Real Americans
Rachel Khong tells this story in three parts across three generations. In 1999, Lily Chen, the broke daughter of scientists who fled the Cultural Revolution, falls for Matthew, the easygoing heir to a pharmaceutical fortune. Years later their son Nick, raised by his mother alone, uses a DNA test to track down the father he never knew. The final section belongs to Lily's mother May, a geneticist whose choices ripple through the whole family. Khong weaves their stories into a novel about class, race, inheritance, and how much of who we are is chosen for us. It asks what it means to be a real American, and who gets to decide.
Where Real Americans keeps showing up
One of our editors' lists features this novel.
What you might want to know about Real Americans
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A three-generation novel about a Chinese American family, moving from a 1999 romance to a son's search for his absent father to a grandmother's secrets in genetics.
Yes. Roxane Gay chose it as the May 2024 pick for The Audacious Book Club.
Real Americans was written by Rachel Khong, published in 2024 by Knopf.
Real Americans is 416 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Real Americans takes most readers 6 to 9 hours to finish.
Real Americans is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
