Native Speaker by Chang-rae Lee [in What Do I Read Next? Multicultural Literature]
02 Mar, by in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean American, Repost
Korean American Henry Park is a spy whose life is falling apart: his wife just left him, his son died tragically, he has yet to make peace with his dead father. He’s assigned to...
A young woman, the daughter of a powerful political revolutionary, and her half-brother flee their native Burma following a political coup and arrive in New York, ill-prepared to cope with their new lives as...
When her elderly uncle dies, Naomi, an unmarried schoolteacher, is called back to the remote town of her childhood. There she is reunited with Obasan, her Uncle’s widow, and confronted with the shattered memories of her...
Haesu Chun, newly arrived in the U.S. from Korea with her husband, struggles to establish a home in a foreign land. Born into a wealthy family, Haesu is initially ill-prepared for the racism, humiliation,...
Three novellas about three remarkable, though ultimately tragic Filipino women: Narita, a politician trying to escape her poverty-stricken past, Ermita, a very high class prostitute in search of true love, and Malu,...
In 2052, America has deteriorated beyond recognition. Francie, 19, lives with her Auntie Annie and Rohn, Annie’s boyfriend, in Los Angeles, where...
Rio, a feisty young schoolgirl, comes of age in turbulent Manila during the final dictatorship in the Philippines. Her world is populated with American films and movie starts, soda shops, political corruption and turmoil, and a...
Sarah, a young and naive New York Jew, impulsively marries Roland, an Indian immigrant from the Caribbean. Months after the wedding, Roland returns to his native Guiana, embroiled in its political turmoil....
Eleven-year-old Esha comes of age in Singapore of the late 1960s, a time of growing political strife between the predominantly Chinese government and the local Singaporeans and their supporters. Esha’s...
Kikue, a young Japanese woman, arrives in the U.S. believing she was to be a picture bride but instead is forced into prostitution. She devises an elaborate plan, not only...
The author returns to her ancestral homeland, guided by the stories her father – her "Baba" – has told her. There she begins a personal odyssey through northern China of the 1930s and ‘40s, following the...
A collection of interrelated short stories that begins in 1953 Macao, where a sickly Wei lives with his overprotective grandmother and ineffective father. Wei eventually emigrates to Honolulu, gets married, and has two children,...
At 14, fourth-generation Chinese American Rainsford Chan is orphaned. Alone and searching, he recreates his family’s 125-year-long history in the U.S., wandering among his male ancestors, learning their stories and experiencing their lives. But even after...
A collection of stories, mostly set in Manila, inspired by real life stories and newspaper articles, focusing on the desperate citizens of a troubled country trying to survive poverty, government corruption, and loss of...
Arjie, a young boy growing up in an upper-middle-class family in Sri Lanka, is "funny" – he prefers to dress in saris and play with the girls. He comes of age amidst a time...
In 1929, Bhusan Singh, the aimless son of a wealthy raja, is on a train headed for his family home when he is arrested, falsely charged with treason, and imprisoned. Efforts to free him...
A collection of poignant short stories, mostly about the residents of Lunalilo, Hawai'i, including new picture brides arriving from Japan, young schoolgirls and their dreams, young working women, the silent,...
Eleven interrelated short stories about young Seaweed, a determined young woman in China during the Cultural Revolution in search of higher education. She endures "reeducation" at a remote village labor camp, gets herself into...
Ichiro Yamada, a second-generation Japanese American, returns to his home city of Seattle after spending two years in an American prison camp and another two years in jail. He returns home a pariah, for...
Mira returns to her native India after graduate school in England, to a new address on Nampally Road, a new lover, and new friends. But the post-colonial India she has returned to is governed...