GISH JEN: That's a good question. I mean, I have to say that, it did make us pretty defensive. And it did have a tendency to make us wary, more apt to depend on family than on outsiders.

What's it like for them? What's it like for you? GISH JEN: Well, for us it's perfectly normal. It's just our family. Do you know what I mean? It's not like we have another idea of another family ...

Gish Jen writer Gish Jen is the author of the novels *Typical American*, *Mona in the Promised Land*, *The Love Wife*, and *Who's Irish*, a book of stories. Her honors include the Lannan Award for ...