The protagonist, an Asian-American woman and a doctor, weaves medical and scientific language into this story about family heartache, the immigrant experience, and the cost of success in America - how it severs the body, amputates the family, and intrudes on the mind and memory. As Joan herself says, "if I could hold success in my hand, it would be a beating heart." The prose is sharp, precise, full of puns and double meaning, and plays on the translation of words between languages in order to brilliantly capture the feeling of being Other in America.
Think Oceans 11 meets The Fast and the Furious. Super fun heist novel with a stacked cast of characters. There is a really good twist too!
A campus novel like no other! A sharply written satire novel with a protagonist that makes many mistakes but ultimately triumphs in the end. A new favorite read of 2022!
Siren Queen is mesmerizing: an unusual blend of fantasy, historical fiction, horror, and magical realism. Golden Age Hollywood is the superficial outline, the glimmer and glow that draws your eye. But look into the depths--there's something supernatural and uncanny there. Here is an unsettling and electric story that mirrors the origin and rise of our narrator, Chinese American actress Lulli Mei.
At turns a tale of queer loves, at others an allegory on the monstrosity of powerful men, Vo recasts immigrants and outsiders as shapeshifters and sirens and silver screen starlets.
Writing a review for this book is gonna be hard but I'm going to try. This may be the I best book I've read this year. So many raw and stunning sentences just waiting for you to fall in love with. Told through letters from a son to a mother, I underlined the hell out of my copy. It broke my heart but it also put it back together. Read this and join the Ocean Vuong fan club with me.
This collection of previously published essays establishes Wesley Yang as one of the great cultured observers of these times. Absolutely one of the best collections of the year.
