New from Here

Compare Knox’s experience during COVID-19 with your own. What are some of the concerns that he had? What changed in his life? What were some good things that came from the pandemic? What were the most harmful effects? Compare the same questions in regard to your own COVID-19 experience, using quotations from the novel.

What are some struggles members of the Wei-Evans family experience because of their individual differences? What are some advantages they have? Then consider your own experience. In what way might you be different from other people? In what ways do the family members use these advantages to help others and how could you do the same? Use scenes from the novel to support your answer.

Compare and contrast the US and Hong Kong as explained in the novel. How is life different in the two countries? How is it the same? What does this communicate about humans as a whole?

What impact does Lea have within the Wei-Evans family as the youngest child? How does she adapt to living in the US compared to her brothers? In what ways does she struggle that are unique to her own experience?

Explain how Julie chose her children’s names and what this reveals about her. Also consider her experience going by both Julie and Wei Wei. Why might Yang have put this emphasis on names?

Consider the challenges Bowen, Knox, and Lea all have in the US. What are their strengths in both Hong Kong and America? Also consider their weaknesses. Which environment causes them to thrive in these areas, and which gives them more troubles? The answers will likely be different for different areas of life and for different characters.

How do the relationships in the Wei-Evans family evolve over the course of the novel? Which relationships grow and which undergo hardship? Does the family end up stronger or weaker in the end?

How does Christopher’s family’s restaurant experience the Prejudice and Racism During the COVID-19 Pandemic? How do they work to overcome the racism directed toward the restaurant and what does this demonstrate about them as people? How do you think Knox’s experience in the US would have been different without Christopher and his family’s restaurant?