The Chinese Groove by Kathryn Ma

This is a story about a young man from small city called Gejiu in Yunnan who has given himself the name of Shelley—as in the poet—has developed a term to describe a “belief in the unspoken bonds between countrymen that transcend time and borders”. It gives its name to the book, The Chinese Groove, which is both unrealistic and optimistic at the same time. Shelley’s mother died from a heart attack years earlier and it was her wish that her son travel beyond the borders of Yunnan and even China itself. So when Shelley is of the age to attend university, his father sends him to San Francisco to study and live with distant relatives. When Shelley arrives in the US, or what he refers to as the Peach Blossom Land, he is not greeted with much of a warm welcome. The problems are two-fold. There was an exaggeration of the success of the relative who left, and there is a gap between expectations for caring for a relative from those in China and those in San Francisco. Luckily Shelley didn't quite know what to expect and he is able to read the room and make do. I really enjoyed this from start to finish.