Book Review: The Wangs vs. The World by Jade Chang

About:
The Wangs vs. The World by Jade Chang is a novel about a family road trip across the United States. This is Ms. Chang’s debut novel.

• 368 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (October 4, 2016)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0544734092

My rat­ing for The Wangs vs. The World— 4
Buy The Wangs vs. The World Amazon.com*

Thoughts:
The Wangs vs. The World by Jade Chang takes an entertaining and funny look at what it means to be an immigrant in the United States, children of immigrants and going broke in an instant. Throughout the novel, the Wangs travel in an old station wagon (having gotten their luxury cars repossessed) from California to New York.

Ms. Chang can certainly write a good story, the characters start out strange and unlikeable, but throughout the book at least two become engaging.  I, of course, could never relate to rich Asian immigrants, but still found the basic truths to be the same about every family.

It was amusing to read a pessimistic story which was also entreating. The end was not what I expected, but was fulfilling nonetheless.

Synopsis:
Charles Wang was a successful businessman who immigrated from China and made his fortune in the US. Suddenly everything came crushing and Mr. Wang lost his all his fortune, including personal assets, in one fell swoop.

Together with his now broke family, Charles travels from California to New York, to the only place they are welcomed, at his eldest daughter’s home.

Buy The Wangs vs. The World Amazon.com*

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer: I got this book for free
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account