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jenniferduannfultz's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I cannot believe this is a debut. It's a relatively "quiet" story about a young Korean American activist coming to better understand his parents and their Korean-Black coalition-building (and the decisions they've made since Sa-I-Gu) and it's just lovely in a scrape-your-skin-off-in-a-Korean-spa kind of way.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs, Police brutality, and Racism
cantfindmybookmark's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Police brutality
hilaryreadsbooks's review
4.0
Thank you Catapult for a gifted copy of Ryan Lee Wong’s WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON, out on October 4th, set in K-Town, Los Angeles.
This book is for all of us growing into our activism and how this activism often feels unrooted, unsteady. We feel pain as we look out into the world but do not necessarily understand what to do with this pain. We do not necessarily even understand where all of this pain comes from.
This book is for all of us who are still trying to understand how to “win” when we are dwarfed by the enormity of the systems and people with far more power than we can ever dream of. This is for all of us who are still trying to understand what “winning” is. Who often think that there is a “right” way to get there. Who often think that “winning” only means sacrifice, to strip ourselves of joy and pleasure. Sometimes we do not realize when sacrifice tilts into the performative.
This book is for all of us who harbor guilt. It’s that moment you find yourself caught in the freeing euphoria of a laugh—and pull back because you remember everything that is wrong with the world. How can I laugh when people are dying? How can I play and rest and make money and start a family when there are so many who cannot do the same?
Ryan Lee Wong reminds us in WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON—we exist in a multitude of contradictions. Activism is sacrifice, outrage, protests—but it is also meeting people where they are at. It is meeting yourself where you are at. It is radical rest. It is choice. It is claiming your history. It is being wrong, or uncertain, or scared. It is contemplating the somewhat-impossible task of understanding your mother.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Police brutality and Death
low_keybookish's review
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book was EVERYTHING. Set in the context of Akai Gurley's murder(with a Chinese American cop), the book addresses real events (also the LA Uprising). This case shows the gap between conservative and progressive Asian Americans and who is trying to build interracial coalitions with Black and Brown communities (or looking out for ourselves). The main character is a student at Columbia, and is struggling with his privileges, while learning about white supremacy in real time!
The author is witty, with lines that cracked me up and are a little too real (as someone in higher education). I felt for my student activist self who was incredibly angry (like the main character).
Not only does the book talk about Asian American activism and the messiness of our racial politics, but also highlights intergenerational dynamics.
There are many accurate descriptions of LA Koreatown... from restaurants, to getting a hair cut (and the gossip that proliferates during this ritual) and getting a body scrub (dead skin)!
This book was a love letter and honors Asian Americans who are doing the work, with the realities and contradictions of being activists. How do we do self care? What is the limit between ideology and real life?
This book is going into my personal collection--and I don't keep a lot of books long-term! What a beautiful book, and def recommend it!
The author is witty, with lines that cracked me up and are a little too real (as someone in higher education). I felt for my student activist self who was incredibly angry (like the main character).
Not only does the book talk about Asian American activism and the messiness of our racial politics, but also highlights intergenerational dynamics.
There are many accurate descriptions of LA Koreatown... from restaurants, to getting a hair cut (and the gossip that proliferates during this ritual) and getting a body scrub (dead skin)!
This book was a love letter and honors Asian Americans who are doing the work, with the realities and contradictions of being activists. How do we do self care? What is the limit between ideology and real life?
This book is going into my personal collection--and I don't keep a lot of books long-term! What a beautiful book, and def recommend it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Police brutality
Minor: Sexism
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