A Song for Cambodia by Michelle Lord, illustrated by Shino Arihara [in Bloomsbury Review]
01 May, by in Biography, Cambodian, Cambodian American, Children/Picture Books, Nonfiction, Repost, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American
Arn Chorn-Pond was just 8 years old when he was torn from his family in 1975 as the Khmer Rouge invaded Cambodia. He survives years of unimaginable atrocities with only rare moments of music to soothe...
Through loosely connected short stories, Wang's second collection straddles both worlds of her native China with her adopted America – and the undefinable spaces in between. From the young Chinese girl who sees too much in...
Luddite me made a surprisingly funny joke to two techies after reading 
If literary awards are any measure of prowess, then native Chinese speaker Ha Jin has most certainly mastered the English language. As a writer of poems, short stories, and fiction, he has been showered...
As I write, I'm into the ninth of 16 hours that make up the audio version of Michael Pollan's
A spectacular book-without-words that traces one family’s immigration story with brilliant imagination. In an unnamed troubled land, a man leaves his wife and young daughter behind in search of freedom in a new country. His adjustments...
In the latter 19th century, thousands of Chinese Americans were viciously purged from their homes throughout the West Coast. What makes Driven Out more than another tome of historical woe are the little-known tales of valiant...
As the daughter of struggling Korean immigrants, Casey Han has created a persona defined by her expensive tastes, her magna cum laude Princeton degree, and a wealthy family friend who is always there to lend a...
As elliptical as Hur’s debut novel is, it’s also incredibly dense, weighed down by the trials and tribulations of a lost generation of Korean American Manhattanites whose teenage lives revolve around the clubs and restaurants of...
Something magical happens when prize-winning novelist Edwidge Danticat strings words together. From the most trivial details to breathtaking moments of enormous gravity, Danticat uses words as charms that gently beckon readers into her world and make...
Alas, summer's over, but that doesn't mean the fun reads have to be thrown aside for more serious fare. If anything, some depth mixed with light fun might make for the ideal transitional book.
A Concise Chinese-English...
At the heart of M.G. Vassanji's sixth novel, The Assassin's Song, is an exercise in perspective. Definitions of right and wrong, truth and deception, the chosen and outcast – especially in matters having to do with...
Su Qi, a sensitive Chinese Malaysian youth, comes of age in the magical jungles of Borneo, shaped by the cruelty he witnesses at the hands of his abusive father and his loving but withdrawn mother. He...
If I were to make my mother the happiest mother in the world, I’d finish at least one of my PhDs by writing that elusive dissertation on Yoko Tawada and her fantastical, enigmatic, revisionist, ambiguous short...
Although based in part on the real-life experiences of Virginia Loh’s childhood in Northern Virginia, something about Dragon just doesn’t ring true. The premise seems unique and most definitely worthwhile – I can’t remember another middle-grade...
Using food as an engaging trope to tell her poignant story – from Pringles to Big Macs to Bubble Yum and Little Debbies – Nguyen takes the reader on a vicarious munching session, recounting her experiences...
The long-awaited biography – even if it’s a tad bit on the academic side – on Hayakawa, a trailblazing Asian American film pioneer, who in his silent heyday was one of the most recognizable, lauded actors,...
Reddi’s debut – absolutely one of the best short story collections this year – captures the nuanced, often contradictory lives of multiple generations of the Indian diaspora. From the cranky old judge convinced he has...
Don’t start this at night because you won’t get any sleep until you’ve finished the final page. And still, the characters will linger on. Min’s aching debut novel tells the story of Isadora Myung Hee Sohn...