Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang
What is it about?
In this memoir, Qian Julie Wang recalls her upbringing as an undocumented immigrant in America, which is riddled with poverty, fear and hardships, but also resilience and – ultimately – hope.
OK, but what is it really about?
Qian Julie Wang is seven years old when she and her mother escape the oppressive government in China to join her father in New York who already fled two years earlier. Back in China, her parents both worked as professors, but in America (Mei Guo in Chinese, or Beautiful Country, hence the title of the book), they have to make ends meet by working menial jobs in sweatshops and factories, often not earning enough to provide food, let alone new and warm clothes or toys for their daughter.
At school, Wang is bullied and looked down on because of her lack of English, and racism becomes a normal part of her daily routine. She lives in constant fear that her status as an undocumented immigrant is discovered, so she internalizes the mantra her parents instil in her from a very early age: keep your head down, don’t ask any questions, and don’t trust anyone. Instead, Wang finds refuge in books: the characters become her friends, and through the stories she reads, she allows herself to dream of a better tomorrow.
Is it any good?
“Beautiful Country” is an intense and emotional book that describes the struggles and plights of families seeking a better life in America in a gut-wrenching yet riveting way – and still manages to remain hopeful and inspiring throughout. Wang is a very gifted writer: she takes the readers back to her childhood, which she describes so vividly, that I almost felt I was there with her: walking through the streets, rummaging the trash for usable household goods on “Shopping Day”, fearfully visiting her mother in hospital, and finding joy in taking care of Marilyn, the cat. You can’t help but root for this little girl, you want to hug her, hold her close and tell her of all the wonderful things she is going to accomplish. It’s not an easy read, but such an important, eye-opening and essential one.
Most memorable quote?
After going through a plethora of emotions reading this book, I eventually came to the Acknowledgements section and this little sentence, dedicated to the author’s mother, really brought tears to my eyes and cracked my heart into little pieces: “When you had nothing, you somehow managed to give me everything.”
And this sentence, that shows the lasting effect of being an undocumented immigrant, even after finally gaining citizenship: “I am so very tired of running and hiding, but I have done it for so long, I don’t know how to stop. I don’t know how to do anything else. It is all I am, defining myself against illegality while stitching it into my veins.”
Conclusion?
When I ordered this book, I saw that some of the users called it “boring” and “not very believable” in their reviews – which made me rather sad because I am sure that Wang’s story is emblematic of numerous similar fates in America. Recently, there are more and more books and memoirs that tell the stories Asian-American immigrants – and while each and every one of them is unique, put together, they make up the big picture. They speak of struggles and incredible hardships, about longing and belonging, but also about perseverance and strength. I could personally relate to the utter loneliness and isolation when one is so different from others that they simply do not fit in – no matter how hard they try, and the lasting effect of being torn between two countries, forever wondering and wandering in search of home.
Trigger warning: trauma, racism, bullying, abuse, animal abuse
AT A GLANCE
Title: Beautiful Country
By: Qian Julie Wang
Published by: Doubleday (2021)
Pages: 320
Language: English