Hi friends, happy Wednesday, I hope you’re all having a good week so far! Today I’m going to be posting my review of Jack Wang’s collection of short stories, We Two Alone.

This book was nominated for the Canada Reads 2022 long-list.

We Two Along by: Jack Wang: This was a collection of short stories that spanned close to a century and was set over five different continents. Each story was a small part in growth and development of the Chinese immigrant experience. This novel was collectively sad and heartbreaking but each story was in its own way. The stories also followed a bit of a theme of people finding each other but not staying together for reasons outside anyone’s control, things fell apart, people changed, etc. Each story felt very real and very genuine and the reader was always sad when the end of the story would come because they didn’t want it to end; they wanted to keep reading and learn more about the characters they were reading about. There were so many characters that were on the cusp of being greatly developed and whole but we didn’t get to spend enough time with them to get to really know them. Even though these were short stories, they left lasting impressions on the reader for not only their harrowing tales of love found and lost, but for the different time and settings we found these characters in. Each one told a different perspective of what it is to be a Chinese immigrant, whether it was in England or South Africa, Australia or Japan. The stories weren’t told in any sort of chronological order and that was okay because it made for a more spontaneous read and made the reader feel like they were traveling through time. Some stories were easier to connect with than others, but the writing was always so impeccable yet honest and raw and the reader really enjoyed that. Overall, this collection had so much heart and emotions; it was moving and highly recommended.