Coming to America for a better life is a common theme in American history. In “Paper Names,” Susie Luo brings us a different kind of immigrant. Unlike those who come to America because there is nothing for them in their home country, The Zhang family had been successful in China. Tony, the Americanized name for the father, was a respected engineer, and his wife, Kim, was a doctor. But they came to the US for a better life for their daughter, Tammy.

In addition to the Zhang family, we meet Oliver. He is a successful Harvard-educated attorney, born with a silver spoon in his mouth. But he has a darkness in his past that he hides from others. He meets Tony because Tony is the doorman in his exclusive New York City apartment building. When Tony goes to the aid of one of the residents — a celebrity –who is being robbed, he gets his moment of fame. Actually, Tony has anger issues, and attacking the robber felt good to him. But after witnessing Tony’s bravery, Oliver becomes interested in Tony’s family and offers to give his daughter piano lessons.

So their lives continue to be entwined. Through Oliver’s connections, Tammy attends Harvard and continues on to Harvard Law School. She ends up working for the same firm where Oliver is the youngest partner. But Oliver’s life isn’t easy, and we see the pressure his family puts on him to do their bidding. Family loyalty is demanded, but Oliver’s life is such that he’s covered his embarrassing past and has no desire to openly declare his ties to his grandfather, as much as his family might insist.

The story begins in 1997 and then moves forward and backward, to 2014, back to 1999, forward to 2002, 2006, 2009, and 2015. We then jump back, forward, and back again. Notice the dates, because it’s important to think about where in Oliver and Tammy’s life each chapter is taking place. The jumps enable us to see an event or action and then see the backstory of how that came to occur.

Luo effectively investigates cultural differences as we see the Zhangs navigate life in the US. The Zhangs don’t go to any social event without bringing a homemade dish for their hosts because that’s a matter of common politeness in their culture. We see that in some homes, those carefully prepared foods end up in the garbage. Tammy has to learn how to present herself among the extremely wealthy as her boyfriend’s family eats at the best private clubs and restaurants and flies to exotic places. Her boyfriend, Vince, is not snobby and doesn’t care about making money, just doing the right thing. But is she really in love with him, or is she capitulating to her parents’ expectations?

At its heart, the crux of this story is our relationships with family—not only how we shape our lives to fulfill family expectations, but also the lengths to which we will go in order to hide shameful secrets from our past. Such deceptions are not benign, and they can eat at one’s soul. We see the secrets of the characters in this story and the actions they are ashamed to have taken. Not one character emerges unscathed—because they are all human.

This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.