the wangs vs. the world by Jade chang

 
The Wangs vs. The World by Jade Chang
351 pages
 
What’s it about?
It is 2008 and Charles Wang, an immigrant from China, loses his vast fortune in the economic meltdown.  He gathers his wife and starts to drive across the country- gathering his children as he goes.   His goal is to get them all together and then go claim his ancestral lands in China.  This is part road trip story, part an economic crisis story, and part an immigrant story.  One thing is for certain- Charles Wang makes for an interesting story!
 
What did I think?
I thoroughly enjoyed this romp through America with the Wang family.  They were a hoot!
 
Should you read it?
This story was fun, interesting, and the author had a point of view. I recommend it!
 
Quote-
“All across the country, one by one, foreclosed house by shuttered business, in cold bedroom and empty boardrooms, and cars turned into homes, people had the same thoughts. 
                  I couldn’t rescue myself.
                  I will never win.
                  My failure will always be epic and my sorrow will always be great.
                  I alone among all people am most uniquely cursed.
In the intervening weeks, as they slowly began to poke their heads out of their private failures, each would come to find that the curse was, in fact, not theirs alone.  Instead, it was spread across the country: a club, a collective, a movement, a great populist uprising of failure in the face of years of shared national success.”
 
If you like this try-
The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild
Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Ahmid
The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson

​9 stars