“Chai’s style, the sole element that holds these distinct works together, is unaffected. It’s as if the author is getting out of her own way, giving herself space to focus on the mechanics of one individual narrative at a time. Yet in each there’s a sense of many other narratives just off the page, the lives and back stories we aren’t seeing. Short stories are by definition brief, but they needn’t be small.”
–New York Times, November 16, 2018 by Rumaan Alam
“All of Chai’s characters are lost in some way, struggling with “unknowingness”; characters navigate new cities, new countries, a new life stage….Chai also writes about the children of immigrants, who grapple with their hyphenated identities….Immersive and complex, Chai’s characters confront questions about class, family, sexuality, love, longing and more. The sign of a strong collection is one where the stories work together to inform the reader, and Chai’s eight tales do just that.”
–Washington Post, October 23, 2018 “An Award-Winning Story Collection Shed Lights on the Immigrant Experience,” by Crystal Hana Kim.
“With her masterful short story collection, Chai proves with exquisite craftsmanship that less can be so much more. The eight stories making up this slim volume focus on characters trying to make sense of changing literal and metaphorical landscapes. In quiet moments of family drama, Chai shines a light on the deeper truths without needing to spell them out.”
–Booklist, Starred Review October 1, 2018 Useful Phrases for Immigrants, Review by Jennifer Rothschild
Quote: “Delving into fractured families, hoarded secrets, and the cultural and personal negotiations at the heart of the Asian American experience, May-lee Chai’s Useful Phrases for Immigrants is distinguished by writing as elegant and delicate as a snowflake….Chai writes with an unsparing yet sympathetic eye for her characters, and with a knack for memorable turns of phrase and observations. There’s plenty of heartbreak in Useful Phrases for Immigrants, but Chai’s writing brings a ray of sunshine. Devastating and graceful in equal turns, this collection confirms Chai’s place among the best Asian American writers of today.”
—Foreword Reviews, October, 2018 Useful Phrases for Immigrants, by Ho Lin
“May-lee Chai deals explicitly with classism in eight powerful stories. Following different realms and identities within the Chinese diaspora in America, this is an honest and charged read that acts as a form of resistance and pride, centering on universal themes of family and growth.”
—PEN America Center, “Diaspora and Migration: A Reading List,” April 5, 2019
Useful Phrases for Immigrants was named one of the “28 Best Books to Read This Fall“
—Elle Magazine.com September 11, 2018
Quote: “May-lee Chai’s collection of short stories, which cross China, the Chinese diaspora and, eventually, the larger world, cut deep into the evolution of families, of generational gaps and the ways in which we carry certain traditions on our backs and leave others behind….Chai thoughtfully depicts the loneliness of displacement, combining empathy and nuance to craft stories that are compassionate, illuminating, and sometimes brilliant.”
—Publishers Weekly, August 27, 2018, Fiction Book Review: Useful Phrases for Immigrants
Quote: “Longing characterizes the lives of Chinese and Chinese-American families in this solid short story collection….Chai’s confident writing and insights into characters wanting, but unable, to fit in – whether because of class, sexuality, ethnicity, or the everyday complications of human connection – make her a writer to remember.”
—Kirkus Review: Useful Phrases for Immigrants, July 31, 2018
Quote: “May-lee Chai’s collection of short stories, which cross China, the Chinese diaspora and, eventually, the larger world, cut deep into the evolution of families, of generational gaps and the ways in which we carry certain traditions on our backs and leave others behind.”
—Bustle, July 31, 2018, “11 Most Anticipared Indie Books for Fall,” by Maddy Foley
“The characters in Useful Phrases for Immigrants, a new story collection from American writer May-lee Chai, are in motion. Maybe they’re moving from urban China to rural China in search of better-paying work. Maybe they’ve moved from China to the United States for similar reasons. Or maybe they’ve already made it to America and are now moving from house to house or state to state. Whatever their situation, they’re all moving between cultures and ways of life, forging along the way new ways of being Chinese, American, or both. Thankfully, Chai doesn’t give us op-eds decorated with human fixtures. Instead, we get human lives in which migration is one shaping force jostling alongside many others, including puberty, sexuality, disease, and old age.”
—The National, November 17, 2018 “‘Useful Phrases for Immigrants’ is an impressive example of narrative control,” by Peter Baker.
ADVANCE PRAISE
The Millions: Most Anticipated: The Great Second Half of 2018 Book Preview
“There’s plenty of heartbreak in Useful Phrases for Immigrants, but Chai’s writing brings a ray of sunshine. Devastating and graceful in equal turns, this collection confirms Chai’s place among the best Asian American writers of today.” (read the full review HERE)
—FOREWORD
“A splendid gem of a story collection. With each well-honed story, we are brought into a world that first seems undeniably familiar – parents and their young children trying to forge their own way, lovers with matters unresolved, parents and their grown children saddled with decades of baggage . . . but each story evolves into a place not known and the reader comes away with admired wonder . . . And complementing the vivid characters, the reader has the gift of language – ‘a wind so treacherous it had its own name,’ ‘summer days stretched taffy slow.’ Chai’s work is a grand event.”
—Edward P. Jones,Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Known World, All Aunt Hagar’s Children, and Lost in the City
“With insight, compassion, and clarity, Chai vividly illustrates the reverberations of migration – both physical and psychological; between countries, cities, and generations;and within families and individuals. You won’t forget these characters.”
—Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers, finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction
“Useful Phrases for Immigrants holds multitudes, taking us into a dazzling range of lives. With exquisite prose and unforgettable characters, the collection is a must-read.”
—Vanessa Hua, author of A River of Stars
“The characters in this riveting collection ask searching questions – of themselves, of their families, and of their culture. The answers, they often find, are within themselves, rooted in love and hope.”
—Chantel Acevedo, author of A Falling Star, The Distant Marvels, and The Living Infinite.
