cayley_graph's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
A contemplative quick read while I did chores. This was a collection of essays, all of which have appeared in papers like the Guardian, on a variety of topics, including the experience of being East Asian descent, especially from immigrant families, in the United States, but also many other interesting topics. I appreciated the titular essay; it read as an open, deeply felt reflection on a complex issue. I also felt the discomfort in Wesley Yang being asked to write about the mass shooter because they shared ethnicity; there’s a feeling of otherness (and being ordered), that the violence and aggression of this individual spreads to you, simply because you look like them. I also agree that there is a micro aggressive notion that the faces of East Asian people are not expressive; there is a further notion that they do not have feelings.
karaswils's review against another edition
challenging
informative
medium-paced
2.0
Like others have said, the title is misleading. The overall gist of the essays is that Asian American men are outcasts and invisible in a culture where they can never truly “win.” The tone lends itself to despair. I like Yang’s writing style, though.
jiscoo's review against another edition
demonstrative of a deeply malignant and frighteningly familiar strain of asian american masculinity. this is a book that I (as a korean american woman) would be terrified to see in the hands of the korean american men I know.
on a lighter (?) note, I would be willing to bet yang has never read a word of dubois.
edit: unsurprisingly, yang is a very vocal twitter transphobe. what hypocrisy, what ignorance, to write a collection of essays appealing for sympathy and acceptance of one's own social group and then ridiculing and dehumanizing another (comparatively far more marginalized) group's advocacy for basic rights and respect.
on a lighter (?) note, I would be willing to bet yang has never read a word of dubois.
edit: unsurprisingly, yang is a very vocal twitter transphobe. what hypocrisy, what ignorance, to write a collection of essays appealing for sympathy and acceptance of one's own social group and then ridiculing and dehumanizing another (comparatively far more marginalized) group's advocacy for basic rights and respect.
waiehse's review
4.0
I agree with every other goodreads review in that this title is hella misleading (though understandable since "The Souls of Nerds and Losers" is probably less marketable). That said, I really enjoyed almost every essay and sped through this book! Yang's writing is such an interesting balance of detached journalist and passionate advocate. I felt like I was reading episodes of an NPR podcast without the "awwww :'0" factor and slightly less left leaning.
This book is a collection of essays, most of which focus on a specific person. Many of these people are the nerdy intellectual types and the essays walk you through how they deal with being society's losers. The first few essays deal with Asian American men and examines the specific class of neutered socially inept computer geek persona ascribed to these men. Many of the negative reviews about this book are that it only focuses on the male perspective. My opinion is that the experience and Western perceptions (fetishization) of Asian women are so different from that of men that a shift in viewpoint and topic would have felt very out of place in this book.
One more thing for anyone interested in reading this book, note that not only is it from a male perspective, but it is definitively the Asian American perspective. While Yang states that he renounces both standard Asian culture and standard American culture, his voice and opinions seem very Americanized. This is not the book for you if you're interested in understanding the point of view of Asian people but it does give an insight into the experience of Asian Americans/ABC/ABK(?) men.
https://youtu.be/ejtnAvMHI28?t=839
This book is a collection of essays, most of which focus on a specific person. Many of these people are the nerdy intellectual types and the essays walk you through how they deal with being society's losers. The first few essays deal with Asian American men and examines the specific class of neutered socially inept computer geek persona ascribed to these men. Many of the negative reviews about this book are that it only focuses on the male perspective. My opinion is that the experience and Western perceptions (fetishization) of Asian women are so different from that of men that a shift in viewpoint and topic would have felt very out of place in this book.
One more thing for anyone interested in reading this book, note that not only is it from a male perspective, but it is definitively the Asian American perspective. While Yang states that he renounces both standard Asian culture and standard American culture, his voice and opinions seem very Americanized. This is not the book for you if you're interested in understanding the point of view of Asian people but it does give an insight into the experience of Asian Americans/ABC/ABK(?) men.
https://youtu.be/ejtnAvMHI28?t=839
bookly_reads's review
So many books in the world and I don't have time for anything less than excellent. Not sure why this is called "The Souls of Yellow Folk." Not sure why Yang included an essay from 2013 about Aaron Swartz, with no added material/reflections, that ends with him victim blaming a man who committed suicide. (I am extremely sensitive on this topic and I think seeing Aaron Swartz's name in the table of contents just really, really threw me off. Also, it's extremely irrelevant to the title of the book.)