Asian American Novels & Writers | Asian American Poll

ASIAN AMERICAN NOVELS
(Updated Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:11:23 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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I am a WF reading "Yell-oh Girls!", has anyone else read this? I'd be interested in your thoughts.
curious Wednesday, April 24, 2002 at 09:11:22 (PDT)

I think the time when Joy Luck Club came out was about 10 years ago. Times have changed quite a bit since then. I think we are seeing AM increasingly shed in a more positive light, i.e., Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat, John Cho..etc. I really don't think writers like Amy Tan can continue to get away with crap like what she wrote back then. The truth is most AF I know thinks the movie as a bunch of crap as well. If you want bad examples of WM & BM on the media, just tune in to Jerry Springer alike, you will find dimes a dozen. What kind of propaganda is that WM is better than AM. What we really need to promote is more positive AM image on TV, on the same footing as whites and black.
Proud Terp Wednesday, April 24, 2002 at 06:22:51 (PDT)

Manaa would not risk its credibility by relying on double standards since it is the official voice of AAs serving as their eyes and ears.

Manaa electively bestowed its Media Achievement Award on the Joy Luck movie. The award recognizes films that have advanced the image of AAs in the media.

The answer may be that Manaa has to use broad instead of tight criteria in evaluating movies, otherwise nothing will pass muster. If Manaa is perceived to be too picky, then Hollywood would balk and turn a deaf ear in the future. Manaa would then lose credibility in the eyes of the studios.

Manaa appeared to have judged Joy Luck on its own merits and found nothing wrong with it. It also held up the movie as a good example of a film with AAs in the lead roles and did not criticize it for the stereotypes and inequities listed in its memo to Hollywood. www.manaa.org/a_stereotypes.html

Joy Luck may be criticized by some for now because flicks in general are not equitably representing AMs. According to Manaa, Joy Luck will ultimately withstand the test of time. I'm stepping out of the box here and trying to look at this from Manaa's point of view.
#neutron# Tuesday, April 23, 2002 at 20:58:08 (PDT)

yes,

One same race versus two interracial relationships in Joy Luck was an expression of freedom. This vividly showed how far Asian women have come from past victimized status in China to freely choosing who to marry and socialize with in the U.S. There was an error in my last post. One of the Asian women was not married to the clueless White so that leaves two marriages: one to the Asian and one to the White.

Interracial marriage is a sensitive issue. People will always look for the first telltale signs that such marriages won't work out. If, for example, the marriage didn't work out, Asians will generally blame the White wife or White husband and call the AM or AF a fool for marrying a White instead of viewing the breakup as irreconcilable differences unique to two individuals. Interracial marriages are frowned upon enough as it is. It explains the use of a somewhat light hand in presenting the problems in the interracial marriage.

That's why the problems in the AF/WM marriage centered on the fault of the AF instead of the WM who cheated because of it. She couldn't cope with the demands of the marriage to the rich WM and developed an inferiority complex. Her marriage did not conclusively end up in reconciliation or final divorce in the book. Actually, she was in the midst of a divorce and the book left it at that. The movie changed it to reconcilation to make the ending happier to satisfy audiences. As for the same race marriage, the AF with the cheap Asian husband was equally, if not more so, at fault. Cheapness itself was incidental to the main point which was her low self-esteem. Because of low self-esteem, she allowed her husband to solely dictate the marriage until it was too late. Many people, male or female (any race) would dominate a marriage if allowed to.

If the shoe was on the other foot, AFs in general would also find it acceptable because books and movies are written and developed so that evoked sympathy goes to the right characters, i.e., characters with insecurities and attempts to come to terms with it etc. Females usually empathize with similar themes in other books.
tulux999 Tuesday, April 23, 2002 at 13:00:49 (PDT)

the only problem with the Joy Luck club is that it was highly publicized through the media because Amy Tan went on numerous talk shows and radio shows to promote the book. Evidently, she did mention the main theme of the story which eventually lead to dehumanizing asian males. In addition to that, the joy luck club was produced into a movie.
amy tan hater Tuesday, April 23, 2002 at 12:24:57 (PDT)

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