Why are cross-generational immigrant novels so popular in the U.S. right now?

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It seems like there's currently a genre of stories of how a specific family came to the U.S./U.K. and lived through a series of historical events seen through their eyes. I'm thinking specifically of Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Greek family in US), White Teeth by Zadie Smith (Jamaican and Bangladeshi families in UK), and Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (European (can't remember where from) in US). Kavalier & Clay isn't a perfect fit due to lack of generations, but seems to fit otherwise. Everything is Illuminated by that guy kind of fits as well. It seems like there are other recent examples, but I can't think of them right now. Oddly enough, all of my examples are by relatively young/new authors.
Is this a false connection that I'm making? If not, why the surge in popularity in this type of novel? Is it really a surge, or a constant? Am I crazy?

― n.a. (Nick A.), Monday, 30 August 2004 15:52 (twenty-one years ago)

(Jonathan Safran Foer)

― n.a. (Nick A.), Monday, 30 August 2004 16:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Ugh. What a poorly-phrased question. Sorry.

― n.a. (Nick A.), Monday, 30 August 2004 16:23 (twenty-one years ago)

The Russian Debutante's Handbook?

― Huck, Monday, 30 August 2004 16:56 (twenty-one years ago)

The immigration element is new, but the multi-generational tale goes back to The Tin Drum (at least), via Midnight's Children. Who can resist family drama against the backdrop of historic events? Not award committees...

― Ray, Tuesday, 31 August 2004 09:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I think that because America is a melting pot and there are people here from everywhere, it makes sense that novels like this would be written. Here are some authors I can think of and a good book they've created on foreign families that have immegrated and are adjusting to life in the United State:

1. Sandra Cisneros, House on Mango Street
2. Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies
3. Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club
4. An Na, A Step from Heaven (this is young adult)
5. Lan Samantha Chang, Hunger
6. Fae M. Ng, Bone
7. Louis Chu, Eat a Bowl of Tea
8. Susan Choi, The Foreign Student

Some of these aren't multi-generational, but they do tell the story of immigrants.

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 11:35 (twenty-one years ago)

It's the entire postcolonial/diaspora literary fad that's making it big, isn't it?

― Tinka, Wednesday, 1 September 2004 09:07 (twenty-one years ago)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0553292781.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 15:25 (twenty-one years ago)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/055357003X.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 15:26 (twenty-one years ago)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0553570234.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 15:27 (twenty-one years ago)

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