{"title":"Rachel Khong","description":"Rachel Khong is the author of Goodbye, Vitamin, win­ner of the California Book Award for First Fiction. Real Americans, her second novel, was a New York Times best­seller. In 2018, Khong founded The Ruby, a work and event space for women and nonbinary writers and artists in San Francisco's Mission District. With friends, she teaches creative writing as The Dream Side. She lives in Los Angeles.","products":[{"product_id":"real-americans-a-read-with-jenna-pick-a-novel-paperback","title":"Real Americans: A Read with Jenna Pick: A Novel - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES \u003c\/i\u003eBESTSELLER - From the award-winning author of \u003ci\u003eGoodbye, Vitamin\u003c\/i\u003e How far would you go to shape your own destiny? An exhilarating novel of American identity that spans three generations in one family and asks: What makes us who we are? And how inevitable are our futures? \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Mesmerizing\"--Brit Bennett - \"A page turner.\"--Ha Jin - \"Gorgeous, heartfelt, soaring, philosophical and deft\"--Andrew Sean Greer - \"Traverses time with verve and feeling.\"--Raven Leilani \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eReal Americans \u003c\/i\u003ebegins on the precipice of Y2K in New York City, when twenty-two-year-old Lily Chen, an unpaid intern at a slick media company, meets Matthew. Matthew is everything Lily is not: easygoing and effortlessly attractive, a native East Coaster, and, most notably, heir to a vast pharmaceutical empire. Lily couldn't be more different: flat-broke, raised in Tampa, the only child of scientists who fled Mao's Cultural Revolution. Despite all this, Lily and Matthew fall in love. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 2021, fifteen-year-old Nick Chen has never felt like he belonged on the isolated Washington island where he lives with his single mother, Lily. He can't shake the sense she's hiding something. When Nick sets out to find his biological father, the journey threatens to raise more questions than it provides answers. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn immersive, moving prose, Rachel Khong weaves a profound tale of class and striving, race and visibility, and family and inheritance--a story of trust, forgiveness, and finally coming home. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eExuberant and explosive, \u003ci\u003eReal Americans\u003c\/i\u003e is a social novel par excellence that asks: Are we destined, or made? And if we are made, who gets to do the making? Can our genetic past be overcome?","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101130264799,"sku":"9780593685143","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/aG53aGOxLC9780593685143.webp?v=1781068317"},{"product_id":"my-dear-you-stories-paperback","title":"My Dear You: Stories - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the beloved author of \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestseller \u003ci\u003eReal Americans\u003c\/i\u003e, a brilliant short story collection about love, life, and the anguish of becoming oneself in a time when it's so easy to be someone else.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe characters in these pages find themselves facing extraordinary choices in scenarios that range from the everyday to the absurd: The U.S. government injects all citizens with a drug that makes them see everyone else as members of their own race and gender. God does away with humans in favor of something much better. A woman adopts a cat who conjures the ghosts of her ex-loves. The simple, mellowed memory of a sweet college crush. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThese stories go deep beneath the surface, touching on everything from the awkwardness of dating in your thirties to what it means to be an Asian woman in America--in fact, what it means to be American at all, and to be human. Along the way, the characters we meet must stop to consider interventions from the supernatural, the earthly, and the immortal. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePlayful, profane, and yet enveloped with profound compassion for this life we're living, these stories take on dating, marriage, childbearing age; intimacy, memory, race, and capitalism; living, dying, and being dead. But at their very core, they are tales of love in all its forms--what it means to be in love when you're not supposed to be, or not to be in love when you wish you were; to fail at dating apps or find yourself in weird-but-wonderful lifelong friendships; to struggle, even, in remembering your husband in heaven. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRanging from sinister to tender, witty, and without fail expertly paced, these stories will have you laughing out loud one minute and reaching out for your best friend the next.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101213200607,"sku":"9798217287840","price":31.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/YJslS-n0Kc9798217287840.webp?v=1781068481"},{"product_id":"my-dear-you-stories-hardcover","title":"My Dear You: Stories - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the author of \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestseller \u003ci\u003eReal Americans\u003c\/i\u003e, a brilliant short story collection about love, life, and the anguish of becoming oneself in a time when it's so easy to be someone else \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"I couldn't stop reading these sly, poignant, very funny stories about intimacy and friendship, work and death, longing and connection. Rachel Khong's writing is so agile and fluid and charming that it can sneak up on you and knock you out.\" --Charles Yu, author of \u003ci\u003eInterior Chinatown\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe characters in \u003ci\u003eMy Dear You\u003c\/i\u003e find themselves facing extraordinary choices in scenarios that range from the everyday to the absurd: The U.S. government injects all citizens with a drug that makes them see everyone else as members of their own race and gender. God does away with humans in favor of something much better. A woman adopts a cat who conjures the ghosts of her ex-loves. A factory worker decides to befriend a sex doll she is tasked with selling. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThese stories go deep beneath the surface, touching on the particular awkwardness of dating in your thirties and asking: What does it mean to be an Asian woman in America? Or an American? Or a human? Along the way, the characters stop to consider interventions from the supernatural, the earthly, the robotic, and the immortal. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePlayful, profane, and yet enveloped with profound compassion for life, however you define it, \u003ci\u003eMy Dear You\u003c\/i\u003e takes on dating, marriage, and the pressures of having or not having children; intimacy, memory, race, and capitalism; living, dying, and being dead. At their very core, they are tales of love in its many forms: being in love when you're not supposed to be, or not being in love but wishing you were; failing at dating apps or finding yourself in weird but wonderful lifelong friendships; struggling in heaven to remember your loved ones. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRanging from the sinister to the tender, these witty and expertly paced stories will have you laughing out loud one minute and reaching for your best friend the next.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101880520927,"sku":"9780593803691","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/FIrv-M34WG9780593803691.webp?v=1781075815"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/rachel-khong.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}