Asian American Novels & Writers | Asian American Poll

ASIAN AMERICAN NOVELS
(Updated Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:11:27 PM to reflect the 100 most recent valid responses.)

Which of the following is the best Asian American novel?
China Men by Maxine Hong Kingston | 7%
No-No Boy by John Okada | 1%
The Foreign Student by Susan Choi | 8%
China Boy by Gus Lee | 4% American Knees by Shawn Wong | 3%
Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston | 7%
Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan | 8%
Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee | 15%
Other | 47%

Who's your favorite Asian American writer?
Gus Lee | 13%
Amy Tan | 8%
Susan Choi | 8%
Maxine Hong Kingston | 11%
Chang-Rae Lee | 14%
Other | 46%

What best explains the remarkable disparity between the numbers of published AA female and male authors?
More AA females write than do AA males | 17%
American publishers have a fetish for Asian female authors | 32%
American publishers have an aversion toward strong AA male voices | 14%
Americans have a fetish for Asian female-white male themed books | 37%

This poll is closed to new input.
Comments posted during the past year remain available for browsing.

CONTACT US | ADVERTISING INFO

© 1996-2013 Asian Media Group Inc
No part of the contents of this site may be reproduced without prior written permission.

WHAT YOU SAY

[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]

Just saw that Leonard Chang's new novel is Underkill, and will be out in May. Cool!
Asian Am fiction fan Friday, December 06, 2002 at 17:07:39 (PST) [165.247.202.62]

have anyone read 'the kitchen god 's wife" by Amy Tan? I think she portrays some good image of AM in that book.
well... Tuesday, October 08, 2002 at 12:29:42 (PDT) [203.162.15.156]

Amy can toss my...
and Latina loving Korean hombre,

Yes, Amy tan is definately crap. Isn't she herself married to a white guy? She seeks to make an image for Chinese America (and in the process, Asian America) but fails miserably in that she only serves to reinforce stereotypes and the notion of whites being better. I'm a Chinese female myself, and though, the book the Joy Luck Club was written almost poetically, as a Chinese person reading it, I think that...

Amy Tan should be shot.
19 yr old abc chick Tuesday, October 08, 2002 at 01:55:24 (PDT)

Try Don Lee's Yellow. He writes with restraint, to please the Amy Tan haters, and the book has a lot of soul in it.
Monolidded Twinkie GarpisRich@yahoo.com Sunday, September 22, 2002 at 22:10:48 (PDT)

Ummm....Amy Tan...

I read the Joy Luck Club...I like it...although I feel like it seems too dramatic to have literary value in any sense...

Tan's other books...
"The Bonesetter's Daughter..." I read part of it...did not finish it.

A really good book that I recently read is "Memoirs of a Geisha"...it is written by an American Author...so I do not know if it can be counted as Asian American...but I feel that most Asian Americans would find it to be very fascinating...
Larriiiiii Kong.... Saturday, August 17, 2002 at 03:43:14 (PDT)

To: Amy Tan can toss my....
So true. Her unending diatribes make me ill.
latina loving korean hombre Friday, August 09, 2002 at 22:46:04 (PDT)

In regards to the Joy Luck Club debate:

There is a black equivalent to the JLC. It's called waiting to exhale. Although there are no white guys banging black chicks in that movie, the black female protagonists sure have a field day slagging off on black men. This is sick. I hope Amy Tan crawls back under the rock in China she came from and DIES. This is coming from a Chinese American, so don't think I'm some white person.
Amy Tan can toss my...... Saturday, August 03, 2002 at 01:54:07 (PDT)

Chang's -Over the Shoulder- was great, but I still like his first -Fruit 'n Food- the best. He really went down and dirty for that. But I'm happy to see more of Allen Choice in the sequel of -Over the Shouder-.
lila Thursday, June 20, 2002 at 09:20:38 (PDT)

Yeah, Don Lee, Leonard Chang--they're changing AA lit perspectives of AA males...
Joe Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 07:26:03 (PDT)

To: underKover hyung
Check out Leonard Chang's site
www.leonard chang.com. It has a picture of Chang's new soon-to-be realeased second "Allen Choice" novel.
latina loving korean hombre Saturday, June 15, 2002 at 01:39:17 (PDT)

to latina loving korean hombre:

right on brother! leonard chang is the bomb! he is one of the best writers out there. Over the Shoulder is a kick-*ss detective novel with a korean american male as the hero to boot.

underKover hyung Thursday, June 13, 2002 at 13:05:42 (PDT)

leonard chang is The Man
I am tired of North American [ I've lived in both US and presently in Canada] Asian men depicted as:
1. pocket protector wearing socially
inept asexual geeks.
2. gangster/ molestor of white/brown/
black/yellow [every colour in the spectrum] women.ie sexual deviant
3. stone faced asian father figure who beats their daughters, wives, and sons and is all-around petty house dictator whose family is liberated by the "great white future son-in-law".
The above three themes are the genesis for most Asian pulp culture in North America.
Leonard Chang approches the asian immigrant voice from a balanced and realistic point of view . He refrains from the typical Asian Male slagging
Kudos to Mr. Chang. I hope he continues his excellent work.
latina loving korean hombre Tuesday, June 11, 2002 at 18:59:00 (PDT)

Susan Choi lectured at my college for a semester--amazing!
student Wednesday, May 15, 2002 at 17:44:13 (PDT)

My personal fave is Susan Choi's The Foreign Student, but I'm afraid that you may need to know the history of the Korean War to appreciate it. Not many people realize that the novel is kind of subversive: it goes against all the conventional myths and narratives about the Korean War, telling the story from the Korean man's point of view. It also addresses being a "foreigner" and outsider and racist, Orientalist attitudes in American in the 1950's, part of which explains why Korea is so distorted even today. But bottom line: great novel, great story.
candolph lee Friday, May 10, 2002 at 07:31:39 (PDT)

JLC is listed in Goldsea's Great Asian-Friendly Movies.
an observation only Sunday, May 05, 2002 at 09:53:08 (PDT)

By the way, Wayne Wang is gay and Amy Tan was consulted during the filming of JLC the movie. There is even a picture of Wayne Wang consulting Amy Tan on a shoot; you can find it on the web. Make of this what you will.

Hello Kitty: My Anti-Drug Sunday, April 28, 2002 at 23:02:44 (PDT)

look the movie was hell boring, i thought it was lame and and i almost felt embarresed for the actors, especially in that crying scene with ming na wen and her father. "oh she roved she didn wan you to grow ap bad" *sob sob* and the part where one of the daughters and mother are in the hair salon jeeez, they should have put jet li in the movie to fly kick that little spoilt brat who broke that $1000 pearl necklace or whatever it was. It was unrealistic, "momma i tried i tried so hard boo hoo i tried to please you boo hoo" i found ming na wens acting atroushes(no clue on how to how spell that), so really the AM=are crap husbands theme (which is in the movie) is just one of the things that led me to cremate my copy of the movie. God have mercy on that video.

AZN Realist Sunday, April 28, 2002 at 20:09:40 (PDT)

NEWEST COMMENTS | EARLIER COMMENTS