Useful Phrases For Immigrants Stories Maylee Chai by May-lee Chai 9780932112767, 9781949467093, 0932112765, 1949467090 instant download after payment.

In the title story of this timely & innovative collection, a young woman wearing a Prada coat attempts to redeem a coupon for plastic storage bins while her in-laws are at home watching the Chinese news & taking her private phone calls. It is the lively and wise juxtaposition of cultures, generations, & emotions that characterize May-lee Chai’s amazing stories. Within them, readers will find a complex blend of cultures spanning China, the Chinese diaspora in America, & finally, the world at large.

With luminous prose & sharp-eyed observations, Chai reveals her characters’ hopes & fears, & our own: a grieving historian seeking solace from an old lover in Beijing, a young girl discovering her immigrant mother's infidelity, workers constructing a shopping mall in central China who make a shocking discovery. Families struggle with long-held grudges, reinvent traditions, & make mysterious visits to shadowy strangers from their past―all rendered with economy & beauty.

With hearts that break & sometimes mend, with families who fight & sometimes forgive, the timely stories in Useful Phrases for Immigrants illuminate complicated lives with empathy and passion. Chai's stories are essential reading for an increasingly globalized world.