by Jean Kwok
First published 2010
Kimberly Chang arrives in Brooklyn from Hong Kong with her mother, trading their former life for cramped quarters and grinding poverty. By day she navigates American high school, where her intelligence sets her apart from classmates who know nothing of her circumstances. Each evening she hurries to a Chinatown garment factory, where she and her mother sew piece work under fluorescent lights. Kimberly hides her factory job from teachers and her academic success from coworkers. She translates constantly between English and Chinese, between her American aspirations and family obligations. At the factory she falls for a boy who lacks her drive and prospects, complicating her careful balance between worlds. Her exceptional grades open doors to elite universities, but pursuing that path means potentially abandoning her mother and the community that sustains them. Kimberly must decide whether to embrace the American dream that her education makes possible or honor the duties that bind her to family and tradition.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, coming-of-age, asian-american, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Brooklyn, Chinatown, Hong Kong
Period: 21st-century
305 pages · Hardcover · Riverhead