• ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    DISORIENTATION by Elaine Hsieh Chou | ARC Review

    23rd March 2022
    Cover of Disorientation (Elaine Hsieh Chou)

    DISORIENTATION by Elaine Hsieh Chou

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    Disorientation follows a 29-year-old Taiwanese American PhD student Ingrid Yang (cishet) as she works on her dissertation on Xiao-Wen Chou, a fictional “Asian American” icon. Ingrid starts out as someone who is ignorant on the subject of racism and other social justice issues, which is the realm of her nemesis and fellow graduate student Vivian Vo (sapphic, Vietnamese American). Throughout her research, Ingrid finds substantial dirt on Xiao-Wen Chou, and it becomes the start of her journey of unlearning as well as sets off catastrophic events in Barnes University.

    Read More
  • Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Bestiary by K-Ming Chang

    10th March 2021
    Cover of Bestiary (K-Ming Chang)

    Bestiary by K-Ming Chang

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    Content warnings: cannibalism, animal abuse, animal killing, child abuse, miscarriage, suicide, blood, poison, gore, bestiality, PTSD, gun shot, on-page amputation

    Throughout most of the read, I thought the gruesome imageries were the author’s attempt to make Bestiary a disturbing read. But when I was two-thirds in, I realized this isn’t just a Taiwanese American novel, but also a retelling of Tayal fables (Tayal are a Taiwanese indigenous people, 泰雅族), strung together with common themes, told in English but are really also in Chinese (mostly Mandarin, but Taiwanese sort of helps).

    So I continued my reading as my eyes trailed the lines of English, my thoughts flipped to Mandarin and all the Tayal folklore I remembered and could find.

    Then things started to make sense.

    Read More