Beautiful Country
A Memoir of an Undocumented Childhood
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Beautiful Country
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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...
What listeners say about Beautiful Country
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Daria
- 20-11-23
A heartfelt and eye opening story
This book was truly wonderful, I would highly recommend this to anyone as it is very humbling and beautifully written.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mrs EI Sutcliffe
- 17-01-23
Beautiful book
One of the best books I’ve ever read. Incredible prose. I was really gripped throughout.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- CV
- 05-02-22
Loved it with every fibre of my body!
A re-read for a buddy read session with a friend.
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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.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 05-07-22
beautiful written, heart wrenching
loved it. loved the mandarin sprinkled into the reading. heart goes out to this little girl and hope that she is healing now ❤️
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- ania
- 07-11-21
Moderately involving
I found this book moderately involving although a bit pretensious. it feels as if she is trying to hard to write poeticallly.
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1 person found this helpful