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waiehse's review
4.0
I agree with every other goodreads review in that this title is hella misleading (though understandable since "The Souls of Nerds and Losers" is probably less marketable). That said, I really enjoyed almost every essay and sped through this book! Yang's writing is such an interesting balance of detached journalist and passionate advocate. I felt like I was reading episodes of an NPR podcast without the "awwww :'0" factor and slightly less left leaning.
This book is a collection of essays, most of which focus on a specific person. Many of these people are the nerdy intellectual types and the essays walk you through how they deal with being society's losers. The first few essays deal with Asian American men and examines the specific class of neutered socially inept computer geek persona ascribed to these men. Many of the negative reviews about this book are that it only focuses on the male perspective. My opinion is that the experience and Western perceptions (fetishization) of Asian women are so different from that of men that a shift in viewpoint and topic would have felt very out of place in this book.
One more thing for anyone interested in reading this book, note that not only is it from a male perspective, but it is definitively the Asian American perspective. While Yang states that he renounces both standard Asian culture and standard American culture, his voice and opinions seem very Americanized. This is not the book for you if you're interested in understanding the point of view of Asian people but it does give an insight into the experience of Asian Americans/ABC/ABK(?) men.
https://youtu.be/ejtnAvMHI28?t=839
This book is a collection of essays, most of which focus on a specific person. Many of these people are the nerdy intellectual types and the essays walk you through how they deal with being society's losers. The first few essays deal with Asian American men and examines the specific class of neutered socially inept computer geek persona ascribed to these men. Many of the negative reviews about this book are that it only focuses on the male perspective. My opinion is that the experience and Western perceptions (fetishization) of Asian women are so different from that of men that a shift in viewpoint and topic would have felt very out of place in this book.
One more thing for anyone interested in reading this book, note that not only is it from a male perspective, but it is definitively the Asian American perspective. While Yang states that he renounces both standard Asian culture and standard American culture, his voice and opinions seem very Americanized. This is not the book for you if you're interested in understanding the point of view of Asian people but it does give an insight into the experience of Asian Americans/ABC/ABK(?) men.
https://youtu.be/ejtnAvMHI28?t=839
bookly_reads's review
So many books in the world and I don't have time for anything less than excellent. Not sure why this is called "The Souls of Yellow Folk." Not sure why Yang included an essay from 2013 about Aaron Swartz, with no added material/reflections, that ends with him victim blaming a man who committed suicide. (I am extremely sensitive on this topic and I think seeing Aaron Swartz's name in the table of contents just really, really threw me off. Also, it's extremely irrelevant to the title of the book.)
slytherinwa's review
2.0
I really wanted to like this more. As many reviews have stated, the title is misleading. Therefore, I was let down. I think there are many stories that need to be told from an Asian American perspective. I wish this book had done this. Many of the essays were disjointed and felt far from what the title suggests.
moustaki's review against another edition
3.0
The collection of essays seemed disjointed. Some are about the perspectives of Asian Americans. Some are about grievance studies and critical race theory. The profiles on Eddie Huang, the VCU shooter, and Aaron Schwartz were powerful and compelling, but there were multiple essays about hook-up culture that really didn't seem to fit. It was alright but didn't seem to accomplish what it intended.
hannyreads's review
5.0
A collection of essays ranging from race, masculinity and some pop culture. Very interesting and relevant, we need more diverse voices like him.