mallaeuswastaken's review
3.0
Another book plucked on a whim from the shelves at work, although I already had a feeling I would enjoy this from the cover alone. A fractured memoir of a family history, combining elements of biography and cultural-historical analysis to paint a portrait of a people connected by complex threads of culture, language, food, family and shared history. I’ve never read the work of Ocean Vuong, but something tells me that fans of his particular style of writing would get a lot from this.
marsicecream's review
emotional
reflective
sad
5.0
I want Tash Aw to adopt me as his kid because I feel more seen by his book than I could ever by my own biological parents.
lorees_reading_nook's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
In Strangers on a Pier, Tash Aw uses his family's experiences as immigrants from China to Malaysia as a springboard to reflect on the nature of this phenomenon. In the two short essays that make up this book, the author ponders the eternal dilemma of belonging and where immigrants fit in. This book is extremely personal and, perhaps, it makes us feel ever so slightly uncomfortable in our skin.
A moving and compelling read, Strangers on a Pier, forces us to face our prejudices without making the mistake of pointing fingers or creating controversy. This short but informative book lays bare our ingrained misconceptions and turns them on their head. There is no anger or self-pity in Aw's beautiful and delicate prose. There is only the belief that we act as we do because 'we want the stranger to be one of our own'. A truly remarkable book that I am so glad to have read
A moving and compelling read, Strangers on a Pier, forces us to face our prejudices without making the mistake of pointing fingers or creating controversy. This short but informative book lays bare our ingrained misconceptions and turns them on their head. There is no anger or self-pity in Aw's beautiful and delicate prose. There is only the belief that we act as we do because 'we want the stranger to be one of our own'. A truly remarkable book that I am so glad to have read