Home > Work > The Family Chao
21 " This is undoubtedly true. Yet there remains one central question about Katherine, separate from the ring and even from the money. “Why won’t she let you go? "
― Lan Samantha Chang , The Family Chao
22 " What Chinese identity?” Ming shouts. To his horror, she looks, again, like a little girl. He sees her at six years old, standing on the playground, watching the sun shine on the blond hair of her classmates. He can’t stand it. Even though he’s been there, is familiar with the origins of self-hatred, knows he can’t bear it because it reminds him of himself, he can’t speak to her any more. He puts his headphones on and turns up the sound. "
23 " The project is so Dagou, talking into the reeds: indiscreet, self-absorbed, self-destructive, and a waste of personal resources. Not to mention under the table; Ming is sure the equipment is contraband. "
24 " The point is, we’re investing our labor on a product that is consumed immediately and brings in small change.” “Big Shot!” their father said. “You rather spend your precious time jacking off? Then shoot your wad about your own business and not mine. "
25 " One of these days,” Ming mutters, “Jerry’s going to take a trip to China. He’ll get a whiff of the real breadth and depth of Chinese cooking, legendary dishes. That chicken wrapped in lotus leaves he’s read about. Authentic peppers from Sichuan, fresh as hell. Then he’ll leave the U.S. for good, retire to Asia, and Dad’s going to have to cough up real money for a lawyer. "
26 " There are only certain times in life when emergence is possible. The life strategy for children of immigrants, starting with nothing, is to use that time to build social, educational, and financial capital on which to ride out the rest of their lives. Dagou has blown it. He’s now interested in salvaging his middle age by becoming a member of the petite bourgeoisie. But he doesn’t have the capital to be a member of the petite bourgeoisie. "
27 " Do her parents make a hundred meals a day for people who think of them as semi-human, a smiling Asian couple like a pair of garden gnomes? "
28 " An indictment of the asphyxiating myth of the model minority, The Family Chao is a compelling murder mystery, a love story, a legal drama, a meditation on internalized racism… a must-read "
29 " In dark times, when you’re feeling homesick or defeated, there is really nothing like a good, steaming soup, and dumplings made from scratch. "
30 " Heaping praise upon the three boys who grew up all bright and ambitious, who earned scholarships to good colleges. Commending them for leaving the Midwest. Yet everyone was thankful when the oldest, Dagou Chao, returned to Haven. "
31 " I’m sorry,” James says. “I don’t speak Mandarin.” Here’s a liability of his: he always wants to help, but his ignorance makes him useless to his own kind. Not just to this man, but to every lost Mandarin-speaking traveler fumbling in mid-transfer who mistakes him for a helpful guide. "
32 " Four months later, their mother was living with Buddhist nuns and Dagou had bulked up by thirty pounds. "
33 " Ming can’t figure out how Dagou has attracted the devotion of a woman like Katherine Corcoran. Too smart for him, too attractive, too accomplished, and too good. Too much of a good thing, and Dagou unable to avoid fucking it up. "
34 " Your worthless brother’s making out with his new girlfriend. Or getting ready for his big showdown at the nunnery tomorrow. "
35 " Maybe not worthless,” he says, “but he has an inferiority complex. You American-born Chinese so timid and brainwashed, will do anything for a woman who’ll give you a good lay. "
36 " We came to America to colonize the place for ourselves. That means spreading seed. Equal opportunity for fucking. You know what’s the biggest disappointment of my life? Seeing my oldest son pussy-whipped by one white woman. "
37 " An ordinary life.” Leo smiles in the half dark. “Blood sacrifice!” he yells, startling James. “I came over in nineteen seventy-two; a pioneer, breaking land. I sacrificed myself—all so my sons could be magnificent! I did all this—only to be dog father. Is anyone grateful? "
38 " I, Leo Chao, would rather be dead than stop eating pig. I will be ash and bone chunks in a little urn before I don’t eat juicy pig. "
39 " The half-dozen temple dogs circle him and Alf in a delirium of barking, clicking paws, and waving tails. They're mixed breeds, smooth-haired, ears neither floppy nor exactly pointed, and a few with the long legs, fleet feet, of racing hounds. Two are from the Humane Society. Two are rescue dogs from a meat restaurant in South Korea. "
40 " Our inner selves exist. They're unique, and they're meaningful and mysterious, even if they are secret sometimes even from ourselves. "
