{"product_id":"useful-phrases-for-immigrants-stories-9780932112767","title":"Useful Phrases for Immigrants: Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the title story of this timely and innovative collection, a young woman wearing a Prada coat attempts to redeem a coupon for plastic storage bins while her in-laws are at home watching the Chinese news and taking her private phone calls. It is the lively and wise juxtaposition of cultures, generations, and emotions that characterize May-lee Chai's amazing stories. Within them, readers will find a complex blend of cultures spanning China, the Chinese diaspora in America, and finally, the world at large.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWith luminous prose and sharp-eyed observations, Chai reveals her characters' hopes and fears, and our own: a grieving historian seeking solace from an old lover in Beijing, a young girl discovering her immigrant mother's infidelity, workers constructing a shopping mall in central China who make a shocking discovery. Families struggle with long-held grudges, reinvent traditions, and make mysterious visits to shadowy strangers from their past--all rendered with economy and beauty.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWith hearts that break and sometimes mend, with families who fight and sometimes forgive, the timely stories in \u003cem\u003eUseful Phrases for Immigrants\u003c\/em\u003e illuminate complicated lives with empathy and passion. Chai's stories are essential reading for an increasingly globalized world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMay-lee Chai is the author of ten books, including the memoir \u003cem\u003eHapa Girl\u003c\/em\u003e, a Kiriyama Prize Notable Book; the novel \u003cem\u003eTiger Girl\u003c\/em\u003e, which won an Asian\/Pacific American Award for Literature; and her original translation from Chinese to English of the 1934 \u003cem\u003eAutobiography of Ba Jin\u003c\/em\u003e. Her award-winning short prose has been published widely, including in \u003cem\u003eGlimmer Train\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eMissouri Review\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSeventeen\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eCrab Orchard Review\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Rumpus\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eZYZZYVA\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eDallas Morning News\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eChristian Science Monitor\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/em\u003e. The recipient of an NEA fellowship in prose, Chai is an assistant professor in the Creative Writing Department at San Francisco State University.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Blair","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50492235514130,"sku":"9780932112767","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_81253a09-72bb-4117-87e2-0274a0d12fb3.jpg?v=1730578742","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/useful-phrases-for-immigrants-stories-9780932112767","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}