Review
An e-arc of the book has been provided by the publisher, Penguin Random House International, in exchange for an honest review.
An interesting beginning of the story introduces us to the reason behind the book’s title — Beautiful Country. It hinges the readers into the curious choice and metaphorical reasoning hidden behind the shadows of the story and perpetuates to a dragging motion of intrigue towards reading the story.
“But I didn’t think it was nice at all. It didn’t seem right that there were many people out there feeling alone and homesick and hungry in the same moments when we were feeling those things. Hundreds of lonely people, I figured was far worse than three lonely people.”
What makes this book shine is the author’s courageous show of vulnerability. She told her life’s traumatic story and began in the earliest of her childhood.
Her writing style truly encapsulated the youthfulness of the narrative. It gave a feeling of innocence and complete disconnection to adult knowledge. This brilliant use of narrative really propelled the effectivity of the story to connect with its reader.
“I thought about what happened when people and animals died. Where did this brain go that carried so many fears? Where did this heart go that pulsed with so much pain?”
It is also interesting to note how Wang‘s writing has a certain poetic allure to it. She did not lie when her younger self claimed herself good with writing. Her use of words flow so naturally as if they are water, and her a well full of them
Marvelous in its show of the struggles of undocumented immigrants, Qian Julie Wang‘s memoir truly gave breath to a world not so visible to the eye. Her story is one to illuminate the world.
“It was then that I realized I could be homesick for a place even though i no longer knew where home was.”
Buy a copy here.
About the Author
Qian Julie was born in Shijiazhuang, China. At age 7, she moved to Brooklyn, New York, with her parents. For five years thereafter, the three lived in the shadows of undocumented life in New York City. Qian Julie’s first book is a poignant literary memoir that follows the family through those years, as they grappled with poverty, manual labor in sweatshops, lack of access to medical care, and the perpetual threat of deportation.
A graduate of Yale Law School and Swarthmore College—where she juggled classes and extracurriculars with four part-time jobs—Qian Julie is now a litigator. She wrote Beautiful Country on her iPhone, during her subway commute to and from work at a national law firm, where she was elected to partnership within two years of joining the firm. She is now managing partner of Gottlieb & Wang LLP, a firm dedicated to advocating for education and civil rights. Qian Julie believes that affording underprivileged communities the type of legal representation typically reserved for wealthy corporate interests is the first step to eradicating systemic barriers.
Qian Julie’s writing has appeared in major publications such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, and she regularly speaks on issues such as immigration, education, discrimination, and economic disparity. She is the founder and leader of the Jews of Color group at Central Synagogue, where she is also member of the Racial Justice Task Force and the social justice reform leadership. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their two rescue dogs, Salty and Peppers.
