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About the Book

About the Book

Thank You, Mr. Nixon: Stories

The acclaimed, award-winning author of THE RESISTERS takes measure of the 50 years since the opening of China and its unexpected effects on the lives of ordinary people. It is a unique book that only Jen could write --- a story collection accruing the power of a novel as it proceeds --- a work that Cynthia Ozick has called “an art beyond art. It is life itself.”

Beginning with a cheery letter penned by a Chinese girl in heaven to “poor Mr. Nixon” in hell, Gish Jen embarks on a fictional journey through U.S.-China relations, capturing the excitement of a world on the brink of tectonic change.

Opal Chen reunites with her Chinese sisters after 40 years; newly cosmopolitan Lulu Koo wonders why Americans “like to walk around in the woods with the mosquitoes”; Hong Kong parents go to extreme lengths to reestablish contact with their “number-one daughter” in New York; and Betty Koo, brought up on “no politics, just make money,” finds she must reassess her mother’s philosophy.

With their profound compassion and equally profound humor, these 11 linked stories trace the intimate ways in which humans make and are made by history, capturing an extraordinary era in an extraordinary way. Delightful, provocative and powerful, THANK YOU, MR. NIXON furnishes yet more proof of Gish Jen’s eminent place among American storytellers.

Audiobook available; read by Justin Chien, Catherine Ho, Annie Q and Eunice Wong

Thank You, Mr. Nixon: Stories
by Gish Jen

  • Publication Date: November 1, 2022
  • Genres: Fiction, Short Stories
  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage
  • ISBN-10: 0593314093
  • ISBN-13: 9780593314098