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mcbibliotecaria's review against another edition
3.0
A very short long form that introduced me to many such issues especially in the Asian American men community. Its one side of course, but it makes me wonder and ponder and seek more.
changdrew's review against another edition
entertaining, more of a collection of thoughts rather than a story. enjoyed but don't expect a prescriptive solution to race identity lol
lesserjoke's review against another edition
4.0
A soul-searching 2021 effort to explore the thorny issue of Asian-American identity: why it's a problematic construct for attempting to incorporate so many diverse experiences and national origins into a theoretical monolith, and why it has generally been a poor fit within this nation's customary binary understanding of race. (How can someone like Korean-American author Jay Caspian Kang look at scenes from the Civil Rights Era, he asks, and see himself as either the black folks denied a seat at the lunch counter or the white oppressors barring them? And why are today's social justice activists so often silent when Asians suffer, particularly at the hands of other minorities?)
There are no easy answers to such questions, but the writer does a valuable service in raising them, as well as observing how the failure of the multiracial liberal coalition to engage with and support Asian-Americans on their own terms has led plenty in his demographic towards toxic "Men's Rights" groups and similar outlets of reactionary politics. Even as xenophobic attacks soared in the wake of Donald Trump's anti-Chinese rhetoric at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, many recent immigrants and Asians around the world continued to view conservative America as an attractive option, and Kang forces us to consider how to address that perception of opportunity rather than just insist that it's misguided. Part history lesson, part memoir, and part polemic, this is altogether an uncomfortable yet acutely necessary read.
[Content warning for racial slurs.]
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There are no easy answers to such questions, but the writer does a valuable service in raising them, as well as observing how the failure of the multiracial liberal coalition to engage with and support Asian-Americans on their own terms has led plenty in his demographic towards toxic "Men's Rights" groups and similar outlets of reactionary politics. Even as xenophobic attacks soared in the wake of Donald Trump's anti-Chinese rhetoric at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, many recent immigrants and Asians around the world continued to view conservative America as an attractive option, and Kang forces us to consider how to address that perception of opportunity rather than just insist that it's misguided. Part history lesson, part memoir, and part polemic, this is altogether an uncomfortable yet acutely necessary read.
[Content warning for racial slurs.]
Like this review?
--Throw me a quick one-time donation here!
https://ko-fi.com/lesserjoke
--Subscribe here to support my writing and weigh in on what I read next!
https://patreon.com/lesserjoke
--Follow along on Goodreads here!
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6288479-joe-kessler
--Or click here to browse through all my previous reviews!
https://lesserjoke.home.blog
marcymurli's review against another edition
4.0
This is a terrific book - part memoir, part history - about Asian Americans, and because Kang is Korean American, about the history of Koreans in the US. I love the way Kang reflects on his past, particularly how he is situated in relation to questions of race that are ordinarily polarizing and not leaving too much space for complex understandings of how people who are neither African American nor white fit into the picture with respect to differently situated forms of violence and discrimination. His exploration of the nuances of Asian immigration to the US - complicated by status of refugee or those who come in on work/university visas - is especially interesting in light of ongoing conversations in the US about Asian Americans and college admissions.
mistressofthebooks's review against another edition
Not the right time to read it.
jwolflink3's review against another edition
challenging
informative
sad
fast-paced
3.75
Completely hilarious that this platform hasn’t attached the “race” tag to this book lmfao