Beautiful Country
A Memoir of an Undocumented Childhood
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Beautiful Country
Buy Now for £12.99
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Narrated by:
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Qian Julie Wang
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By:
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Qian Julie Wang
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
Hunger was a constant, reliable friend in Mei Guo. She came second only to loneliness.
In China, she was the daughter of professors. In Brooklyn, her family is illegal.
Qian is just seven when she moves to America, the 'Beautiful Country', where she and her parents find that the roads of New York City are not paved with gold, but crushing fear and scarcity. Unable to speak English at first, Qian and her parents must work wherever they can to survive, all while she battles hunger and loneliness at school. Thus begins an extraordinary story that describes, in vivid colours, days labouring in sweatshops and sushi factories, nights scavenging the streets for furniture and the terrifying moment when the family emerges from the shadows to seek emergency medical treatment for Qian's mother.
Qian Julie Wang's memoir is an unforgettable account of what it means to live under the perpetual threat of deportation and the small joys and sheer determination that kept her family afloat in a new land. Told from a child's perspective, in a voice that is intimate, poignant and startlingly lyrical, Beautiful Country is the story of a girl who learns first to live - and then escape - an invisible life.
©2021 Qian Julie Wang (P)2021 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
beautiful written, heart wrenching
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Still a stellar book, second time round. I loved that I was able to relate to a lot of the Asian culture and taboo that was mentioned in this book. It is also very eye opening to get a glimpse into how an immigrant life is, and the constant fear that an immigrant have to go through, not to mention the racism with no ability to fight back.
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Another part that was harder for me to swallow was the hospital part. My late dad had to use the exact same long needles for the IV drips on his legs too because all the good veins were all used up. The entire part brought me to tears because they are so relatable to what I went through 12 years ago.
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Last but not least, ending with this quote that truly stuck to me:
A woman can be beautiful without being pretty, but a woman cannot be beautiful without having dignity.
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5 stars.
Loved it with every fibre of my body!
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Beautiful book
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A heartfelt and eye opening story
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Moderately involving
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