Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive show news, updates, and more!
Jenna Bush Hager Drops Her May 2024 Book Club Pick: "The Precipice of Y2K in NYC"
"You will love this book," the TODAY host said.
Jenna Bush Hager's May 2024 pick for her book club, Read With Jenna, has been officially revealed!
Hager's latest selection is Real Americans by Rachel Khong. Read all about the moving novel, below.
Jenna Bush Hager's May 2024 book club pick, Real Americans by Rachel Khong
On April 30, the TODAY host explained the intricate plotline of Real Americans on her Instagram page.
"Our story begins at the precipice of Y2K in New York City. We meet our protagonist, Lily, a daughter of Chinese immigrants, who is beginning to fall in love... But this epic novel spans time and place, and before we know it, we jump ahead a few decades and also follow Lily’s son, Nick, as he embarks on a journey to find his biological father," she said.
Hager continued, "This book follows multiple generations of the Chen family (whose characters you won’t get enough of!) and the many places the years take them — from Beijing to New York City, to a small town in the Pacific Northwest, and San Francisco. It’s a story of family, what we carry, what we pass down, secrets and how they can divide us and bring us back together again.
RELATED: All 66 Books in Jenna Bush Hager’s Book Club, Read With Jenna
Khong’s deeply moving novel explores themes of class, race, and the complexities of family dynamics, ultimately asking the question: What makes us who we are? And how inevitable are our futures? Real Americans is out TODAY, and I know you’ll love it just as much as I do! Head to your local indie bookstore or order online now!" she captioned the post.
RELATED: How Jenna Bush Hager's April Book Club Pick Is a "Captivating" Twist on Modern Dating
Hager also spoke to TODAY.com about what drew her to the novel. "It spans time and place, so that really, it’s a story of family and what we carry, what we pass down, secrets, and how they can divide us, and then bring us back together again. You will love, love, love this book.”
Khong herself also discussed her creative process behind writing Real Americans.
“(The book) asks a lot of questions and I think one of the main questions is, ‘How do we become who we become? It starts out as maybe a historical novel and then it’s maybe a romance, and then it’s something else — it sort of shapeshifts in terms of genre,” she said.
She continued: “I never want to do the same thing twice. And so with this book, I was really interested in not just writing from one perspective, but writing from multiple perspectives and also writing about how different characters’ lives intersect.”
