Book Review: “Real Americans” by Rachel Khong
Håfa adai! May is Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month in the United States. For the second two weeks of May 2025, I will post reviews for works of fiction written by Asian American authors and depicting important experiences within Asian American communities. My fourth selection of AAPI Heritage Month 2025 is Real Americans by Rachel Khong.
This book review consists of two parts: a spoiler-free plot summary and my thoughts on the story. In the second part, I give my personal rating and break down the setting and worldbuilding, storytelling, cast of characters, and themes. There may be some lightweight spoilers—such as how characters interact with each other and the world around them—but I will not give away any major plot twists or endings. I want to share my opinions of the book and maybe encourage you to purchase a copy of your own.
Click on the tags at the bottom of this post to see all reviews with the same tags in the Fiction bookshelf.
Spoiler-Free Plot Summary
Lily is the daughter of Chinese immigrants. She also is an unpaid intern working in New York City leading up to Y2K, broke and down on her luck when she meets a handsome (and incredibly wealthy) young man named Matthew. He is absolutely smitten with her, but she feels undeserving of him and his lifestyle. Regardless, life seems to have placed them in each other’s path for a reason. Nick is a high school student living with his single mother on an island off the coast of Washington state. Perplexed by why he looks nothing like his mother who is of Chinese descent, he cannot help but wonder about his absent father, somewhere out there in the world. May fled China for the United States after the rise of Mao Zedong. But whether it is communist China or the capitalist United States, she cannot seem to escape the rigid expectations placed on those that look like her.
Important Trigger Warning for Real Americans
Real Americans depicts pregnancy loss in the first part of the of the story, following Lily’s timeline. A section of Chapter 3 in Part 3, following May’s timeline, briefly discusses a series of sexual assaults. A section of Chapter 8 in Part 3, following May’s timeline, details a violent physical assault. If these are scenes that would cause you stress or distress in any way, then please make sure to take any steps necessary to prepare and protect yourself while and after reading Real Americans.
My Thoughts on Real Americans: 5 stars!
There are so many things I can say about Real Americans! This story is split into three parts to follow the first-person perspectives and experiences of three different generations : Lily (1999 to the early 2000s), Nick (starting in 2021), and May (starting in 2030). Rachel Khong’s narrative prose and style of storytelling conveys so many incredibly well thought out, relatable, and sometimes painfully cringeworthy experiences. But to keep this book review a tolerable length, I will limit myself to my five biggest broad takeaways: (1) imposter syndrome, (2) feelings of inadequacy, (3) different forms of racism, (4) playing God under the guise of scientific advancement, and (5) false promises of perfection through propaganda. I will be intentionally vague to avoid giving away any spoilers.
My first broad takeaway pertains to a topic that became apparent early on in the story and remained relevant throughout all three parts: imposter syndrome. Lily was born and raised in the United States by parents who immigrated from China after the rise of Mao Zedong (and subsequent establishment of the People’s Republic of China). Her parents made the choice not to teach her the Hakka or Mandarin, not make her traditional foods, and not teach her traditional customs all in the name of being perceived as a “real American” and not a communist-China loyalist. This results in adult Lily feeling as though she is only wearing the mask and costume of a Chinese (ethnically Hakka) person instead of truly feeling that that is her identity. Nick is a White-passing man with a Chinese mother and Caucasian father. Raised solely by his Chinese mother and speaking Mandarin from a young age, his blonde hair and blue eyes leads everyone around him to perceive him as White. This results in adult Nick not feeling “Chinese enough,” being on the receiving end of racism from bigots who “feel safe” in being bigoted around a White man and others being uncomfortable with a “White guy speaking Chinese.”
My second broad takeaway from the story were the effects of feeling inadequate in the eyes of your parents. Lily’s childhood and young adulthood are marred by feeling that she can never measure up to her mother’s standards. She feels that she is always somehow disappointing the person whose approval she seeks for decades. Nick struggles with categorizing himself as outside of or separate from his biological father’s “real family” and “real son.” May contends with the strict gender roles and expectations placed on her first as a student in communist-China then as a practicing scientist in the United States. For her, it seems as if life would have been easier if she was born in another place, in another time, and as a different biological sex.
