Mona in the Promised Land

Important note: Read Jen's first novel FIRST, and then the end of Mona won't seem too slapdash and tacked-on, too easy. You really need the context of the first novel to get the full impact of that one. That said, the characters are great individuals, individually lovable and frustrating and exasperating-- in other words, they're people. And they're teenagers in the 1960s, with racial tension stretching from China and Japan's... Read Full Review

Other critics in this space have commented on the more serious aspects of this novel as an immigrant novel; if you want an immigrant novel, I suggest Jen's prior work, "Typical American," a book about Mona's family one generation before. If, on the other hand, you're interested in the new American bildungsroman, you're in the right place. I picked up this book in a traditional bookstore and opened to a chapter following... Read Full Review

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. There was a laugh on every page, and bizarre situations, some that I related and some that I marvelled at at put myself in. I thought a lot about the mulicultural issues prestented and was fascinated by every chapter, especially not growing up in the 70's era. Read this book.

Jen's "Mona" was a delightful read. I was laughing out loud, and at the same time was left seriously thinking about the ability of Americans to define ourselves. She engages the split between our personal and public selves as well as conflicts between parents and children around issues of identity... and she does all of this within the context of a fun-spirited tale.

That is a question which Mona asks and re-asks herself. She dons different identities, in the same manner as if she were trying on new shades of lipstick. She's Chinese, American, Jewish, virgin, non-virgin, rich, poor, smart, and so on. Each identity is worn on her lips, on herself, until it rubs off. But similar to worn-off lipstick, she can still feel it on her. Layers and layers of identity, garbling her fundamental... Read Full Review