A Novel
by Susie Luo
Readers' rating:
Publishes
May 2, 2023
288 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
An unexpected act of violence brings together a Chinese-American family and a wealthy white lawyer in this propulsive and sweeping story of family, identity and the American experience—for fans of Jean Kwok, Mary Beth Keane and Naima Coster.
Set in New York and China over three decades, Paper Names explores what it means to be American from three different perspectives. There's Tony, a Chinese-born engineer turned Manhattan doorman, who immigrated to the United States to give his family a better life. His daughter, Tammy, who we meet at age nine and follow through adulthood, grapples with the expectations of a first generation American and her own personal desires. Finally, there's Oliver, a handsome white lawyer with a dark family secret and who lives in the building where Tony works. A violent attack causes their lives to intertwine in ways that will change them forever.
Taut, panoramic and powerful, debut novelist Susie Luo's Paper Names is an unforgettable story about the long shadows of our parents, the ripple effect of our decisions and the ways in which our love transcends difference.
"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
This information about Paper Names was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Susie Luo is a writer based in New York. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell Law School. She wrote at night while working as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. Paper Names is her first book.
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