Review by Booklist Review
Edited by CAPE, the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment, this validating collection offers 30 pieces that explore the lived experiences of Asians in America. Readers may recognize the names of prominent contributors such as PBS NewsHour broadcast journalist Amna Nawaz and Ellen K. Pao, former CEO of Reddit. Deeply reflecting on everything from microaggressions to the model-minority myth to the anti-Asian sentiment due to COVID-19, contributors present their thoughts in the form of poetry, short essays, drawings, and conversation pieces. Taken all together, the individually significant pieces elevate and illuminate the multifaceted, intersectional experiences of Asian Americans across sectors and industries, giving voice to their struggles, achievements, and resilience. Readers will breeze through some of the pieces, while others will inspire them to slow down in order to meditate on and process the words shared, or to ruminate on how individual contributors reclaim the narrative of being an American. Readers interested in American history, Asian American studies, ethnic studies, and first accounts by people of color will find this book filled with enormously engaging reflections, narratives, and stories.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this heartfelt anthology, Asian American writers, executives, and artists reflect on their encounters with the "model minority myth," their experiences "being seen as less than American," the "wisdom and shortcomings of elders," and other aspects of growing up in the U.S. In the introduction, MTV news correspondent SuChin Park discusses the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes during the Covid-19 pandemic and recalls being told by cameramen to "open my eyes" and "squint less." In "Fourteen Ways of Being Asian in America over Thirty-Six Years," novelist Melissa de la Cruz, who is "Filipino-Chinese-Spanish," documents experiences with racism, including the "ugly and disgusting" online comments she received after writing a DC Comics graphic novel in which Bruce Wayne is Asian. Elsewhere, Japanese American poet G Yamazawa reminds himself that "when you were a boy/ being deemed as powerful of a man as Bruce Lee/ still made you feel weak/ and helpless," and former Reddit CEO Ellen K. Pao discusses how the belief in meritocracy passed down by her Taiwanese immigrant parents was shattered by her early experiences in Silicon Valley. Enriched by the diversity of its contributors and the intimacy of their pieces, this is a vital record of the Asian American experience. (May)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A timely collection that captures a wide variety of Asian American coming-of-age experiences. Compiled amid the anti-Asian violence that began in 2020, the anthology shows that the Asian American experience is not monolithic but rather layered and diverse. Yet all readers will find much to relate to via universal themes of intergenerational conflict, stereotypes, and what it means to belong. Malaysian Chinese immigrant Shing Yin Khor's "I Don't Want To Write Today" is a gorgeously illustrated short story that captures the author's exhaustion at having to make a case to exist, especially within a White-dominated culture. Novelist Melissa de la Cruz's "Fourteen Ways of Being Asian in America Over Thirty-Six Years" chronicles her life from being a young girl from the Philippines to growing in her career as a writer; the one sad constant has been racism and microaggressions. Journalist Amna Nawaz grippingly depicts the fear she felt after 9/11 as a young Pakistani American and how that has shaped how she raises her biracial daughters in today's culture. Besides the dual identities of being Asian and American, the book explores intersectionality in other aspects. "On Being Black and Asian in America," by Kimiko Matsuda-Lawrence, is about how her Japanese and Black identity changes with different social situations. Kim Tran's "An Incomplete Silence" explores the author's relationship with her family and how her mother's silence when she came out did not necessarily mean disapproval. Other writers choose song lyrics ("Listen Asshole" by Yellow Rage) and poetry ("a bad day" by Catzie Vilayphonh, "Ten Things You Should Know About Being an Asian From the South" by G Yamazawa) to convey their anger at anti-Asian violence and the feeling of being a perpetual foreigner. Marie Lu's poem, "Museum in Her Head," describes a woman heroine walking through halls of memories and realizing the power of pride in one's work and name. SuChin Pak provides the introduction, and other contributors include Kao Kalia Yang, David Kwong, and Aisha Sultan. A luminous book that highlights the humanity and multitudes of being Asian American. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
