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Content snapshot
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Violence
Barely any
Minimal violence; poverty and the hardship of immigrant life are the novel's 'danger'
Language
Barely any
Mild language
Sexual Content
Barely any
Mild romantic content in the latter half
Substance Use
None
No substance use
Emotional Intensity
Some
The psychological weight of living between two worlds — neither fully American nor fully Chinese — and the cost of that doubleness on identity is the novel's sustained emotional subject
What this book is about
Jean Kwok's semi-autobiographical novel follows Kimberly Chang, who immigrates from Hong Kong with her mother and discovers their American dream is a cold apartment, a garment factory sweatshop, and the gap between who she is at school and who she is everywhere else. Kwok writes with warmth and precision; the immigrant experience is rendered with specificity rather than sentimentality. The novel's primary register is determination and love; the hardship is real but the emotional tone is affirming.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
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