REAL AMERICANS

by Rachel Khong

Real Americans starts out as a better-than-average love story between Lily Chen, a young, unpaid intern at a media company in New York City, and Matthew Allen, a successful, slightly older man.  Despite their vastly different backgrounds—she was born in America but her parents are from China and she struggles to get a financial foothold, and his family is wealthy and waspy—they end up marrying and having a child. From the moment their son Nico is born, everyone comments on how similar he looks to his father, fair and blond, with no hint of Lily’s heritage.  From this point, Real Americans becomes much more than a love story.

We know that Lily’s parents are scientists specializing in genetics, but when the two sets of grandparents come together to meet their grandson, Lily suspects that the parents may already know each other.  Could her parents have worked with Matthew’s parents, who own a vast pharmaceutical empire?  Filled with suspicions and a sense of betrayal, Lily leaves Matthew and takes her son to Washington State, where she raises him on her own.

Part Two of Real Americans begins 22 years later with Nick (formerly Nico) as the narrator.  Eager to flee his small-town life and his overly protective mother who, despite repeated inquiries, will tell him nothing about his father, he and his best friend pursue a plan to attend an east coast college together.  Not only will that open up new horizons for both of them, but Nick hopes to connect with his birth father, with whom he and his friend secretly made contact after some detective work and a mail-away DNA test.  The boys go to Yale, Nick meets his father, Matthew, and the author writes masterfully of Nick’s feelings about both milestones.

Part Three of Real Americans is narrated by Lily’s mother, May.  She tells about her flight from Communist China in 1966, her life in Hong Kong and how eventually she settled in the United States.  Within this final section of the novel, we learn about her relationship with Matthew’s father and the effects of the genetic research she did for him. Khong’s novel contains so many thematic threads.  She writes of romance and mystery, yes.  But she also explores issues of race and privilege, divorce and its impact on kids, the power of male friendship and the ethics of genetic experimentation.  Real Americans is a terrific read that I highly recommend. (Liz)