false 17 156 129 true 5627293 read 1 true 1659110 currently-reading 19 true 1659109 to-read 4 true 4663085 will-never--ever--ever-read 3 true 4496959 gave-up--never-finished http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/68759589 to: Manic: A Memoir (Hardcover) by Terri Cheney
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/50011675 to: Memoirs of a Geisha (Paperback) by Arthur Golden
I have such a love-hate relationship with this book.

On the one hand, it's absorbing, suspenseful, well written, and intricately plotted, with a likable protagonist and a colorful, memorable supporting cast. On the other hand, it perpetuates all the Western perceptions/misconceptions of the East as an exotic "other." If you loved Memoirs of a Geisha but have never read Edward Said's Orientalism, check out the latter. It might complicate your understanding of this novel.

Of course, I had problems with Memoirs of a Geisha long before I'd heard of Said, long before I became interested in gender in the ancient world or women's rights in the here and now. I'm a 재미교포이세 (second-generation Korean American), the daughter of immigrant parents, who has always felt like an outsider in both cultures (i.e. both Korean and American)...and incidentally, has mostly dated white boys. (Hey, don't talk to me about how my dating history reveals my deep-seated self-hatred. I grew up in white suburbia, and in high school, when I moved to the far more diverse city of Boston, Asian boys weren't interested in me because I was too whitewashed/not cute or thin enough to satisfy their standards.)

My first boyfriend's mother once told me, as her husband snapped pictures of me and her son right before we traipsed off to a semi-formal dance, that I looked like a geisha. She didn't even seem to notice how tight and false my smile suddenly became. Geishas are JAPANESE, I remember thinking. They are basically glorified prostitutes. Do you have any idea how offensive that is to me? Another ex's mother, a wonderful, capable woman whom I respect greatly but who sees the world from a very different window than I do, once saw a Japanese woman in an airport dressed in a kimono. "Look, a geisha!" she said excitedly to her family. "Mom," my ex mumbled. "She's not a geisha." Having seen Memoirs of a Geisha sitting around the family home on several different occasions, I hold it partially responsible for such assumptions by Westerners who have never been to the East. ]]> http://apps.facebook.com/good_reads/ check it out » ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/59226531 The Hollow Hope: Can Courts Bring About Social Change? (American Politics and Political Economy Series) by Gerald N. Rosenberg
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/47397273 to: Yellow: Stories (Paperback) by Don Lee
I read Yellow for the first time years ago - in high school, when I was a bit of an Angry Little Asian Girl*, albeit only on the inside - and loved it. I've reread it several times since, most recently a couple months ago, and I'd still recommend this excellent, highly readable collection of interconnected short stories. True, some of the issues these stories deal with, among them Asian fetishism, stereotyping and racism (or the fear of it), interracial relationships, and the alienation and isolation some Asian Americans grapple with, might not be as fresh as they once were, but they remain relevant. There are a number of sympathetic and compelling characters, and it's fun to see how they're all related to each other. Good, spare prose, not flowery or indulgent. Yellow is no Interpreter of Maladies, but I could identify with it more than I could with Jhumpa Lahiri's short stories.


*N.B. See http://www.angrylittlegirls.com/ Pretty funny. I am the proud owner of an ALAG tote bag from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago; it was a birthday present from my Umma. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/53782253 Nothing Was the Same (Hardcover) by Kay Redfield Jamison
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/53782236 Manic-Depressive Illness Bipolar Disorders and Recurrent Depression Volume I, (Volume I) by Frederick K. Goodwin
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/53782229 Manic-Depressive Illness: Bipolar Disorders and Recurrent Depression, Volume II (2) by Frederick K. Goodwin
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/53782220 Understanding Depression: What We Know and What You Can Do About It (Hardcover) by J. Raymond DePaulo
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/53782204 Manic-Depressive Illness (Hardcover) by Frederick K. Goodwin
bookshelves: to-read
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