Asian American Novels & Writers | Asian American Poll

ASIAN AMERICAN NOVELS
(Updated Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:11:24 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.]

If the Joy Luck Club book was so offensively stereotypical, then why wasn't the movie criticized for stereotypes by MANAA (Media Action Network for Asian Americans)? In fact, the movie is on MANAA's list of recommended movies. MANAA is a progressive activist organization working to improve the image of Asian Americans in film. See for yourself.

http://manaa.org/a_stereotypes.html
http://manaa.org/videoguide.html

If the movie is okay, then the book is okay.
puzzled Thursday, April 18, 2002 at 11:33:37 (PDT)

actually my own father was abusive, but younger generations born here are open minded and raised in this democratic country. yes, some of the old generation do espouse the hateful male chauvinism and devalue women but we young men who grew up here sure don't. all the stereotypes and images reinforced my belief that asian male chauvinism drove asian women to white men until i met an ex gf's dad - a chinese immigrant who was really cool and great to her mom. what the hell stereotypes are perpetuated because of ignorance. also i've gotten to know many Asian men of the middle and older generations and they don't abuse their wives. It cleansed my soul knowing that the culture of my heritage back in Asia isn't a factory for producing wife beaters. I used to hate being Asian but have now realized that wife abuse happens in many families crossing the divides of socio-economic status, ethnicity, religion, and even education. Lots of violent men who beat their wives and terrorize the kids and this group includes all races... hopefully one day society would have progressed enough to make it less likely for violence against women.
Asian american born kid Thursday, April 18, 2002 at 01:04:46 (PDT)

Don Lee's book : "Yellow" is good. look it up
college guy Thursday, April 18, 2002 at 00:34:33 (PDT)

For those that love writing how bad Asian men were in the past China. Well, FYI all men back then were sexist! true in some cases Chinese men could be more harsh to women back then. but check out the Chinese men today! How far have we gone in making ourselves better men and we are not stopping here. we'll always make ourselves better men to love our beautiful Asians princess!
There ARE good Asian men Wednesday, April 17, 2002 at 17:44:23 (PDT)

To Nope:
Oh no, of course ALL Chinese men of that time didn't treat their women like princesses so I guess it's OK to bash em as cruel, women-hating misogynists right? Chinese women actually had more legal rights than you might think, even before women in Victorian england. And while there stereotype is that Ching China was draconian and sexist, legal records show that they actually protected women in more complex ways than you think. But why bother with that? let's just keep it simple: therefore, virtually every book and movie that portrays Chinese men in this negative light is OK because the stereotype is partially true right? While Tan may be one woman with her own personal experience, if she's going to paint a picture of Asian men in this scoeity, could she at least please not do it with such a large brush? Please: we get enough crap for being Asian men, do we really want to perpetuate or reinforce such images?
Kpau Tuesday, April 16, 2002 at 09:46:53 (PDT)

Ten Thousand Sorrows is ridiculous. I'm a Korean American and this book offends me, not because Korea doesn't have problems, not that it doesn't have sexist attitudes or even because it does discriminate against interracial marriage and adoptees. I object to this book because it's taking those flaws and distorting into an overly simplistic, blanket descriptiong of Korea that is backwards, primitive and distorted. My parents and other Koreans I've talked to either laugh or become amazed when I tell them the details of the book, like growing rice in winter or 'hyonhyol' being a racial slur that means 'animal' (it's a politically correct term that educated Koreans used in polite society). Here's what I think" Kim had a horrible adoptee experience. her mother may have experienced harsh discrimination, may even have been killed. Kim took the traumatic experience of racism and being raised by an ultra-religious American family and fantasized about an ideal, idyllic life in Korea that is so dream-like and perfect that she needs to have this brutal murder "memory" to explain all the crap she experienced in her life. No one said that being adopted by a fundamentalist family who is insensitive to racial differences is easy. But ignorance of this magnitude is inexcusable. There are other adoptees who agree with me; isn't the truth what is more important? Can't we criticize Korea in an intelligent manner without letting personal gripes and hang-ups get to us? Sheesh!

DPD Tuesday, April 16, 2002 at 09:40:02 (PDT)

nope,

Actually Amy Tan has not experienced much abuse from Asian Men. She admitted it herself. Her stories are taken from other people and relatives.

I think Amy Tan should write about White men or black men being abusive. Just to even it out you know.
An Avid Reader Tuesday, April 16, 2002 at 00:19:25 (PDT)

Here's why everyone (or at least many people) likes to bash on Amy Tan.

http://www.olagrande.net/~webguy/writings/joysucks.html

yes Monday, April 15, 2002 at 19:49:10 (PDT)

NEWEST COMMENTS | EARLIER COMMENTS