A Memoir.
When she was five years old, M Elaine Mar and her mother emigrated from Hong Kong to Denver to join her father in a community more Chinese than American, more hungry than hopeful.
While working with her family in the kitchen of a Chinese restaurant and living in the basement of her aunt's house, Elaine quickly masters English and begins to excel at school. But as her home and her school life - Chinese tradition and American independence - become two increasingly disparate worlds, Elaine tries desperately to navigate between them.
Adolescence and the awakening of her sexuality leave Elaine isolated and confused. She yearns for store-bought clothes and the acceptance of her American peers.
From surviving racial harassment in the schoolyard to trying to flip her hair like Farrah Fawcett, from hiding her parents' heritage to arriving alone at Harvard University, Elaine's story is at once an unforgettable personal journey and an unflinching, brutal look at the realities of the American Dream.
