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ilhamqurashi's review
5.0
CPH has a gift for articulating feelings that are so difficult to express, a very cathartic read
kayladro's review against another edition
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.0
Not really an essay person, but read this for book club. Definitely learned new things.
birdbeech's review
5.0
A life changing book (truly in my top 5 books now) in reassurance in racial identity and feminist issues, specific and not, to Asian American women. This book went from personal experiences to poignant observations in race, trauma, gender, and sex and tied them together beautifully and satisfyingly. I believe anyone who reads this book would understand the experience as an Asian American woman much much better. Hong solidified so many feelings I have had growing into myself, and I am grateful for this piece of literature. Also as an added bonus, learned a lot about AAPI artists in America. The way she writes is masterful; I am excited to read her poetry.
taylersimon22's review
5.0
I’m not sure what I expected with Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning. Maybe something that was going to be a general reflection on what it means to be Asian in America. Something cool to read for AAPI Heritage Month.
What I got was so much more than that.
Cathy Park Hong created art so exposed and so raw. She intimately shares her deepest feelings of self-loathing created through seeing herself through the eyes of white supremacy. She “borrows” from the lives of others– other artists and other minoritized identities– to reckon with her own feelings of subjugation, and because she had to borrow from their lives to talk about her own.
One of my favorite passages is about Asian Americans being next in line to be white.
“When I hear the phrase “Asians are next in line to be white,” I replace the word “white” with “disappear.” Asians are next in line to disappear. We are reputed to be so accomplished, and so law-abiding, we will disappear into this country’s amnesiac fog. We will not be the power but become absorbed by power, not share the power of whites but be stooges to a white ideology that exploited our ancestors.”
This passage impacted me deeply because I kept thinking about my relationship with Asian Americans as a Black person. Oftentimes, Black people hold this sentiment because we see so many examples of “the Model Minority” exerting anti-Black racism and serving as accomplices to white supremacy. Cathy Park Hong eloquently addresses Asian American’s relationship with other people of color through her engagement with Richard Pryor’s comedy.
But, as she addresses, aligning Asian Americans to whiteness is erasing and dismissing their experiences of oppression. Violence against Asian Americans did not start with the pandemic.
Cathy Park Hong’s poignant account of finding a therapist, using humor and art, female friendships, and her relationship to her mother show a side of the Asian American experience that isn’t widely discussed. She does so in a poetic style that is all her own.
I gained so much from this collection of essays. The hype is definitely valid.
What I got was so much more than that.
Cathy Park Hong created art so exposed and so raw. She intimately shares her deepest feelings of self-loathing created through seeing herself through the eyes of white supremacy. She “borrows” from the lives of others– other artists and other minoritized identities– to reckon with her own feelings of subjugation, and because she had to borrow from their lives to talk about her own.
One of my favorite passages is about Asian Americans being next in line to be white.
“When I hear the phrase “Asians are next in line to be white,” I replace the word “white” with “disappear.” Asians are next in line to disappear. We are reputed to be so accomplished, and so law-abiding, we will disappear into this country’s amnesiac fog. We will not be the power but become absorbed by power, not share the power of whites but be stooges to a white ideology that exploited our ancestors.”
This passage impacted me deeply because I kept thinking about my relationship with Asian Americans as a Black person. Oftentimes, Black people hold this sentiment because we see so many examples of “the Model Minority” exerting anti-Black racism and serving as accomplices to white supremacy. Cathy Park Hong eloquently addresses Asian American’s relationship with other people of color through her engagement with Richard Pryor’s comedy.
But, as she addresses, aligning Asian Americans to whiteness is erasing and dismissing their experiences of oppression. Violence against Asian Americans did not start with the pandemic.
Cathy Park Hong’s poignant account of finding a therapist, using humor and art, female friendships, and her relationship to her mother show a side of the Asian American experience that isn’t widely discussed. She does so in a poetic style that is all her own.
I gained so much from this collection of essays. The hype is definitely valid.
juliaarciga's review
No rating for now because I need to think about it some more. Thoughts:
- The book had moments where I knew exactly what she was talking about, and other moments where I was disengaged and, frankly, uninterested
- Some essays are better than others. This is going to sound harsh but I did not care much for the author’s retelling of her oberlin days and the toxic friendship she had. I didn’t really know how that tied into anything in the book (but IDK, maybe I’m just not seeing it).
- This is a good book if you want to expand your vocab. Big words were used on literally every single page. Kind of interesting to think about the use of such sophisticated words given the essay “Bad English” in there
- This is not a casual read. There were times where it felt like a total slog to get through.
- There’s a lot of hype about this book and I’m feeling disappointed.
- The book had moments where I knew exactly what she was talking about, and other moments where I was disengaged and, frankly, uninterested
- Some essays are better than others. This is going to sound harsh but I did not care much for the author’s retelling of her oberlin days and the toxic friendship she had. I didn’t really know how that tied into anything in the book (but IDK, maybe I’m just not seeing it).
- This is a good book if you want to expand your vocab. Big words were used on literally every single page. Kind of interesting to think about the use of such sophisticated words given the essay “Bad English” in there
- This is not a casual read. There were times where it felt like a total slog to get through.
- There’s a lot of hype about this book and I’m feeling disappointed.
weizerbeam's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
blester042590's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
sagegreen19's review
3.0
The first half of the book was really insightful and well-written. I really like the comparisons she made with the Black American experience. Particularly the points regard how Asian Americans and Black Americans have much more in common than is typically advertised. Asian American narratives are often restricted to “trauma porn” and there is a massive erasure of Asian American history and their contribution to American culture.
The second half of the book about grad school felt very bourgeois and lacked the focus and insight of the first half. It’s not that the second half of the book is bad, it’s just jarring.
The second half of the book about grad school felt very bourgeois and lacked the focus and insight of the first half. It’s not that the second half of the book is bad, it’s just jarring.