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A Memoir in Nine Adventures
by Connie Wang
A dazzling mother-daughter adventure around the world in pursuit of self-discovery, a family reckoning, and Asian American defiance.
In Chinese, the closest expression to oh my god is wo de ma ya. It's an interjection, a polite expletive, something to say when you're out of words. Translated literally, it means oh my mother—the instinctual first person you think of when you're on the cusp of losing it, or putting it all together.
In each essay of this hilarious, heartfelt, and pitch-perfectly honest memoir, journalist Connie Wang explores her complicated relationship to her stubborn and charismatic mother, Qing Li, through the "oh my god" moments in their travels together. From attending a Magic Mike strip show in Vegas to experimenting with edibles in Amsterdam to flip-flopping through Versailles, this iconic mother-daughter duo venture into the world to find their place in it, and sometimes rail against it—as well as against each other.
There are hijinks, capers, and adventures. There is also tenderness, growth, and discovery. In telling these stories about the places they've gone and the things they've done, Wang reveals another story: the true story of two women who finally learned that once we are comfortable with the feeling of not belonging—once we can reject the need to belong to any place, community, census, designation, or nation—we can experience something almost like freedom.
"This charming joint memoir ... is by turns hilarious and touching, and defined by Wang's loving refusal to take her mother, and anything about her, for granted." —Booklist (starred review)
"An empathetic, nuanced study ... Wang drives to the heart of how a daughter comes to know her mother as someone with a life beyond motherhood... . A creative and entertaining shared memoir of identity, place, and [Wang and her mother's] indelible connection to each other." —Kirkus Reviews
"Oh My Mother! is pure joy... . Alongside the funny stories about [Wang's mother] Qing are Wang's sharp cultural observations... . the book [is] as unique and charming as its mother-daughter pair." —The Washington Post
This information about Oh My Mother! was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Connie Wang is a journalist, writer, and editor. Previously she led Refinery29's editorial team as executive editor, where she explored how race and status inform our culture and politics. She has won three Front Page Awards and has written for outlets including the New York Times. A graduate of UC Berkeley, she was born in Jinan, China, raised in Minnesota, and lives in Los Angeles.
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