Asian American Novels & Writers | Asian American Poll

ASIAN AMERICAN NOVELS
(Updated Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:11:26 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%

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WHAT YOU SAY

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marginal man, what the heck are you talking about? amy tan simply uses her creativity and funnels the readers with a piece of chinese history when writing her novels. you have to remember that her novels are fiction, it's not a memoir. she takes pieces of her history and embellishes it. most likely, some of these are facts that actually happened in our past (i highly doubt that she would just write these "assumptions" without doing a lot of research), and simply discounting them and forgetting them won't help do away with stereotypes and prejudices. it only brings awareness to others. and then you write "I think Amy Tan does every Asian-American harm in that it forms a prejudice about Asians in general." whaaaaaat??? prejudice??? come on, buddy. what are you talking about??? it sounds as though you want to forget what our history was all about, what our ancestors went through, etc. not every history in every culture is a pleasant story.

being asian-american, i'm quite proud that amy tan can write so eloquently about a part of asian history, and to think how successful she's become should be a proud reminder of who we are.
jen. Tuesday, August 28, 2001 at 11:14:09 (PDT)

I must admit I don't read much at all except for the daily newspaper. But I have noticed that the wider public loves fantastic journalism. That's why trash journalism like the Enquirer and its even more inferior like are so popular. Even in the established papers the most alarming stories make the front pages. In my local paper they have a syndicated column every week called News of the Weird. Often they'll have bits from Asia that are quite unbelievable and,in fact, are undoubtably unverified. But who's going to check them?

That's why I don't like Amy Tan. I hate to sound like one of those people who say "I didn't read the book but I saw the movie," but that's exactly what I must say. I saw the movie Joy Luck Club and I think Amy Tan does every Asian-American harm in that it forms a prejudice about Asians in general. The one scene that stands out is when one character slices off part of her flesh to make a broth to save her dying mother. Much of wider America already believes that Asians are strange. This kind of author only promotes those kinds of notions.

There was another movie, perhaps it was The Crow, where an Asian women pulls out the eye of a victim and presents it to her boss/boyfriend. And there are other films where Asian women are represented as sort of witches or fiends. People are left with an impression when they sample this kind of stuff. Look at the recent comments by Lynn in this section. She says that she likes to learn about Chinese culture and that's why she likes Amy Tan. How in Hell can you learn about Chinese culture from The Joy Luck Club? But she's convinced that she has!

Marginal Man Sunday, August 26, 2001 at 13:44:05 (PDT)

Uchida has been overlooked.
ray Wednesday, August 22, 2001 at 19:21:41 (PDT)

I just finished reading 'Native Speaker' by Chang-Rae Lee. I had the book with me and read it everywhere I went. I felt the book was beautifully written. I loved the way Lee describes some of the inner thoughts and past memories. Books like this fills me with renewed focus in life. I am glad that there are other Asian guys who feel the similar emotions living here in US as an immigrant (Or an outsider looking in). I can't wait to read his other book 'A gesture life'.
a guy from riverside Tuesday, July 31, 2001 at 22:47:34 (PDT)

I'm just curious, how does the korean comfort women in this book bare children when the Imperial Japanese military systematically surgically removed the wombs of Korean sex slaves during world war 2?
just curious Thursday, July 26, 2001 at 11:42:49 (PDT)

Has anyone read any of Frank Chin's work. I'm currently reading "Gunga Din Highway". I would like to hear thoughts on Chin and that particular novel.
CrzySxyCool Wednesday, July 11, 2001 at 05:19:27 (PDT)

Sorry Susan, but Comfort Woman is a well-written book, but for some readers who are familiar with Korea, it is frustrating to come across mistaken transliterations and skewed depictions of Korean culture. While I agree that on one level it is a worthy effort, it's just plain wrong! Rather than list a whole bunch of "Gotcha!" mistakes that Keller makes (which are egregious and many), I take issue with the portrayal of a mother who endures horrific, unimaginable suffering in Korea and conflate that with the immigrant Korean mother who works as a clean-up girl at the Waikiki BBQ hut. Susan Choi may be a yawn to you, but for those who know the history of the Korean War, it addresses very real historical issues. Choi was a fact-checker for the New Yorker and actually did research so she knows what she's talking about. I admit, if you don't know too much about the context, it might slip past you.

