Just finished Buckeye? Next up read Real Americans…
Fans who fell for how Patrick Ryan let Buckeye's heroine map her past will feel right at home with the layered quest beating inside Real Americans. Rachel Khong's voice carries the same bittersweet wit, pairing rust-belt grit with coastal polish as it asks what we inherit and what we choose to love.
"I loved everything about this novel. Engrossing, well-structured, with compelling characters..."
Like Buckeye's reassembled found family, Rachel Khong threads together three generations stunned by secrets—immigrant parents chasing opportunity, a son reckoning with biotech promise, and a granddaughter fighting to define herself on her own terms. It's quietly propulsive, aching over money, motherhood, and migration with a gentle humor that never lets the hope drain away.
Where Buckeye measured the weight of a single town, Real Americans stretches coast to coast, letting each generation test what family looks like when opportunity feels rigged. The narrative toggles between 1990s New York ambition and Gen-Z Seattle code-switching, echoing the same tender resilience that kept Patrick Ryan's heroine moving.
Shared Currents
Identity, family secrets, and a sly sense of humor surge through every chapter, yet Rachel Khong layers in biotech ethics, diasporic longing, and queer undercurrents without losing the intimacy of kitchen-table confessions. Goodreads voices praise the way the story rewards lingering attention, a perfect match for readers who savored Buckeye's deliberate pacing.
"5 ⭐️ Truly incredible. Wow this blew me away..."
This follow-up sings because Rachel Khong keeps the stakes human: parents compromising for their children, kids renegotiating inheritance, lovers choosing transparency over survival myths. The result is a luminous, forward-looking saga that leaves you holding both sorrow and possibility—exactly the afterglow you wanted after closing Buckeye.
