Moving to China as an American Born Chinese five years ago, I experienced isolation as never before in my life. Too Chinese to be American, too American to be Chinese, thus, my battle with cultural identity began. Where I found my solace was in literature, where I read about others who experienced just as perplexing situations – in which identity had been shredded into an unidentifiable mess of cultures and zipped up in an Asian body bag.
Regardless of who we are, we all have some sort of cultural convergence in our lives, due to the increasingly diverse places we live. This list of masterful memoirs and novels detail the lives of Chinese-Americans and their personal experiences dealing with the issues that arise from being poised between cultures. Hear the potent voices of this guild of authors as they address discrimination, acceptance, unrealistic expectations, identity, and more.
American Born Chinese
By Gene Luen Yang
Interest Level: Kids, Young Adult
A comic that tackles the difficulties of fitting in, being Monkey King, dealing with a horribly obnoxious cousin, getting the pretty girl in class, and being American Born Chinese. A National Book Award finalist, this graphic novel spells out the difficulties of acceptance through colorful pages and entertaining stories.
Under a Painted Sky
By Stacey Lee
Interest Level: Young Adult
Set in 1849 Missouri, Samantha’s dream is to become a professional musician. Being Chinese and a girl is challenging enough, but when a tragic accident occurs, all hopes are abandoned as she flees for her life. Together, with a runaway slave, they disguise themselves as boys heading to the California gold rush, and a potent friendship is formed as they help each other survive on the open trail. A historical tale of perseverance, trust, and personal identity, it is just one of Stacey Lee’s powerful tales of Chinese-American women. (Also check out Outrun the Moon.)
Girl in Translation
By Jean Kwok
Interest Level: Young Adult/Adult
Jean Kwok, who moved from Hong Kong to America at the age of five, relates the lives of countless immigrants who are caught between the pressure to flourish in America, their obligation to their family, and their own personal dreams and desires. In her story, Kimberly Chang and her mother immigrate to Brooklyn, where she is suspended between excelling in a private school by day, and working in a Chinatown sweatshop by night. She suppresses the difficult truths of her life like her family’s rapid descent into poverty, the weight of her family’s future resting on her shoulders, or her secret love for a factory boy. Kimberly learns to alternate not only between two languages, but between two entire worlds she must learn to balance in order to succeed as everyone expects of her.
The Woman Warrior
By Maxine Hong Kingston
Interest Level: Adult
A blend of Chinese folktale and personal memoir, Kingston explores the cultural, familial, and personal experiences of being a first-generation Chinese American. Provocative and intense, it details the struggles of being a woman and Asian in 20th century China and America.
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
By Yiyun Li
Interest Level: Adult
A collection of breathtaking stories set in China and among Chinese Americans in the States that explores the convergence of personality with mythology, politics, history, and culture. From the bustling heart of Beijing, to a fast-food restaurant in Chicago, to the barren plains of Inner Mongolia, these stories will reveal worlds both foreign and familiar, with heart-wrenching honesty.
World and Town
By Gish Jen
Interest Level: Adult
Hattie Kong, a descendant of Confucius and American missionary to China, has, in her fiftieth year of living in the United States, lost both her husband and her best friend to cancer. Suddenly quite alone and indignant about the absurdity of it all, she moves to another town and befriends a family of Cambodian immigrants. This novel addresses deep and absorbing questions about religion, home, America, what neighbors are, what love is, and what “worlds” we find within the world.
The Joy Luck Club
By Amy Tan
Interest Level: Adult
In 1949, four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, united by shared loss and hope, form the Joy Luck Club. An attempt to reconnect with their home country, they bond over dim-sum, mahjong, and talking about their American-born daughters. With wit and wisdom, Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep connection between mother and daughter, and what it means to be a family.
photos: amazon.com
