Book 1 Post 1 - Beautiful Country

 Book 1 Post 1 - Beautiful Country

The book I chose for this assignment was Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang. To be perfectly honest, I’ve never been much of a reader, despite the numerous hints and nudges from both of my parents to do so, each for different reasons. My mom would always encourage me to read good literature, the classics that have withstood the tests of time, to understand the world and increase my writing ability and verbal capacity. My father, on the other hand, somewhat of a self-made businessman, would encourage me to read those “New York Times Best Seller” self-help books, the types that that successful millionaires would write and market on YouTube ads on how to become a millionaire, or habits and mindsets that create a successful entrepreneur. Ultimately, I read neither type of book, and mostly opted to play Pokemon on my Nintendo DS, clearly the most productive option. To this day, I still haven’t really touched too many books, especially if not assigned for a class. As I’ve gone through these past years of college, however, I’ve found more reasons to read. A big part of my college experience, I’ve been a fairly active participant in student organizations like the Asian Pacific American Student Assembly, the Chinese American Student Association, and the various programs offered by the Asian Pacific American Student Services. Through my participation in these clubs and attending their various workshops increasing awareness about social justice issues within those communities, I’ve become more curious and cognisant of the concerns that the communities face in the broader American context, and have had plenty of reconsideration and reflection on my own identity as a Chinese-American, an involuntary representative of the APIDA (Asian Pacific-Islander Desi American) community. As such, when I saw that Beautiful Country, a memoir about a Chinese immigrant experience, was on the list of potential books to read, I instantly knew which book I’d choose to expand my perspective. Upon a first glance at the book, it seems like there are many similarities between our experiences, yet a variety of differences as well. In reading this book, I’d like to understand the different facets of being Chinese-American in this country, and know that there are experiences vastly different than my own even if we identify in a similar way. 

So far, my reading of the book has been a pleasurable experience. Similar to reading Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club in high school, I feel strangely represented in a way, reading a lot of Chinese pinyin which is regularly integrated into the text. It feels like I’m reading a book that has a bit of the feeling of an inside joke, knowing that a non-Chinese-American person reading this would have a vastly different experience than a Chinese-American, simply by virtue of upbringing and cultural differences. For example, the knowledge that as soon as Qian is calling her grandmother “Lao Lao” in Chinese, that she is referring to a family member from the Northern part of China, because in other areas (depending on city or village) might call their grandmother “Wai Po,” “Po Po,” “A Ma,” and a number of other names. Details like these make me wonder what the experience of a non-Chinese person reading this would be, and if the experience would be lesser or simply different based on background. Stylistically, I also enjoy Wang’s writing, as it has a good balance of dialogue and narrative, but also is quite matter-of-fact and outlines the events without too flowery of language, while also encapsulating her thoughts and reflections on her immigrant experience. Overall, I’ve enjoyed reading this book thus far and can’t wait for the rest of it.