Keller, on the other hand, admittedly knows little about Korea and she obviously is writing from Beccah's Americanized perspective. Beccah is embarrassed by her immigrant mother's schizophrenic behavior, but realizes that it is all due to the fact that Oh! my mother was a mystic shaman who underwent the incredible cruelties of the Japanese as a sexual slave! So that�s why she�s such a freak in America! Why can't we tell the story of the comfort women without making it an Americanized mother-daughter assimilation story as well? Or why can�t we just tell a story about family intergenerational conflicts without FANTASIZING about heroic endurance as a comfort woman slash shaman?!? Nah, better to COMBINE the two into a mishmash and assume the average American reader won�t know the distortions (which is probably true).

But take for example, the calm, stoic, lyrical and courageous voice of the mother who says (IN ENGLISH) to her husband: �I know what I speak, for that is my given name. Soon Hyo, the true voice, the pure tongue.� This is strikingly at odds with the jarringly eccentric, crazy, prone to trances, who even shows up at Beccah�s school in a demented state, waving a Bic lighter and throwing candy. When confronted by the principal, Beccah�s mom replies in broken English: ��Yes sir,� she said. I looking for daughteh. Name is Roh-beccah Blad-u-ley.� I�m sorry, but that�s offensive, but then to link it to a comfort woman? Ugh.

I'm tired of the portrayal of the immigrant mother speaking broken, pidgin English, and then inconsistently portraying them as stoic, mythical characters who slip into fluid, dramatic English! The unassimilable immigrant mother in America waves a chicken over her head, sniffs her daughter and yells: ��Stink-poji cunt!� and charges forward with a knife�. She grunts, screams, yells, and exhibits a psychotic, mentally unstable character. In contrast, the passages of the mother as comfort woman, in contrast, are beautiful, lyrical and fluid.

The only way to reconcile this inconsistency is to make some pseudo-psychological argument about the schizophrenic experience of the As Am woman, but please, Asian history and transnational realities are going to increasingly demand that representations move beyond these tired clich�s of crazy immigrant Asians and increasingly troublesome and fantastic representations of Asian history.

Scooter Ha Friday, June 22, 2001 at 08:27:27 (PDT)

Oops, sorry for the typos in the last paragraph. It should read "marrying" rather than "wearing" (!) and I meant Asian men, of course, not "non-Asian men," who are depicted as embodying all that is bad in Asia. Looking back, I think I was a bit harsh; I didn't think The Joy Luck Club was all that bad. Still, I think the reactions of As Am males who are upset with depictions of them are honest and that this issue is out there as a real problem. Not a secret, so why deny it? Maybe it points to a very real schism between As Am men and women. Whatever the cause, it exists in As Am fiction and I commend others for putting their honest pov's out there.
Candolph Lee Thursday, June 21, 2001 at 09:18:22 (PDT)

Amy Tan's latest novel certainly seemed to lack excitement. I found it rather boring and I claim to be a huge fan of her work. Susan Choi's Foreign Student was a terrible yawn at best. You may want to try Comfort Woman by Nora Okja Keller. Although the subject matter is rather severe and brutal, the story is told with a rolling lucidity. It is difficult to find solid Asian American fiction and non-fiction. Credit must be acknowledged to those who try and give us volumes of situations that we as Asian Americans can relate to. It proves we are not alone.
Susan Wednesday, June 20, 2001 at 21:30:23 (PDT)

Asian babe who woke up,

Anytime, sister. I always try to reason with people, instead of arguing. Glad to see that you are more politically aware of the issues at hand. Please, spread what you've learned to other Asians who don't know any better.
Avid Book Reader Wednesday, June 20, 2001 at 16:04:52 (PDT)

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