The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee [in Christian Science Monitor] [in Bloomsbury Review]
31 Jan, by in Adult Readers, British, Chinese, Hapa/Mixed-race, Hong Kongese, Korean American, Repost
Something about Janice Y.K. Lee’s debut novel, The Piano Teacher, whispers, “Watch me.” Populated with a cast of “wandering global voyagers,” Lee unfurls her story, set in Hong Kong during and after World War II, layer by layer and in cinematic snippets. Captured in clipped, almost abbreviated...
Although published over a decade ago in Guo's native China – and since reworked in English by the author – Guo's story set in a new China rushing toward modernization will surely have a long 21st-century...
Some 15 years after her award-wining literary debut with her bestselling novel, 
Already an established nonfiction writer and poet, 
In Yalini's globe-scattered Sri Lankan family are two kinds of marriage: the Arranged Marriage that the obedient adhere to and Love Marriage which Yalini's newly immigrant parents fell into shortly after arrival in their adopted country....
Neel is a handsome young doctor arriving at the family home in India to visit his ill grandfather. Back in his chosen home of San Francisco, he's got a gorgeous white girlfriend and his anesthesiologist career...
A harrowing anthology, comprised of 16 essays by some of the best writers of the international Indian diaspora, vividly explores the ravages of a too-fast growing AIDS community across India. Nikita Lalwani writes about a kind,...
Chersheng, a young Hmong American boy, feels helpless and frustrated as his Alzheimer’s-challenged grandfather begins to forget more and more. His mother shows him his grandfather's story cloth, a traditional Hmong art form that captures...
A mourning mother remembers the brief life of her vibrant 16-year-old daughter who was tragically killed in a car crash. She gathers the voices of her daughter’s friends and schoolmates through snippets of shared memories to...
After he swears off girls forever, loner – some might even call him a loser – Albert Kim finds first love over the summer after sophomore year ...
High school senior Patti Yoon, the perfect Korean American daughter studying for her perfect SAT scores, perfectly playing the violin, aiming for HYP (KorEnglish for HarvardYalePrinceton), and (of course!) never talking to boys, discovers her feisty...
Thank goodness the Pulitzer-winning Jhumpa Lahiri went back to her short story roots: The Namesake was okay, but disappointing after The Interpreter of Maladies which was such a shockingly remarkable debut.
Holy moly, now comes this unforgettable...
At 32, Anita Jain is an object of pity. Never mind her Harvard degree and a journalism career with its expat adventures in far-flung destinations such as London, Mexico City, and Singapore. Ask any auntie or...
Here’s the best news up front: 
First published in 1983, Sidhwa’s haunting first novel has been brought back with a new introduction by grand dame Anita Desai. It's based on a true story Sidwha heard while traveling in Pakistan about a young...
Part of Canongate’s much-praised Myths Series. Su Tong – best known Stateside for his novella Raise the Red Lantern, which became an Oscar-nominated film by legendary Zhang Yimou – breathes life into one of China’s oldest...
Indian-born, U.S.-, UK-, and now Denmark-domiciled Malladi is a literary chameleon, thanks in part to her changing addresses. Language, which features a young Afghan refugee woman escaping unnamable horrors under the Taliban, is almost like reading a sister text of Khaled Hosseini’s...