{"id":49046,"date":"2022-02-08T11:12:08","date_gmt":"2022-02-08T16:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/?p=49046"},"modified":"2022-02-04T11:20:18","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T16:20:18","slug":"thank-you-mr-nixon-by-gish-jen-in-shelf-awareness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/thank-you-mr-nixon-by-gish-jen-in-shelf-awareness\/","title":{"rendered":"Thank You, Mr. Nixon by Gish Jen [in Shelf Awareness]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"*STARRED REVIEW<\/strong>
\nIn\u00a0Thank You, Mr. Nixon<\/em>, her second irresistible collection of short fiction, Gish Jen (The Resisters<\/em>) showcases 11 intricately linked stories spanning the East and West over a half-century. The titular opening story is a letter recalling the U.S. president’s 1972 visit to China that brilliantly illuminates and skewers Chinese-U.S. relations. Written by a Chinese woman in heaven, the letter’s address alone (“Ninth Ring Road,” referencing Dante’s\u00a0Inferno<\/em>) hints at Nixon’s banishment. The chilling final story, “Detective Dog,” chronicles a Chinese American family’s trajectory from Hong Kong to Vancouver to New Jersey against the backdrop of spreading anti-Asian hate and swelling political unrest during the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Throughout the exquisite stories in between, Jen ushers readers through peripatetic, overlapping generations. “It’s the Great Wall!” centers on Opal, who returns to China with her daughter and son-in-law after 40 years and becomes the tour group’s de facto translator. Amaryllis, Opal’s granddaughter, reappears as a 40-year-old in a story named after her, in which she forms a poignant bond with the neglected grandfather of her friend Tara. Tara’s father is “Duncan in China,” whose search for his heritage lands him in a coal-mining institute as an English instructor. His overachieving brother becomes briefly involved with “Lulu in Exile,” the youngest Koo daughter, and Lulu’s oldest sister disappears in “Gratitude.” Their wealthy parents consider counterfeit canvases in “Rothko, Rothko,” enabled by literature instructor Rich Lee, who, ironically, will lose a student to plagiarism.<\/p>\n

Jen showcases her enviable storytelling prowess by masterfully intertwining the Chen\/de Castro, Hsu, Koo, Lee\/Li clans and blending subtlety with slap-in-the-face honesty.<\/p>\n

Discover<\/strong>: Gish Jen presents 11 brilliantly interlinked stories spanning countries, cultures, and generations over five decades, from China’s 1972 opening to the West to the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Review<\/strong>: “Fiction,” Shelf Awareness<\/em>, February 4, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n

Readers:<\/strong> Adult<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

*STARRED REVIEW In\u00a0Thank You, Mr. Nixon, her second irresistible collection of short fiction, Gish Jen (The Resisters) showcases 11 intricately linked stories spanning the East and West over a half-century. The titular opening story is a letter recalling the U.S. president’s 1972 visit to China…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,21,6,6535,7],"tags":[89,6608,59,10,11,2114,24,51,25,13,129,39,29,6872,44,10131],"class_list":["post-49046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-chinese-american","category-fiction","category-repost","category-short-stories","tag-anthology-collection","tag-bookdragon","tag-cultural-exploration","tag-family","tag-friendship","tag-gish-jen","tag-historical","tag-identity","tag-immigration","tag-love","tag-mother-daughter-relationship","tag-parent-child-relationship","tag-race-racism","tag-shelf-awareness","tag-siblings","tag-thank-you-mr-nixon"],"yoast_head":"\nThank You, Mr. Nixon by Gish Jen [in Shelf Awareness] - BookDragon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/thank-you-mr-nixon-by-gish-jen-in-shelf-awareness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thank You, Mr. Nixon by Gish Jen [in Shelf Awareness] - BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"*STARRED REVIEW In\u00a0Thank You, Mr. Nixon, her second irresistible collection of short fiction, Gish Jen (The Resisters) showcases 11 intricately linked stories spanning the East and West over a half-century. 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