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graceesford's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, and Death
Minor: Alcohol and Drug use
brennalr's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Cancer, Sexism, and Death
hilaryreadsbooks's review
5.0
Three Asian Americans grapple with racism, identity, and the perils of representation in sports, media, and entertainment in Matthew Salesses’ latest novel, THE SENSE OF WONDER. Once I started this book I couldn’t put it down. That last chapter! That last chapter!!
A while back I read a snippet by Alexander Chee on the storytelling of Korean dramas—a type of storytelling, as Matthew Salesses discusses in CRAFT IN THE REAL WORLD, that is often overlooked by western writing canons. The K-drama is full of tropes (Salesses lists a couple: body-swapping, gender-bending, ghosts, etc. but my personal favorite has got to be enemies to lovers). And not only tropes, but they also branch out into a web of sub-characters and sub-plots that all tie back together into the drama’s central story. To watch a K-drama is to love the entirety of these interconnected branching ecosystems; it is to suspend disbelief and give in to the K-drama world that breaks rules that strictly enforce ours. And, as Carrie Kang, a studio producer in THE SENSE OF WONDER, says: to love a K-drama is to have hope. Hope defines the frame of reference dramas put us in. In “dramaland,” as Salesses fondly calls it, miracles happen, love triumphs. Most importantly, the main characters experiencing miracles and love are all Asian.
THE SENSE OF WONDER makes us question what the real world, the world the characters in the book struggle in, would look like within this dramaland’s frame of reference. To not be tokenized, to not be cast aside as the Asian sidekick—to write our own Asian American stories that we star in. To let love triumph, to veer close to death and somehow find doors normally shut open so that we can come back again thriving. This type of wonder is different from wonder based in whiteness; it’s different from the wonder of American “representation” of being the only Asian in the room. It’s that wonder when you feel at home. When the story you see could be your story—or at least, you can dream someone who looks like you into that story, because there’s only one Hyun Bin in the world and he’s taken 😂
[Thank you Little Brown & Co for the gifted copy]
A while back I read a snippet by Alexander Chee on the storytelling of Korean dramas—a type of storytelling, as Matthew Salesses discusses in CRAFT IN THE REAL WORLD, that is often overlooked by western writing canons. The K-drama is full of tropes (Salesses lists a couple: body-swapping, gender-bending, ghosts, etc. but my personal favorite has got to be enemies to lovers). And not only tropes, but they also branch out into a web of sub-characters and sub-plots that all tie back together into the drama’s central story. To watch a K-drama is to love the entirety of these interconnected branching ecosystems; it is to suspend disbelief and give in to the K-drama world that breaks rules that strictly enforce ours. And, as Carrie Kang, a studio producer in THE SENSE OF WONDER, says: to love a K-drama is to have hope. Hope defines the frame of reference dramas put us in. In “dramaland,” as Salesses fondly calls it, miracles happen, love triumphs. Most importantly, the main characters experiencing miracles and love are all Asian.
THE SENSE OF WONDER makes us question what the real world, the world the characters in the book struggle in, would look like within this dramaland’s frame of reference. To not be tokenized, to not be cast aside as the Asian sidekick—to write our own Asian American stories that we star in. To let love triumph, to veer close to death and somehow find doors normally shut open so that we can come back again thriving. This type of wonder is different from wonder based in whiteness; it’s different from the wonder of American “representation” of being the only Asian in the room. It’s that wonder when you feel at home. When the story you see could be your story—or at least, you can dream someone who looks like you into that story, because there’s only one Hyun Bin in the world and he’s taken 😂
[Thank you Little Brown & Co for the gifted copy]
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Cancer, Death, Suicide, and Sexual content
carolynlovesbooks's review
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Funny at times, sad at others. Eye opening re: racism Interesting: re K drama.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Bullying
Moderate: Death
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