Izzy H.
asked
Jessica Love:
Did you do any research on the Asian culture? My parents would've killed me if I tried to do even half the things Hannah and Grace are attempting: sneaking off to lost Vegas, meeting up with strangers, etc. It doesn't make any sense to me because I'm Asian, and I know what typical Asian families are like.
Jessica Love
I did! Growing up, my two very best friends were Korean (one of them has a shout-out in the book), and I spent tons of time with both of their families for years and years. My husband is also Korean, and we have been together, and I have been part of his Korean family, for close to 20 years now. I'm by no means an expert on Korean American culture or life, but it is definitely something I have researched and tried to take great care with in this book.
I also know that not all Asian families are alike. While there are "typical" Asian families, I find that those types of families are the only ones that seem to be portrayed in popular culture. It seems that whenever there is an Asian family, the parents are strict and controlling and care about their kids' grades and schooling to an obsessive degree. And while that portrayal is accurate for many, many Asian American families (like one of the friends I mentioned above, for example), it's not accurate for all, and there are already so many portrayals of that type of Asian family. Sometimes it feels like the only portrayal of Asian families. If Hannah's family was like that, especially written by a white writer, it felt to me like feeding into and reenforcing a stereotype. And while that stereotype comes from a place of truth for a lot of people, since it is one of the only versions of the Asian family we see in pop culture, I wanted to present a different version.
I didn't give a lot of details about Hannah's parents in the book, but they are both born and raised in America. I tried to think about if my husband, who was born in Ohio, raised in California, and did not come from that "typical Asian family" at all, married a Korean American woman who had a similar upbringing had a family, what would that Asian American family look like? How would they deal with their children? And that's how I imagined Hannah and Grace's parents.
I know Hannah and Grace's parents don't ring true for some people. But the typical Asian family that is portrayed in the media also doesn't ring true for some people, either. (My husband, for example, does not relate at all to those portrayals of Asian families we so often see.) And since that's the one we see the most, I wanted to give some other types of families some airtime. I'm hoping that we see so many books and TV shows and movies with Asian American characters some day soon that every single person can see themselves and their families reflected a story!
I also know that not all Asian families are alike. While there are "typical" Asian families, I find that those types of families are the only ones that seem to be portrayed in popular culture. It seems that whenever there is an Asian family, the parents are strict and controlling and care about their kids' grades and schooling to an obsessive degree. And while that portrayal is accurate for many, many Asian American families (like one of the friends I mentioned above, for example), it's not accurate for all, and there are already so many portrayals of that type of Asian family. Sometimes it feels like the only portrayal of Asian families. If Hannah's family was like that, especially written by a white writer, it felt to me like feeding into and reenforcing a stereotype. And while that stereotype comes from a place of truth for a lot of people, since it is one of the only versions of the Asian family we see in pop culture, I wanted to present a different version.
I didn't give a lot of details about Hannah's parents in the book, but they are both born and raised in America. I tried to think about if my husband, who was born in Ohio, raised in California, and did not come from that "typical Asian family" at all, married a Korean American woman who had a similar upbringing had a family, what would that Asian American family look like? How would they deal with their children? And that's how I imagined Hannah and Grace's parents.
I know Hannah and Grace's parents don't ring true for some people. But the typical Asian family that is portrayed in the media also doesn't ring true for some people, either. (My husband, for example, does not relate at all to those portrayals of Asian families we so often see.) And since that's the one we see the most, I wanted to give some other types of families some airtime. I'm hoping that we see so many books and TV shows and movies with Asian American characters some day soon that every single person can see themselves and their families reflected a story!
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Jul 04, 2016 09:55AM · flag