat conclusion to them as well, and was so interesting in how it was executed.

In the end, Lily stands out as my favorite character from all of this. I loved seeing her story unfold, and as some small twists that explain her behavior at points unfold I felt so sympathetic to her. Some of the last pieces written about her were in some ways so sad, but it gave me such relief to see her at least at peace with herself and her life in the end. I would so have loved to read more about her alone, but of any of the characters in this book.

I try to keep my reviews on the shorter end, but I feel like I could not get enough of this book, truly. I wasn't finished by the time I closed the cover on this one.