I normally don't say this, but this story really should have used either a native Chinese reader or someone that could speak fluent Chinese. While I'm sure Mr. Khanna tried his best, the Chinese language is very tonally dependent. Being a native speaker, I honestly don't know how a non-native reader would learn the tones except by massive immersion and vocal coaching, but I have seen and talked to incredibly fluent non-natives of the language (so it's definitely possible). I had to spend several minutes after each line trying to figure out what he said. Normally, this wouldn't have mattered to me, but in this case, I felt that mother's words were very central to the story, and it was a bit off-putting trying to piece together what was said. I do give him credit for trying, though. It was on-par with the Chinese on Firefly/Serenity.
The story itself was a bit too depressing and melodramatic for my taste, although to Ken Liu's credit, this is actually pretty typical of Chinese stories and soap operas. True love is never requited unless it's way too late and the love of your life is dying in your arms, the parent sacrificing for the child who never realizes it until the parent is dead, the dutiful child sacrificing for the parent and the parent not realizing until it's too late, etc...
To me, the characters were a bit too one dimensional: the father was largely known by his absent, the mother was long-suffering tragic and sacrificing, and the narrator was the ungrateful brat who realizes that he's ungrateful. They seem to make a point of asking the mother to adjust to learning how to live and act "American", and yet the father seems to get a complete free pass at marrying a foreign mail-order bride. If I were to go to the trouble of marrying an American (which I have) and ask her to move to China, I would at least expect to meet her half way and learn the language, culture, and customs of my wife's homeland. I also thought the Mother dying of cancer was a bit too convenient of a plot device.
Personally I would have wished for Mr Liu to paint a less stereotypically subservient picture of the Chinese mother. Chinese women are so much more than the docile housewives or exotic sex-objects that popular media seems to portray them as. The Chinese women in my life are some of the most spunkiest, entrepreneurial, independent, hard-working, and (yes) fiery women I know.
Finally, I guess I was lucky that I grew up with a father that would echo the words of Tyrion Lannister, saying to me: "Never forget that you are Chinese.", meaning that I would always have to work/study harder than my american friends because the odds were against me. To me, "fitting in" and acting "normal" was always just that: an act. Actually being normal was never an option, so I never bothered.
Never forget who you are, for surely the world won’t. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you. -- Tyrion Lannister