SOURCE: Heung, Marina. “Windows of Opportunity.” Women's Review of Books 16, nos. 10-11 (July 1999): 41.

In the following review of Who's Irish?, Heung asserts that Jen's writing style has matured, and that her stories, in comparison to her novels, demonstrate a broader scope as well as greater insight and clarity.

Families, generations and habitats have always been Gish Jen's subjects. Her first novel, Typical American, tells us how the story of how the Changs arrive in America and enter the affluent middle class. Mona in the Promised Land, her second novel, is an extended riff on identity-switching, with one of the Chang daughters, Mona, deciding that she is going to “become Jewish.” As the Changs set down roots and build a family, their saga illustrates the process of growing up and acquiring identities in America.

In Who's Irish?, Jen's new collection of short stories, two are “Mona” stories. The others...