The Wangs vs The World by Jade Chang
“Charles Wang is mad at America.”
Actually he’s mad at 20th century history – if the Japanese hadn’t invaded China and if he hadn’t ended up fleeing to Taiwan which led him to flee to America as a poor man, where he made his fortune in the footsteps of so many immigrants with a rags to riches story, he would be the master of his ancestral land in China.
But now he has become a riches to rags story in an America that “used to love Charles Wang” another casualty of the great recession of 2008, his cosmetics empire in tatters and every single symbol of his wealth, success and stature gone.
There is something about an economic downfall that lends itself to great storytelling. The Grapes of Wrath is still a classic but more recently, the financial crisis of 2008 has spawned a strong range of art and literature. From non-fiction books like The Big Short, that was turned into an Oscar nominated movie, to documentaries like Inside Job and The Giant Pool of Money to a slew of fiction books including Other People’s Money, Capital, The Darlings, there’s something for everyone to try and explain a crisis that to many is unexplainable.
So how about a novel that takes on the repercussions of the financial crisis that is also a great immigrant story AND a very funny road trip novel? Now that’s a tall order but one that Jade Chang executes superbly in her debut novel The Wangs vs the World.
Charles Wang is the poster child for the immigrant success story in America, arriving from Taiwan and turning his father’s urea supply business into a multi-million dollar cosmetics company. But now everything is gone, following some bad choices by him, and the general collapse of the financial world around him.
He has no choice but to give up his Bel-Air mansion, and all his material possessions. He and his second wife Barbra hit the road in a 30-year old powder blue Mercedes (pried back from their elderly babysitter). On the way they pick up his kids, high school daughter and lifestyle blogger Grace, and stand-up comic wannabe and college aged son Andrew, from schools he can no longer afford. The aim, to drive cross country to take refuge with the oldest daughter Saina, once a fashionable New York City artist who has retreated to the Catskills after a fall from grace in the fickle New York art world, who still has some money (she thinks).
Chang has written a wonderfully crafted story about hubris, family, legacy and what can hold us together in the face of adversity. The Wangs are at once a Chinese family, but also quintessentially American. With a deft touch and a number of cleverly rendered set pieces she manages to skewer amongst others, the wealthiest of the wealthy, the hypocrisy and capriciousness of the New York art world, the oh so earnest efforts of city dwellers heading to the country in search of authenticity and the cruelty of the world of stand-up comedy. But she also manages to realistically convey the enduring bond of siblings when times are tough, and refuses to resort to a clichèd immigrant story. Charles Wang is just too big a character to stuff into a regular sized story. And his family is spunky, funny, independent and great company.
I recently spoke with her about the book. Here (lightly edited for clarity and length) are some of her thoughts.
On the fact that it is a book about a family that lost everything but you don’t feel like it is a book about suffering:
I think, obviously they are upset about it… Charles especially is definitely, you know really feels like he has failed himself and his children and the Wangs in general. I think that he definitely feels that way… for me it’s not that they’re not sad, it’s that those aren’t the parts I chose to focus on. You know I feel like how much does anyone want to hear about like a rich family whining about their lack of wealth?
On who the Wangs are and how they see themselves, led by Charles.
I wanted to write something that was very much a rebellion against our idea of the traditional immigrant novel. And I wanted to write characters that were wholly unapologetic about themselves and their desires.
On the Wang children, all of them artistic – Saina the modern artist, Andrew the wannabe standup comic and Grace the fashion blogger.
Several people ask me like, man isn’t it hard, occasionally the questions have been about myself, you know wondering if my parents were upset about me wanting to become a writer and you know, the questions have also been about how Charles felt about the kids becoming artists, isn’t that hard for him as a Chinese father? But look I feel like, are there…a smaller percentage of parents who are happy with their kids becoming artists than not artists, yes, of course, because what a parent wants for a child is happiness and stability and that is like, not easy in the arts as we well know.
But I think that like there are just as many parents of every culture that do not want their children to become artists. I’ve seen all kinds of parents you know, I’ve totally seen Asian parents who are extremely encouraging of their children’s artistic ambitions or of their sports playing or you know, I think it really runs the gamut. But I think for some reason, I think it’s not hard to see what the reasons are but I think that in America the wider culture likes to kind of hear this one story of like, all Asian parents want is for their kids to becomes doctors and lawyers, but that’s simply not true. And then it’s also true that many white parents want their kids to become doctors and lawyers.
On their relatability and whether they should be viewed as a Chinese family or a regular family?
I’m never interested in being like oh no this is just a normal family. I feel like that terminology to be ridiculous, because who is a normal family? But at the same time they are 100% at all times a Chinese family and yet I hope that also they are at all times relatable and recognizable as well, I think those two things can exist simultaneously
On using Chinese without translation in the book.
I wanted to create this world where readers could really feel like they were in the car with the Wangs, you know, where you’re really like, you’re along for the journey and in this world, like when friends came over to my house for example, my parents and I would still speak some Chinese to each other, it’s not like every word gets translated for every person… and I’ve been to friends’ houses where it’s that exact same thing. Like, I heard plenty of Farsi growing up, I heard plenty of Spanish growing up. To me it’s a very common part of life in a first or second generation family. And I wanted to faithfully render that. But you know, every single thing in the Chinese is available in the English, it just isn’t directly, I don’t have a direct translation but there’s no information there that isn’t also there in context.
Jade Chang has written a book that is both particular and universal. It is about this Chinese-American family, the Wangs, and their wildly hilarious adventure to find themselves. But it is also about every familial relationship you can imagine. By the end of the book you are glad that you have taken the time to go along for their ride.
BEFORE YOU READ:
Length: 351 pages
Genre: Fiction; Comedy; Road Trip
Themes: family; siblings; money; relationships
Commitment: A book that sucks you in from the first page and by the end you are glad it did.
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