In all fairness to this book, I read it during a particularly difficult week. And so while probably I should have been trying to read something a little more upbeat or cheesy to offset that, I read this instead. And the themes are beautiful, but heavy, and perhaps hit a little too close to home for me. And maybe a balked at it a bit. So thus, the 3 stars instead of the 4 I might have given it on any other week. The American Dream. That's what this book really comes down to - how that is interpreted, what people imagine it to be, and what it really is. And that's different for everyone. For some, it's habing an abundance of money/possessions. For some, it's education. For some, enlightenment that the "American Dream" is a bunch of hooey. For some, it's the chance to even try for those things. And in general, it turns out that a great job, a family, lots of money, and real understanding of the world, all those things should equal happiness, they are the pinnacle of that dream. But maybe it's not all it's cracked up to be. Everyone who looks like that have it, or have it all, they are still always missing something. And when do we realize that what we are reaching for is not the answer? For Clark, it took his wife's, essentially, suicide, for him to realize that family needed to be higher on his priorities, that money didn't solve everything. For Jende, he sacrificed some family stability and trust on the decision that his attempt to be in America was more trouble than it was worth, that cutting his losses (and, truly, counting his gains) and moving back to his home country was the right move. For Neni, she really struggled with how much sacrifice being in America was worth to her - and she almost sacrificed her entire family for that dream - but in the end decided not to. And for Cindy, things just got too out of hand; her previous trauma and the face she put on to hide that and her own insecurity from the world became too much to handle and she let it all go. Vince straight up left the country altogether, because his disillusionment with the American Dream was so strong. For each of these characters, their struggles to find and achieve that dream were so individual, so different, from such diverse backgrounds, and yet, in the end, a product of pursuing the same end goal. Masterfully connected and written. Truly an amazing story and telling. And hella timely. I recognize and respect all of that wholeheartedly - I just wish that same disillusionment wasn't hitting me right now. Sometimes books really just tell us the stories we already know...too well.