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mikarala's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Although I'm a bit older than our author was during the time of his life he chronicles in this novel, I deeply related to so many aspects of his life that he details in this memoir: the feelings of youthful ennui, the narcissistic impulse towards snobbery, the obsessive deep dives into obscure topics... Hsu's memoir has a vivid realism that I think anyone who has ever felt displaced or adrift can relate to, even though this story is saturated in references to '90s pop culture, Northern California lifestyle, and the Asian-American experience. None of those things may be relevant to my own life experience, and yet the evocative, beautifully-crafted prose manages to bring you to this time and place and see yourself in Hsu's own life.
I was truly blown away by this memoir, and it's one of very few books I've ever read and thought "I need to read this again in a decade and see if my perspective changes". I believe this is an excellent story about friendship, growing up, and identity regardless of one's perspective, but it may feel particularly potent to any young adult still struggling to find their place in the world.
I was truly blown away by this memoir, and it's one of very few books I've ever read and thought "I need to read this again in a decade and see if my perspective changes". I believe this is an excellent story about friendship, growing up, and identity regardless of one's perspective, but it may feel particularly potent to any young adult still struggling to find their place in the world.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Drug use, and Racism
samchase112's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.5
This powerful memoir was about so much more than grief and friendship. As Hua Hsu immersed me in 1990s California I became swept along the waves of his coming of age, from faxed letters exchanged with his father to misguided, firmly held convictions to diary entries tinged with feeling, from rooftop balconies to dorm room hangouts to dusty record shops… then along the path of shock and grief, coping and not coping. Interspersed with questions of identity and belonging, history and memory… How can I express my thoughts except to say, life is so sad sometimes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Death, Drug use, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Police brutality and Alcohol
Minor: Racism
cady_sass's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.5
It feels wrong to be critical about a non fiction personal story, and I don’t necessarily have anything negative to say, but this feels overall like there isn’t any definitive point. It’s very stream of consciousness, which can be fine, but there’s no core statement being made here. I find individual points very poignant and resonant, especially where the author describes his experience as an Asian American immigrant adolescent and college student, and the story of his friends death is senseless and horrible, but it’s just a very long op ed as opposed to a short memoir. Read in just a few hours and perfectly fine read, but ultimately a smidge forgettable. Take my review with a grain of salt, perhaps I’m just not the right audience for this and/or it’s not a style that I love.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Murder, Racial slurs, Violence, Racism, Bullying, Death, Drug use, and Kidnapping
poenaestante's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
I had a huge crush on Hua back in college when he was a senior and I was a sophomore. I admired how "over it' he always seemed, dawdling about campus in his ratty thrift store clothing. He was already, at that time, a pretty great writer with impressive taste in music and movies. I had no idea about his friend Ken and what had happened until I read an interview with him a few months ago. In hindsight, I feel so silly, so bad that I was clueless about all this. I thought the brooding personality was hipster affect rather than true sorrow. No one told me. I could never have imagined....Not that there was anything I could have said or done to be helpful, but it would have maybe changed the way I approached Hua. Who knows? We were kids.
Hua is a masterful writer. and this is a moving book -- if at times, in the latter half, overly-ponderous and morose. What's the right way to show up and pay homage when something so inutterably horrible happens to someone you love? I do not know. That said, Hua makes a most valiant attempt at it, while telling a complicated and inspiring immigrant kid's coming-of-age story.
Hua is a masterful writer. and this is a moving book -- if at times, in the latter half, overly-ponderous and morose. What's the right way to show up and pay homage when something so inutterably horrible happens to someone you love? I do not know. That said, Hua makes a most valiant attempt at it, while telling a complicated and inspiring immigrant kid's coming-of-age story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Death, Murder, and Drug use
epiphyte's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
I loved this very much. A perfect memoir of growing up, of learning and failing to be a good friend, of identity and of being cool. This book will stay with me for a while.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Minor: Drug use
tanishah's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Drug use, Death, and Gun violence
kaymay29's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.5
I enjoyed the actual story of the author and his friends and the recounting his feelings and perspective on the events covered in the book, however throughout the book the author will use 1-2 pages to give a mini history lesson or explain theory. Personally, the theory explanations didn’t help me understand the theories when he later applied them to his life ( I feel adequately explaining theory requires more than one or two pages), I found them boring and at times didn’t see how some of the history lessons contributed to the writing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, Death, and Gun violence
Moderate: War, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Child death, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Torture
Minor: Drug use and Mass/school shootings
* The author gives descriptions of horrific events of the 90s at points in the book such as, hate crimes, murders, and child molestation.kitausu's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
Absolutely devastating. I'm still processing my thoughts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Death, Grief, Murder, Violence, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Rape, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Child death, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Kidnapping, and Cursing
caseythereader's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.0
Thanks to PRH Audio for the free copy of this book.
- STAY TRUE is a meandering memoir, a book that truly captures the roaming of the mind that happens in college friendships as you are trying to figure out yourself and your relationship to the world.
- The blending of pop culture and philosophy in this book is wonderful, prompting deep consideration of how we choose to present ourselves and interact with others.
- The last portion of this book, after Ken’s death, is really hard. I think Hsu nailed that feeling of being unmoored after a loss, and it’s painful and beautiful to follow him as he tries to make sense of it all.
- STAY TRUE is a meandering memoir, a book that truly captures the roaming of the mind that happens in college friendships as you are trying to figure out yourself and your relationship to the world.
- The blending of pop culture and philosophy in this book is wonderful, prompting deep consideration of how we choose to present ourselves and interact with others.
- The last portion of this book, after Ken’s death, is really hard. I think Hsu nailed that feeling of being unmoored after a loss, and it’s painful and beautiful to follow him as he tries to make sense of it all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Murder, Violence, Grief, Hate crime, Confinement, Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Sexual violence
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