Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
What does it mean to belong — to a family, to a country, to a history that doesn’t stay in its lane?
In 'Real Americans', Rachel Khong follows a Chinese-American family across eight decades, tracing how inheritance works in the widest sense: the stories we’re told, the choices we make, and the circumstances we don’t choose at all. Moving from Maoist China to contemporary America, the novel asks how identity is formed over time—and how the past, quietly but insistently, shapes the lives we think we’re freely building.
At the center of the book is a young woman whose relationship with a wealthy heir sets off consequences that echo across generations and continents. Part love story, part social novel, and touched by a speculative edge, Real Americans explores class, migration, and the lure of reinvention while probing the unsettling question of what, exactly, gets passed down: family traits, family myths, and even the futures we imagine we deserve.
Recorded at the OBA, Amsterdam on 21 May, 2026. Moderator: Els Quaegebeur
What does it mean to belong — to a family, to a country, to a history that doesn’t stay in its lane?
In 'Real Americans', Rachel Khong follows a Chinese-American family across eight decades, tracing how inheritance works in the widest sense: the stories we’re told, the choices we make, and the circumstances we don’t choose at all. Moving from Maoist China to contemporary America, the novel asks how identity is formed over time—and how the past, quietly but insistently, shapes the lives we think we’re freely building.
At the center of the book is a young woman whose relationship with a wealthy heir sets off consequences that echo across generations and continents. Part love story, part social novel, and touched by a speculative edge, Real Americans explores class, migration, and the lure of reinvention while probing the unsettling question of what, exactly, gets passed down: family traits, family myths, and even the futures we imagine we deserve.
Recorded at the OBA, Amsterdam on 21 May, 2026. Moderator: Els Quaegebeur
