By turns wry and lyrical, a generational story of identity and freedom that reveals a rarely seen insider's view of China's contemporary history.
Lemei, a student Red Guard leader in 1960s Shanghai, leads a life of deception after her father dies a political prisoner. She is assigned to a journalism position at the state newspaper and forced to churn out propaganda. During the Tiananmen Square protests, she is involved in a brutal act of violence. Losing all hope for China, she sees America as the only way out for her daughter, Lin.
Ten years later, Lin escapes to an American university with a mission to become a true Westerner. She tirelessly erases her birth identity, abandons her Chinese suitor, and pursues a white love interest. However, her painful upbringing haunts her at every turn.
At Lin's graduation, Lemei realizes the America dream was only an illusion. Following China's meteoric rise, she is slowly dragged into a nationalistic perspective that stuns Lin, leading to a grave conflict between mother and daughter. Their final confrontation comes with tragic consequences but nonetheless shines a light of hope for the future.
• A rare insider's view of Communist China.
• The book is anchored by sophisticated representation.
• For fans of Netflix's Beef, the book portrays the Asian American experience, both trauma and triumph, in a nuanced way.
• This book tackles important themes: erasure of cultural and racial identities/Internalized racism, collective amnesia, contemporary Chinese nationalism, discrimination, diaspora surveillance, Chinese feminism, and Confucian filial piety.
• The novel vividly depicts key historical events such as the Cultural Revolution and ensuing Reform period, the Tiananmen Square protests, and the realities of life under a repressive regime, characterized by surveillance, widespread propaganda, suspicion, and suppression of human rights.
