Real Americans

A Novel

By: Rachel Khong

Narrated by: Louisa Zhu, Eric Yang, Eunice Wong

Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

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?

©2024 Rachel Khong (P)2024 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2024, at publications including: The New York Times, Oprah Daily, Today, TIME, and more!

"If you liked Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, read Real Americans by Rachel Khong."—The Washington Post

"It's a tale as old as time: Poor girl meets rich boy, they fall in love, and they live happily ever after. Well, not quite... A profound read."—People

"Remarkable... Folded into [Real Americans] are doomed love stories, fancy parties, a subplot about epigenetics, Chinese people who look white and yummy treats... The book also poses a dizzying array of questions: What does it mean to be American, and who gets to say who is one?”—Robert Ito, The New York Times

loved it.

loved the book! highly recommend to listen on audible. makes you think about all the choices me make.

Best wedgie ever?

What I look for in a book, regardless of genre, is a good story about people. Real Americans is exactly that. Rachel Khong deserves all the praise in the world. I’d love to throw her a lemon darty ice cream party.

STELLAR STORYTELLING

This is superb writing that details three generations that crosses the globe. The characters are deeply developed and the theme is equally compelling. The realness and challenges faced will intrigue the reader. I wish that I could rate this novel higher than 5 stars.

An enjoyable book spanning three generations.

I was a little confused which way things were going to go. It all worked out. Really liked it .

2.5 stars

2.5 stars. I really wanted to like this book (and I did for the first half) but it fell flat for me. It had some good elements, but it was all over the place. The story hinged on two characters meeting in such an unlikely coincidence that I found it unbelievable. Overall I found the characters terrible communication frustrating and I didn’t feel like the author wrapped the story up well.

I quit

I have to quit listening. I keep waiting for something…anything.. to happen. This drones on and is going nowhere.