The book begins just before the turn of the millennium, when struggling media intern Lily Chen meets a handsome and—it turns out—rich stranger at a work party. The man in question is Matthew, and he’s the heir to a pharmaceutical fortune, with a complicated relationship with his stuffy, waspy family. (There are shades of The Perfect Couple if you’re looking closely.) Despite Lily’s niggling concerns, they get married, and eventually have a son, Nico. The big surprise? Though Nico is technically half Chinese, he looks 100 percent white, the spitting image of his father.
We then skip ahead to the current day, when Nico—who now goes by Nick—is trying to make sense of his life and where he fits in to his cultural history. I won’t give too much away, but his family situation has changed, and as he navigates the college search process, he comes face-to-face with his legacy.
A final section of the book jumps even further in time to when Nick seeks out his maternal grandmother, May, who has her own story of American immigration and assimilation in the midst of Maoist China. If all this sounds didactic, it’s not. I was thoroughly gripped by each generation’s story, caught up in the hyperrealistic struggles of love, career and social standing, yet aware of the greater questions Khong is posing. What makes us an American? Is everything determined by our genetic and cultural blueprint?
Bush Hager describes this book as “shapeshifting,” and maintains, “It’s a story of family and what we carry, what we pass down, secrets, and how they can divide us, and then bring us back together again.” I couldn’t agree more. And Jenna, consider me a fan.
