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%

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Comments posted during the past year remain available for browsing.

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WHAT YOU SAY

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

To: nope

“Why does everyone love to bash Amy Tan? Well mostly AM's. Not that all AMs are bad husbands and abusive, but some are and maybe she experienced horrible abuse at the hands of an AM. You're going to tell me that all Chinese men of that time treated their wives like princesses? Please.”

Do all white men treat their wives like princesses? How about black men?

It’s clear that whether the author is Amy Tan or not doesn’t matter to you. As long as the author bashes Asian men, they're good with you. So, my question to you is why do you like authors that bash Asian men? Do they reflect the same attitude you personally hold towards Asian men?

Repost Saturday, April 20, 2002 at 16:09:40 (PDT)

Amy Tan is a sell out. In "Joy Luck Club", asian males are depicted as either money grubbing calclating hoarders (like the guy who split every thing fifty fifty) or disrepectful wife beating meatheads (like the character Russell Wong played). In fact, the only happy couple was the one with the white guy (sure he cheated on her, but they got back together in the end). The scene with him eating dinner with the family made him look like the innocent, loveable victim of exoticly strange and harsh etiquette.
Amy Tan is totally westernized in real life anyway. Married a white guy. Ironically, her mind is full of negative asian stereotypes. And the american public eats it up like candy.
NYCABC Saturday, April 20, 2002 at 14:02:46 (PDT)

i just watched the joy luck club yesterday, and i would have to say that the movie was sh*t house and not realistic that i almost felt like crying myself. what a bunch of crap.
joy f**k club is poo Saturday, April 20, 2002 at 00:24:14 (PDT)

Nope (you dope)

If Manaa endorses Joy Luck Club, it's an indictment of Manaa, not a validation of Joy Luck. If Manaa really considers itself a defender of the AA image, it should think these things through. Maybe the Manaa person is starstruck by Tan or maybe she donated some money. All I know is, it doesn't know that elevating AF at the expense of AM is no kind of progress. It's just more of the same old thing.
BookTaster Thursday, April 18, 2002 at 19:06:23 (PDT)

MANAA only told half the story when reviewing the Joy Luck Club. JLC does a good job elevating the role of AFs. However, JLC portrays all AMs as evil gansters, rapists, or ignorant cheap-ass bastards.

AMs have been short-changed in the media too long, and JLC only worsened it.

yes Thursday, April 18, 2002 at 17:07:40 (PDT)

Hi nope:

gee, why do we hate Amy Tan? Maybe because her writing sucks. But if you like that sort of thing, more power to your cheesy oprah book club mindset.
harpo Thursday, April 18, 2002 at 15:02:19 (PDT)

dear puzzled:

you make a good point, but your logic is shaky: if the movie passed muster, so then the book must necessarily be okay? i think not.

Part of the problem may be political correctness: it's not easy to criticize a book that is written by an Asian American female as "Anti-Asian American." Some of us are just happy to see SOMEONE AsAm out there, even though it is distorted. There's a double standard, and for some people, Asian American writers are held to less stringent standards than white writers, simply because of their ethnicity. But that doesn't erase the fact that we AsAms ourselves can be "auto-Orientalist." That's why this issue is so sticky: Asian Americans themselves defend or attack a writer like Amy Tan who is Asian American herself. How in the world can she be offensive to herself?! Finally, to use some standard like MANAA to decide whether or not we feel offended or not is unfair. We feel what we feel, and if we are offended, then we have a right to say so. It's not as if we can say, "Oh, MANAA says it's not offensive so we shouldn't feel this way!" Don't quote some authority to evade the issue. It doesn't go away so easily.

Ol E.S. Thursday, April 18, 2002 at 14:59:16 (PDT)

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