Real Americans: A Read with Jenna Pick: A novel

All it takes is to say “yes” and to seize the moment before your life could change. That’s what happened to Lily, an unpaid intern when she met Matthew, a very handsome asset manager. He can gift her a TV, fly her off to Paris, and still make her feel loved but not seen. While the adage, “opposites attract,” sometimes you have to face the fact that you need to have the same ideologies and be comfortable with yourselves. I know that sounded as if it came out of nowhere but Lily has a hard time with herself and how her parents, particularly her mom is.

To every story, there are two sides of the story. Sometimes what we think is the truth, we don’t always know what the other person’s point of view is and why they did or say the things they say or don’t. Told in a 3 person point of view.

We become immersed in the lives of Lily in 1999, time jump to 2021 where we hear Nick Chen’s side of things, and conclude in the year, 2030, where we understand May’s ideology and what made her the way she is. We hear about her determination to think she can become more and what she is willing to give up. We read about her hardship in China during the Cultural Revolution and how she married the wrong man but still stayed with him.

The common denominator is how they all deal with being unseen, each dealing with trauma, racism, love, and forgiveness.

I enjoyed the characters and wished it would go deeper as with each person’s concluding chapter, I wanted more. There are still so many unanswered questions and the ending is open to interpretation. Will they or won’t they? For those who read it, you will understand this query.

Triggers: racism, social class, family drama, trauma, visibility, and Mao’s Cultural Revolution.

I enjoyed the writing. I was not fond of how it was laid out. The storyline didn’t flow well for me.

5/5 stars, ooof, so good. This book is written in three sections covering three generations of the same family. I did not want the sections to end. It all comes together so beautifully in the end too. I would have liked to read another 200 pages of this one.

What I liked: A page turning family saga spanning 3 generations. The final 1/3 of the book, focusing on Mei’s life in China during the Cultural Revolution was most interesting. What I disliked: The author never explained why there was the sci-fi notion of time uncontrollably stopping for Lily and Nick. What was the point of repeatedly having this happen?

I had alot of hope for this book and enjoyed the way the first two parts took me as they left me on a cliffs edge. It was the third part that every thing fell apart and what should have been the build up for answers or meanings to priveldge, identity crisis and search for the cultures to come together actually fell apart. I binged the end only to be disappointed as it felt chaotic and disorganized. I liked the history of the communist China beginning in the flashback but none of it tied together beautifully into the whole thing.