Beautiful Country
What can anyone say about truly great art — that is, about masterpieces in general?
I think that every great work of art leaves you with the sense that its creator has somehow distilled a vast, complex subject into a simple-yet-profound truth that cannot be expressed in ordinary language.
I may be biased, but that is how I feel about managing partner Qian Julie Wang’s debut memoir, Beautiful Country, which was just released on September 7th. From the book jacket:
In China, Qian’s parents were professors; in America, her family is “illegal” and it will require all the determination and small joys they can muster to survive.
In this penetrating masterwork named for the literal translation of Mei Guo, the Chinese term for America, Qian Julie explores her childhood as an “illegal” immigrant in New York City, affording us a compassionate glimpse into the challenges of building a life and maintaining a family without social support or government sanction. Following the Wang family, we come to appreciate the ways that undocumented families are forced to leave wounds — physical and emotional — untreated; to see lifelong careers go dormant; and to painstakingly earn their daily bread through long hours in oppressive conditions.
Qian Julie’s writing style has been described as “sparse, confident, humorous, and affectionate.” I consistently found myself astonished at her prose, which deftly transmutes a heart-wrenching story into an absorbing and thoroughly entertaining page-turner. I am not alone; reviewers consistently comment that Beautiful Country is simply impossible to put down. Small surprise, then, that Beautiful Country has been selected by Book Of The Month, Read With Jenna, and the New York Times’ Group Text.
With this memoir, Qian Julie Wang has fired a flare into a dark night’s sky. The message is one that we constantly remind our clients: You are not alone. Whatever challenges you or your child faces, and no matter how different we may appear from one another, we have all experienced the pain and elation of childhood.
Marc Gottlieb
Partner
195 Montague Street
14th Floor
Brooklyn Heights, NY, 11201
Marc@GottliebFirm.com
(646) 820-8506