The experiences of imposter syndrome and feelings of inadequacy faced by Lily, Nick, and May are further reinforced by the various forms of racism that each of them face. From notions of Asian Americans as the hardworking “model minority,” to the fetishism of Asian women’s bodies (while simultaneously asserting that all Asian women must also secretly want to look like White women), and the assumption that White-passing mixed-race minorities are impervious to bigotry, Real Americans depicts overt and covert racism in its many forms. As someone with first-hand experience with several of these forms of racism, I see that Rachel Khong took tremendous care in representing these real-life encounters. An incredible misconception about racism is that it is always loud and violent and obvious. While that can be true many times, Real Americans delves into the everyday sort of racism that many minorities face. And that is an aspect of this story that I deeply appreciate.
One particular form of racism represented in the book—where Nick’s Chinese heritage is acknowledged by a certain character when they are in that character’s favor only for it to be invalidated once he loses that character’s favor—is one I have experienced all too often as a light complected Indigenous mestiza (or mixed-race person) in the academe. For many of my White colleagues—but not all, this is by no means a generalization of an entire demographic—I was their Indigenous friend who brought forth a “valuable subaltern perspective.” My presence in their social circles somehow signified their gracious inclusion of minority groups. Yet if I would disagree or contradict their notions or ideas, not putting them down but simply presenting a different outlook on certain things, then I would cease to be Indigenous and become “so educated and articulate that [I am] essentially White.” This is such an insidious form of racism that often goes overlooked, where someone initially acknowledges or validates an important aspect of your identity only to later remove that acknowledgement and invalidate you when you are no longer serving a purpose. Rachel Khong does a devastatingly magnificent job at succinctly showing what this looks like in real life.
In the 1993 film Jurassic Park, a story depicting the genetic cloning of extinct dinosaur species to create a one-of-a-kind theme park for the ultra-wealthy, the character Dr. Ian Malcolm states “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” This was the exact line I thought of when I realized my fourth broad takeaway from Real Americans: using science as an excuse to play God is not a matter of how, it is a matter of why. On one hand, it sounds amazing to have achieved such scientific advancement to accomplish what the characters in Real Americans accomplished. On the other hand, intentionally selecting for traits as superficial as hair color, skin color, eye color, and height or as complex as bravery, confidence, assertiveness, intelligence, and lack of any disability is nothing more than eugenics. And what does that mean for those who do not express those idealized traits? This is literally what the Third Reich (Nazi Germany) was trying to do! No matter the intentions, the results will almost always embolden the racists!
My fifth broad takeaway from Real Americans is propaganda’s promise of perfection. May’s timeline in Part 3 of the book starts with her journey in navigating life in China during the rise of Mao Zedong and the establishment of a violent communist government. At that time, propaganda was heavily used by the Chinese government to depict the ideal Chinese citizenry, complete with bright blushing cheeks. Also in Part 3 are discussions between billionaires and scientists trying to use advancements in genomic research to create an ideal human being. In my mind, these both depict the promises of perfection made by propaganda. Both depict complete (and sometimes violent) overture of one system for another. Ultimately, these are nothing more than false promises. There is no such thing as a perfect system of government, especially when the new form of government requires the suffering and oppression of many for the benefit of the few. There is no such thing as a perfectly made human being, especially when human beings are inherently imperfect.
My overall rating for Rachel Khong’s Real Americans 5 out of 5 stars! Rachel Khong’s prose highlights themes relatable to many members of diaspora communities, those who struggle with imposter syndrome and feelings of inadequacy, and those who are “White passing” mixed-race minorities. The character arcs are intense and emotional. This story took a turn I absolutely did not expect! The strong overarching theme of “just because you could does not mean you should” resonated deeply with me. I highly recommend Real Americans to fans of multigenerational tales with fantastic plot twists.
Dångkulo' na' saina ma'åse'! Thank you so much for reading my review of Real Americans by Rachel Khong.
Rating Cheat Sheet
4.75 - 5.00 stars: Everyone should read this book! (If you’re into that sort of thing.)
4.00 - 4.50 stars: I appreciated many aspects of this book. I recommend it!
3.00 - 3.75 stars: I liked some aspects of this book. I won’t revisit it, but someone else might really like it.
2.00 - 2.75 stars: There were some things I appreciated about this book, but I do not recommend it.
0.25 - 1.75 stars: I do not recommend this book. I did not enjoy or appreciate the experience of it.
Post Date: 26 May 2025
Published: 30 April 2024
Publisher: Knopf
