Paper Names is a sharp and honest look at family, immigration, and all that we trade away to find ourselves—but it is also a literary page-turner that is as unsettling as it is full of grace. Susie Luo’s debut is unblinking, nimble, and written with the kind of clarity one expects from a seasoned author. The word stunning is not hyperbole here.”—Brian Castleberry, award-winning author of Nine Shiny Objects
"Paper Names is one of the most compelling evocations of the American dream I’ve ever read, an unwaveringly honest accounting of the costs of achieving that dream. Here you’re in the hands of a supremely gifted storyteller who’s unwinding a tale that is by turns tragic and redemptive, and always engrossing. I found the book impossible to put down, as much for its propulsive narrative as for its carefully observed portrait of the imperfect nature of love, and the fraught, untamable state of being human."—Jack Livings, award-winning author of The Blizzard Party
"Paper Names has the rare one-two punch of plot twists and sharp, absorbing prose. Luo portrays the ache of the impossible distance between parents and children, the inevitable corruption caused by wealth and privilege, the hopes, fears, and ambitions of a father navigating life in a new country, and the life-defining decisions of woman balancing her own success with sudden tragedy and long-buried truth, all while infusing each scene with a sense of deep love and longing."—Katie Runde, author of The Shore
"Empathetic, propulsive, and timely, Luo's confident plotting shines in this story of three Americans attempting to redefine themselves in a changing country as their pasts and futures collide. A magnificent debut."—J. Ryan Stradal, New York Times bestselling author of Kitchens of the Great Midwest "A stunningly accomplished debut about two very different families, the struggling Zhangs and the wealthy powerful Wrights, both on a collision course with the American Dream and with one another, passing down their legacies and secrets through the generations. Luo has crafted an absolutely gorgeous novel about the ripples of parental expectations, the force of memory, and the fierceness of love. So alive and real, you don’t merely read this wondrous novel as much as you get to live it."—Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of With or Without You
“With a keen eye for detail, a strong sense of pacing, and a deep understanding of human nature, Susie Luo crafts a moving portrait of two families whose fates intertwine. Deftly moving back and forth in time, she explores race, class, assimilation, loyalty, betrayal and ambition. Paper Names is a sensitive and timely novel.”—Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Orphan Train
"This book will forever change the way readers think about the American Dream. I could not put it down, and I thought about it for weeks after finishing it. Immigrants will see themselves reflected all too well in these searing pages of hope and heartache. Susie Luo's Paper Names is an unforgettable book from a rare talent."—Qian Julie Wang, New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Country "Susie Luo's spectacular debut Paper Names is the story of the Zhang family, Chinese immigrants struggling to achieve the American dream and the Wright family, gluttons of privilege intent to bury their scandalous past. Explosive and riveting, the story whipstitches in and out of time like a golden needle. When 9-year-old Tianfei becomes Tammy, she becomes a character in her new American life in a world she cannot control. Twenty years on, identity, love, ambition and grief become the threads of Tammy's story as she discovers who she is on her own terms. Brilliant."—Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Left Undone
2023-03-14
An ambitious debut novel that follows a Chinese immigrant, his daughter, and a White lawyer over three decades.
Tony Zhang is a quick-tempered engineer from Dalian who uproots his life in China and moves with his wife and daughter to New York in search of a better future. He finds work as a handyman at The Rosewood, a fancy apartment building, where Oliver, a handsome lawyer at a white-shoe firm with a dark family history, resides. The novel opens in 1997, when a violent incident brings Oliver into the lives of the Zhangs. Told in alternating perspectives—those of Tony; his daughter, Tammy; and Oliver—the novel reprises staple themes of Asian American fiction: generational differences, anti-Asian racism, the dogged pursuit of the American dream, and the challenges of dating across racial lines. As the novel progresses, Tony lands a job at an engineering firm and moves up its ranks, Tammy grows up to become a Harvard-educated, headstrong young lawyer, and Oliver becomes the youngest partner at his firm. The prose is at times bogged down with exposition; lengthy internal dialogue often unnecessarily supplements direct speech. The characters also verge on caricatures (that an attractive White lawyer from a wealthy background is conceited and cowardly is surely no surprise to anyone, nor is the trope of him being changed by his acquaintance with a young woman from a working-class family). But the plot is propulsive, prompting the reader to keep turning the pages, and the novel as a whole is undeniably enjoyable.
An entertaining and touching debut from a new voice in Chinese American literature.
Austin Ku's narration underscores the dramatic plot of this unique immigrant story. Ku builds tension as the lives of several Americans unfold and collide. Tony, an indefatigable engineer from China, becomes a doorman in New York City to give his family better opportunities. Tammy, his determined daughter, feels the pressure to succeed as a first-generation American. Oliver, a white lawyer, struggles to hide a secret that could destroy his life. Although Ku's character voices can be overly languid for some of the secondary characters, he effectively delivers the emotional impact of their words. Ku's authentic Mandarin accent also adds an international flair to this intriguing saga of fate, coincidence, and the tenuousness of our lives. M.F. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Austin Ku's narration underscores the dramatic plot of this unique immigrant story. Ku builds tension as the lives of several Americans unfold and collide. Tony, an indefatigable engineer from China, becomes a doorman in New York City to give his family better opportunities. Tammy, his determined daughter, feels the pressure to succeed as a first-generation American. Oliver, a white lawyer, struggles to hide a secret that could destroy his life. Although Ku's character voices can be overly languid for some of the secondary characters, he effectively delivers the emotional impact of their words. Ku's authentic Mandarin accent also adds an international flair to this intriguing saga of fate, coincidence, and the tenuousness of our lives. M.F. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
