A review by siobhanward
Real Americans by Rachel Khong

emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

Like with Goodbye, Vitamin , I really wanted to like this book more than I did. The premise is great - I love a multigenerational family drama, and the mother/son dynamic is one that is rarely explored. However, it felt like Khong wasn't quite sure what she wanted to do in this book and that meant that it felt a bit muddled and that nothing got the time it deserved. We quickly jumped from Lily to Nick without resolving any of Lily's plot lines and then seemingly just as quickly, the book ends without Nick getting much of a resolution. And that's not even mentioning the pharmaceutical side plot that is actually crucial to the whole plot but winds up just being a few pages long. There were so many cool idea in this book, but it wound up being so many that none of them really panned out, unfortunately.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings