"A triumph of humor and sorrow"- Oprah Magazine
ABOUT THE BOOK
Beginning with a cheery letter penned by a Chinese girl in heaven to “poor Mr. Nixon” in hell, Gish Jen embarks on a fictional journey through 50 years of U.S.-China relations, capturing the excitement of a world on the brink of tectonic change.
With their profound compassion and equally profound humor, these eleven linked stories trace the intimate ways in which humans make and are made by history, capturing an extraordinary era in an extraordinary way.
PRAISE
“Be prepared to be awed and enthralled by one of our best writers!” —Yiyun Li
“It is hard to do justice to this wonderful collection of intricately linked stories.” —Ha Jin
“I loved Thank You, Mr. Nixon so much that I find myself wishing for two things. One, that I could have the space in a review to praise it to the skies and back again. Two, that I could meet Gish Jen and talk to her into the wee hours about how she accomplished such a fantastic work. I’ve read a lot of novels that take place in China. Never before have I seen the China of the last fifty years captured so well. . . I’m overflowing with admiration.” —Lisa See
“On the surface her storytelling seems simple and direct, but the closer you look the more layered and complex it becomes. Jen invites her readers to consider profound questions about history, ancestry and identity.” - Claire Oshetsky, New York Times
““My kingdom for a writer as savvy, empathic, and hilarious as Gish Jen. . .[Her] moral authority is essential, leading us forward as we plunge deeper in a darkening century. “ - Hamilton Cain, Oprah Daily
"A jewel box of creativity and a joy to uncover. . . .Surely everyone — us and them, whoever they are — would benefit if together we read what Jen has to say." - Cory Oldweiler, Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Brilliant… one of the best books of Jen's remarkable career…The collection ends with a heartbreaker of a story, ‘Detective Dog.’ Emotional but measured, it's as close to flawless as a story can be… [and] could well be one of the first great short stories of the COVID-19 pandemic.” - Michael Schaub, NPR
“An authorial tour-de-force. “- Kate Tuttle, Boston Globe
“Gish Jen’s masterly short stories are as inimitable for their voice as they are for their substance. They speak, with brio and canny wit, via the familiar colloquial of dialogue; yet stirring below this brightness are the dark currents of Chinese history under the thumb of tyranny. If this suggests anything like political or polemical fiction, it is overridingly something else: Gish Jen’s ironical and feelingful and remarkable art. Or call it an art beyond art. It is life itself.” —Cynthia Ozick
A genealogy done by a reader