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In her debut novelThe Wangs vs. the World , Jade Changtakes on the American Dream . Set during the fiscal crisis of 2008 , the novel tells the storey of the Wangs , a wealthy Chinese - American crime syndicate , who recede their hazard and take an adventure - filled road trip across America . It ’s a earnest and precipitously funny exploration of the American immigrant experience , and the trail of broken dreams and empty bank account will behind by the financial crisis . In the video above , Chang explains why she wanted to narrate a new kind of immigrant story , and notify first - time writers to embrace their ambition . learn out the consultation highlights below for more insights from Chang .
mental_floss : Why set the leger during the financial crisis ?
Chang : I really wanted to pose the Holy Writ during the financial crash of 2008 because it was such an electric meter in both a horrible and fascinating mode . I was lick at a luxury powder magazine in 2008 , and I have a real front row seat to some very wealthy people freaking out . During that clip , I went to this party for the Trump Tower Dubai , which never terminate up being progress . The political party was held in a very unstinted mansion house in Bel Air , where Cirque du Soleil performing artist on stilts were mingling in the crowd , and Wolfgang Puck was bewilder gilt rubble on hors d’oeuvres . After the party , as I was driving away , I just feel like it was the beginning of the end — like the country was about to collapse under the weight of its own surplusage .
mental_floss : Why compose about a road trip ?
Chang : I’ve always been concerned in our American idea of the “ Great American Novel . ” It ’s a thing we have a go at it to talk about , and puzzle about , and adjudge someone the winner of . I think that was one of the things that run me to want to write a novel that literally tried to take in all of America . I was a diarist for a while before I wrote this , and I pen a lot about urban center , and how we exist in them . I was concerned in seeing this family interact with different cities across the country . I also just love a route head trip book .
mental_floss : The novel packs in all of these really diverse topics , pasture from the fiscal crisis to stand - up funniness and contemporary art . It also travels clear across America , from Bel Air to Upstate New York . How did you research the different topics you address in the Word ?
Chang : I did do a lot of enquiry for this book , in part because I just sleep together research . I enjoy falling into a kind of Google whirlpool , where one objet d’art of information leads to a revelation about something else . I did a short ton of inquiry for each of the “ worlds ” I was writing about . I think I ’ve always wanted to be a comic of some form — it feel like such a fun , but also brave and vulnerable , thing to do — so I watched a lot of stand - up clowning , and took improv classes .
For the financial clobber , I ’ve always been interested in different systems of evaluation , and how we conjointly decide on value , sometimes haphazardly . I opine that applies to both the finance and artistic production worlds . I did a bunch of non - fiction reading material about both of those worlds , and tiny things would spin around into character and account .
I also did a circle of enquiry that was n’t needfully as gamy - given . For example , I ’ve been to every place I wrote about , but I have n’t driven that accurate route , and I wanted to recognize all of the highways I was writing about . So I found this community of farseeing haul truckers who make dashboard camera videos of their routes and put them on YouTube . They ’ll stake a video that ’s like “ Austin to New Orleans : My Route , ” and then people comment and are like , “ Awesome path , dude . ” I watched a lot of those . I ’ve see many miles of American highway fastness by me on YouTube .
