Meet the Wangs, a wealthy but fractured Chinese immigrant family that had it all, only to lose every last cent--and about the road trip they take across America that binds them back together.
Charles Wang is mad at America. A brash, lovable immigrant businessman who built a cosmetics empire and made a fortune, he has just been ruined by the financial crisis. Now all Charles wants is to get his kids safely stowed away so that he can go to China and attempt to reclaim his family's ancestral lands--and his pride. Charles pulls Andrew, his aspiring comedian son, and Grace, his style-obsessed daughter, out of schools that he can no longer afford. Together with their stepmother, Barbra, they embark on a cross-country road trip from their foreclosed Bel-Air home to the upstate New York hideout of the eldest daughter, disgraced art world it-girl Saina.
But with his son waylaid by a temptress in New Orleans, his wife ready to defect for a set of 1,000-thread-count sheets, and an epic smash-up in North Carolina, Charles may have to choose between the old world and the new, between keeping his family intact and finally fulfilling his dream of starting anew in China.
Outrageously funny and full of charm, The Wangs vs. the World is an entirely fresh look at what it means to belong in America and how going from glorious riches to (still name-brand) rags brings one family together in a way money never could
This "fresh Little Miss Sunshine" (Vanity Fair) is an epic family saga and a new look at what it means to belong in America.
About the Author :
Jade Chang, a novelist, has covered arts and culture as a journalist and editor. She is the recipient of a Sundance Fellowship for Arts Journalism, the AIGA/Winterhouse Award for Design Criticism, and the James D. Houston Memorial scholarship from the Squaw Valley Community of Writers.
Nancy Wu has narrated audiobooks since 2004, winning three AudioFile Earphones Awards. A New York theater, television, and film actor, she has recorded in studios all over the world--from Italy to Switzerland to Thailand. Her credits include Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Hope & Faith, All My Children, Made for Each Other, and the Oscar-nominated film Frozen River.
Review :
"[A] fresh Little Miss Sunshine."
-- "Vanity Fair"
"A compassionate and bright-eyed novel."
-- "New York Times Book Review"
"Accomplished narrator Nancy Wu deftly handles all the wacky twists and turns."
-- "Library Journal (audio review)"
"Refreshingly breaks every unwritten rule of the Asian-American family saga, making for a blistering, high-energy read."
-- "Newsday"
"Richly entertaining."
-- "Guardian (London)"
"This wild novel will have you alternatively sitting on the edge of your seat and laughing out loud. Audiobook narrator veteran Nancy Wu performs The Wangs vs. the World in her characteristic skill and finesse."
-- "BookRiot"
"When the Wangs take the world, we all benefit."
-- "USA Today"
"With mischievous, Dickensian glee, Chang's prose...and go-for-broke style makes her fresh twist on the American immigrant saga of the woebegone Wangs one of 2016's must-reads...You will laugh your ass off while learning a thing or two."
-- "Elle magazine"
