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54th out of 112 books
—
88 voters
The Accidental Asian: Notes of a Native Speaker
by
Eric Liu
Beyond black and white, native and alien, lies a vast and fertile field of human experience. It is here that Eric Liu, former speechwriter for President Clinton and noted political commentator, invites us to explore.
In these compellingly candid essays, Liu reflects on his life as a second-generation Chinese American and reveals the shifting frames of ethnic identity. Findi...more
In these compellingly candid essays, Liu reflects on his life as a second-generation Chinese American and reveals the shifting frames of ethnic identity. Findi...more
Paperback, 224 pages
Published
September 7th 1999
by Vintage
(first published 1998)
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So I'll be teaching this during the upcoming fall semester for the first time, along with two other multicultural texts. Although, as Liu would contend, our such books are not so much multicultural as they are omnicultural. Ha.
Liu's prose is elegant. He manages to convey the most complex thoughts with accessible metaphors and similes. He's provocative, even insisting that the 'Asian American' label is not necessary and lacks specific cultural impact. As a native speaker, he can reach a vast amou...more
Liu's prose is elegant. He manages to convey the most complex thoughts with accessible metaphors and similes. He's provocative, even insisting that the 'Asian American' label is not necessary and lacks specific cultural impact. As a native speaker, he can reach a vast amou...more
When I began this book I did not envisage that I would be compelled to delve into my own ethnicity. The author writes from the perspective of an American-born Chinese raised in a predominately white society. I am a product of a mixed race ( a white father and Chinese mother) raised in a predominately white society but I could still relate to the questions he raises about what makes us what we are that go beyond culture, beyond skin color. He questions the lumping of all Asian cultures into the g...more
I felt this book was so-so. The narrator, Eric Liu himself, writes in such a way that is pleasant and not too difficult to read. What I did not like about the book was the feeling of repetition. For example, a child says they like blue socks and a parent asks why, the child might reply with a list of why he/she didn't like olthe other socks: "White socks are boring. Black socks are sad. Red socks are..." and so on. He tells you several stories about his father, but each end with a similar questi...more
Ah yes, how I remember this book. It was through a critique of this book that I explored for the first time the conflation of success/power with whiteness and identifications with whiteness that belie an underlying self-hatred. Nothing remarkable here, other than really bad prose.
It seems like people enjoy this book in proportion to the amount of Liu's experience they can identify with. I wanted to like it more than I did because of particular passages, like the letter he recreates in his father's voice. I could have given five stars to that book for that. I can't believe how accurately he captured an ESL parent whose first language was Cantonese--"Be careful with the cold weather that's approaching fast," "We are so behind in handling our mails," and "All for now. Take...more
As a reader, I intentionally thought this book was about an Asian who was born "accidental" or simply, not meant to be born at all. Of course, that didn't give me a blind eye to dive right into Eric Liu's profound story of growing up and facing conflicts of being the label: Asian American. One aspect of the author's writing and sense that I really relish is his metacognitive usage of words such as "Asian", "Chinese", "American", etc. Everytime I skim with my eyes through his sentences and words,...more
Nov 22, 2007
Kelly
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Asian Americans, I guess (so ... everyone currently on my 'friend' list)
I was angsting over 2 stars or 3 stars, but, hey, it's Thanksgiving.
Liu's book was certainly interesting, and really thought-provoking--ultimately it was an attempt to answer the questions What does it mean to be Chinese? and What is an Asian American? His answer, to both, is pretty much 'nothing.'
Parts of the book were very touching, like when he was talking about missing his father, or describing his grandmother (so cute). Other parts, though--I don't know. Liu argues pretty passionately aga...more
Liu's book was certainly interesting, and really thought-provoking--ultimately it was an attempt to answer the questions What does it mean to be Chinese? and What is an Asian American? His answer, to both, is pretty much 'nothing.'
Parts of the book were very touching, like when he was talking about missing his father, or describing his grandmother (so cute). Other parts, though--I don't know. Liu argues pretty passionately aga...more
So far I like it. Very well written, the narrator is sensitive and honest, and completely subjective. he's telling his authentic story, and in doing so is finally providing a Chinese American narrative that I can actually relate to. finally someone who acknowledges that being american born chinese is a really complicated identity that cannot be defined in any one way. (no we did not all have parents who forced us to play classical instruments, get straight A's, speak and read Chinese, work in a...more
Jun 07, 2007
Marisa
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone who wants to consider what being 'Asian American' means
I just *had* to read this book while working on a APA Heritage Month project celebrating Asian American unity, didn't I?
Eric Liu, a speechwriter for the Clinton administration, writer for Slate magazine, and professor at University of Washington, writes candidly about growing up as the son of solidly middle-class Chinese American parents from Taiwan. Though billed an overachiever (Liu questions who sets those standards, anyway), he repeatedly pushes the envelope by doing "non-Asian" things: joi...more
Eric Liu, a speechwriter for the Clinton administration, writer for Slate magazine, and professor at University of Washington, writes candidly about growing up as the son of solidly middle-class Chinese American parents from Taiwan. Though billed an overachiever (Liu questions who sets those standards, anyway), he repeatedly pushes the envelope by doing "non-Asian" things: joi...more
Eric Liu, a former speech writer for President Clinton, is the son of Chinese immigrants to the US. In this memoir, he describes his life and reflects on what it means to be Chinese and American. He riffs on race, minorities, culture, and people of mixed-race (He has married a white woman who has a Jewish grandmother).
