Skip to main content

Real Americans by Rachel Khong Book Review

Reasons For Reading This Book:

I read Real Americans by Rachel Khong in participated with The Readheads Podcast Book Club. At the time of reading this book I had also been reading similar books about similar topics so I was interested to get a different perspective and one that was more modern than the others I had been reading. When I first put this book on hold at the library I read the description, but by the time I was able to check it out I had forgotten what the description said so I went into to blind and with no expectations.

Content of This Book:

At the turn of the twenty first century two-year-old Lily Chen is living in New York City and working as an unpaid intern at a fancy media company. While at a company party she meets Matthew. They are complete opposites. He is easygoing and effortlessly attractive, a native East Coaster, and, most notably, heir to a vast pharmaceutical empire. In opposition Lily is flat-broke, raised in Tampa, and the only child of scientists who fled Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Despite their differences, Lily and Matthew fall in love.

Now it is 2021 and fifteen-year-old Nick Chen who has never felt at home on the isolated Washington island where he lives with his single mother, Lily, is on a mission to get answers to the questions his mother has avoided for years. He knows she is hiding something. The search to find his biological father uncovers more than he could ever imagine and bring up more questions than answers.

What I Liked About This Book:

An aspect of the book that I enjoyed from the beginning to the end was the inclusion of the narrator's childhoods all the way through to the time in which the book ended. With the character's being generational it gave a wider view on the topic as a whole and how it spans decades and gave a whole picture of who the characters were as a result of childhood. This book had a bit of every type of plot, there was romance, family drama, generational differences, work drama, friend drama, racial differences, and some mystery at times. The book is mostly centered around family drama and how one person's choices and actions affect those around them, so if you aren't the biggest fan of that type of plot then this book is not really for you or something you would enjoy.  With the book being divided into three main sections, one for each of the main narrators, the author is able to really develop each of the narrators by focusing on them one at a time but also learning and including them in the other sections when they relate to one another. I personally preferred the order in which the narrator's sections were in the book. I think this choice is what progressed the plot the best. One of the themes that I found the most interesting was the difference in social class. I was pulled into wanting to learned the vast differences between the characters and how they would eventually combine or not combine their lifestyles. A final praise that I will give the author is their ability to use literary devices to make the distinction between the narrator's sections. The author also provided lots of descriptions and details giving the reader the ability to picture every scene. 

What I Disliked About This Book:

This was mentioned in the podcast episode and I agree with the host, by the time I got to the last narrator's section I had forgot a lot of what had happened in the first narrator's section and was constantly being reminded of things once they were brought up again. I do not know if this says something about me as the reader or because so much little stuff happened in each section that it was hard to remember everything. My least favorite section was the middle section and that is because I could not relate to Nick as a character and just found his tone, voice and plot points to be the most uninteresting and least relatable. This could be because he is male and I am female, but it could also be because I found his section dragged on the most compared to the other two. With saying that I also felt like May's section, the last one, was rushed in both the writing and playing catch up to get to the current timeframe. Speaking of the characters, I never drawn to liking one more than the other, but was also not overly impressed or a fan of any of them. 

Would I Recommend This Book? 

Overall I would not recommend this book. I did not enjoy my time reading it and found it to be forgettable. There were some memorable moments but as a whole I did not enjoy it. The Readhead's podcast hosts ranked this book really high and mostly all enjoyed it. I guess I am alone in not liking it. 

Check out my book reviews for 2024!!


Check out my book reviews for 2023!!

Horse by Geraldine Brooks  
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
Hester by Laurie Pico Albanese
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Environmental and Sustainability Book Reviews 2022
Self-Improvement Book Reviews 2022
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
Know My Name by Chanel Miller
The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
Not All Diamonds and Rosé by Dave Quinn
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham 
Girls With Bright Futures by Tracy Dobmeier and Wendy Katzman
Run, Rose, Run by James Patterson and Dolly Parton
The Summer Series by Jenny Han
A Stolen Life: A Memoir by Jaycee Dugard
The Housewives: The Real Story Behind the Real Housewives by Brian Moylan
Verity by Colleen Hoover
All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart 
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Majesty: American Royals 2 by Kathrine McGree
Every Last Secret by A.R. Torre

Check out my book reviews for 2021!!

2021 Book Rankings

Beach Read By Emily Henry
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Educated by Tara Westover
The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig 
The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins 
We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins 
We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Klara and the Sun 
The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner
American Duchess by Karen Harper 
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
Girl With No Job by Claudia Oshry
Down the Habit Hole by Holly Madison Book Review
My Story by Elizabeth Smart
Layla by Colleen Hoover

Check out my book reviews for 2020!!

Check out my book reviews for 2019!!

Check out my book reviews from 2018!!


Don't forget to stay up to date on my blog by following my social media accounts!
Instagram: @whenishouldbestudying


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reasonable Dorm Room Cleaning Schedule

Reasonable Dorm Room Cleaning Schedule After my first semester of college I have developed a cleaning routine that I have been able to keep up with. You can read my previous blog post about What I Learned In My First Semester of College . Over the past few months I have experimented and I am confident in the routine that I have created.  Personalize When it comes to personalizing the schedule you could add or take out the different chores. For example I also wash my retainers weekly and monthly my roommate and I decorate the marker board on the outside of our door. We also only clean our mirrors when needed since we have found that they do not seem to become too dirty regularly. Something that I would make sure you sanitize every week would be the surfaces that you are constantly touching. That means light switches, door handles, and your desk. By doing this I managed to avoid getting sick when my roommate and other floor mates go sick. Another task that you could add ...
94 comments
Read more

Bullet Journal Fitness and Workout Spread Ideas

If you want to purchase some of these spreads you can buy the digital bundle from my Etsy shop: Simply Paperless .  I had created six different bullet journal fitness and workout trackers/spreads. These spreads were made in my digital bullet journal using the GoodNotes App.   I highly recommend to use a stylus when using GoodNotes as a digital bullet journal. For this project I used the Adonit Dash 3 Stylus , which I highly recommend. I also recommend the Bargain Depot Stylus 2 Pack  from Amazon. Daily Workout Plan This first spread can be used to plan out what exercises you plan to workout each day of the week. I would recommend this spread for those who are just starting to workout. I did not created the workout that is used as the example for the content of this spread. The workout is from Pintrest Workout Plan .  Workout Tracker This next tracker is in the format of a monthly calendar. In order to track the different workouts...
63 comments
Read more

Puppy and Pet Bullet Journal Planner Spread Ideas

2022 Update: If you are interested in having your own Puppy/Dog Pet Planner you can purchase these spreads along with other ones in my Etsy shop Simply Paperless Digital Puppy/Dog Pet Planner . I would like to officially announce that a puppy has been added to my family. This past weekend my sister adopted a soft coated Wheaten Terrier. His name is Bear because he looks like a bear/teddy bear. Growing up my Grandparents, family members and friends had dogs, but we always had cats or flying squirrels. My twin sister and I always wanted a dog, her more than me. After living in on our own for almost a year she finally made the decision to buy one. The summer was the perfect time to get him because we would have time to train him and get used to living with him before we started junior year of college. Now that I have said all of that lets get into the planner portion of this blog post. Today I will be sharing tracker spreads that are perfect for tracking anything and everything in...
43 comments
Read more