His descriptions of his family and his experiences growing up in white suburban US are wonderful. His thoughts on immigrants, race and culture are not very coherent.
The cover is p...more
His descriptions of his family and his experiences growing up in white suburban US are wonderful. His thoughts on immigrants, race and culture are not very coherent.
The cover is p...more
Even though Eric Liu was born a generation ahead of me, (he was around 30 when the book came out) there's still so much I can relate to, in terms of what he went through. Twenty-four years on this planet, and I still haven't figured out what it means to be Asian American, to be Chinese and to be American, as an ABC who has only ever lived in Maryland.
i couldn't identify with everything, but a lot this book was really easy to swallow. perhaps i'm a little closer to my 'Asian-ness' than the author, but, as he says, it's because my parents raised me with the freedom to choose to be close to my heritage. and that freedom is something that's inherently American.
Confusing age, confusing personality, lost soul as chinese- America, if he know more about China, he will have different view toward Chinese. To be success in US as Asia American.seems you have to disagree you original culture, then most America would like to read it.
A series of essays that guides the reader through his life and ideas of what it's like to be Asian American. He is extremely pro-Us anti labels and the reader is pretty much reading his argument about why he has chosen his certain path towards assimilation.
i really wanted to give this book 4 or 5 stars, because there were entire passages where i felt that no one had ever understood me better than he did. i think he was much more thought-provoking and coherent when he was writing about his childhood and his relationship with his family. it was those passages that really catalyzed introspection and self-assessment in myself. in his short essays, i felt less convinced that he had an actual point to get across and was rarely moved. his chapter on asia...more
A collection of memoir driven essays concerning the gains and losses of ethnic assimilation. He uncovers the price of becoming "american" and raises many interesting questions regarding ethnic blendings. A thought-provoking read.
While I agree with his central argument that the Asian-American identity construct is wholly illusory and doctrinally fragile, I'm not convinced that it will fade away within our generation. No. So long as America continues to be obsessed with the artificial concept of race, even if "Asian-Americans" reject the label, the rest of society will likely stubbornly cling to the idea of a pan-Asia identity. Internalizing the dominant group's classification regime, the outsider legitimizes the very lab...more
The cover photo (a bowl of rice & fork) says it all about this thought provoking collection of essays exploring the idea of being Asian American and the greater meaning of race. My favorite essays are "Song for my father," "The
Chinatown idea" and "Blood Vows."
Chinatown idea" and "Blood Vows."
Interesting meditations on what it means to be Asian American, and American. This was selected to be the required common reading book for incoming freshman at UT in the fall of 2012.
Some interesting anecdotes on what it is to be Chinese from a prominent Chinese American. One wonders wheter the writer himself had an identity crisis and is trying to justify his chosen lifestyle.
Other reviews are widely mixed. I haven't read many other books directly addressing the assimilation of asian immigrants into mainstream America. I'm intrigued by the idea of the New Jew mentioned later in the text.
The cultural implications of race and the physiological differences we call race and the econ/political issues of emerging economies in asia really complicate the idea that asians will have equal status in wide america. Adam Sandler may be Jewish, but being Jewish doesn't carry the c...more
The cultural implications of race and the physiological differences we call race and the econ/political issues of emerging economies in asia really complicate the idea that asians will have equal status in wide america. Adam Sandler may be Jewish, but being Jewish doesn't carry the c...more
I started reading this thinking that I would enjoy it and be able to relate to how Liu felt. I realized halfway through that I had stopped processing what I was reading. I had an issue with almost every argument Liu offered for his confusion and in the end, the whole book raised only one question: if war broke out between the United States and India, what side would I choose to take? Very disappointing.
It was like reading many of my own thoughts on self-identity in America. I can't recommend this enough.
Feb 21, 2010
Alex
added it
The Accidental Asian : Notes of a Native Speaker (Vintage) by Eric Liu (1999)
Mar 14, 2011
Sam
added it
Thought this sucked. Don't remember why. I just remember feeling repulsed.
I had heard great things about this book before I read it, so when I saw it at this discount bookstore for 5 bucks, I had to have it. I can't say that I didn't like the book, because I enjoyed the majority of it. I felt like I could relate to him as a first generation Asian kid growing up in two different worlds at once. I particularly liked when he talked of his visits to his grandma in Chinatown, but as the book drew on, I found myself tired, and sadly indifferent to his story.
found it problematic at times.
My brother gave this to me as a gift and I'm am grateful he did. For the first couple of chapters it was as if the author were expressing thoughts I have often had but could not voice well. It was about looking for ones self-repressed Asian spirit inside the Westernized self after the death of a parent...when the connection to the old world is now gone...a very moving book for me. Introspective words that bred my own introspection.
I think half star ratings would help me be a little more accurate in my ratings. This book falls between 3 and 4.
Liu wrote this about 10 yrs ago and I felt that what he said about the overly broad, inadequate term "Asian American" is still relevant today and to my experience.
I recommend this to anyone interested in race politics and American cultural identity.
Liu wrote this about 10 yrs ago and I felt that what he said about the overly broad, inadequate term "Asian American" is still relevant today and to my experience.
I recommend this to anyone interested in race politics and American cultural identity.
May 13, 2007
Jarmin Christine
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people questioning their asian american identity
The rhetorical question remains: can one be Chinese American without simultaneously being "not" Chinese or "not" American? Liu successfully uses simple language to convey the complexity of having an identity that is self-perceived as marginal and definatly marginal to the "mainstream". Being an "accidental asian" is quite possibly the closest description i have for myself.
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Feb 26, 2008 05:05pm