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kdahlo's review
5.0
I loved this. Read multiple passages aloud to my partner. Very accurate view of graduate school. Over the top and hyperreal, but also just real. Head-on, smart critiques of racism in academia. I love the way this book sort of mocks its main character at times, but also gives her space for so much growth. Fun format too, news articles, blog posts, dream court transcripts. Not short but a very fun read anyways.
teej7's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
laurelmb's review
adventurous
challenging
funny
medium-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
4.0
readwithcappy's review
challenging
funny
inspiring
mysterious
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
redlippie_and_literature's review
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
purplepierogi's review
3.0
Wow ! I have a lot of feelings about this one. To get this out of the way: I knew going in that this book was centrally a fun-ish critique of racism in academia — I was not mentally prepared for the tone whiplash because this book is a satire, and it is a satire that hits you over the head. An idea is taken to its most extreme conclusion, and the characters react around it in ways that do evoke interesting themes and critiques about race, representation and fetishization in academia and in the US in general. It feels really contemporary, in a good way.
We’re given access to the Ingrid Yang’s perspective, a twenty-nine year old PhD student who for the last eight years has dissected poetry in her university’s East Asian studies department, but because of internalized racism / discomfort / model minority myth, she has never before examined her relationship with whiteness. As the summary states, a revelation during the last dregs of her dissertation work sparks a series of events that calls into question how she sees herself and her institution.
But what I couldn’t get past in this book, despite zany but good bones here, was the very…. juvenile? tone. Yes, plots are conceivable in a funny-sad way, but it was more a question of writing style (not sure how to describe beyond, consciously trying to be funny) in combination with perpetual bewilderment and denial from Ingrid. Ingrid’s choices, like everything else, are exaggerated to an extreme, but they don’t feel fitting to the behavior of an adult, really, and it took something out of it for me. Maybe Ingrid’s inner monologue is slow to accept realities before her eyes as a reflection of how she’s been molded to society’s expectations for so long, and maybe the revelations spelled out are a way to make the points more accessible for some readers, but I can’t help but suspect that the readers interested in the themes of this book will already be many steps ahead of Ingrid’s discoveries, and will tire of being spoon-fed revelations through her. That being said, as despicable as some of our horrible characters were, their dialogue was executed to a tee and felt so believable if this stuff were to go down, so I say great work with those sections.
Personally, I really enjoyed the discussion of dissertation dread, falling into an academic track and making one’s way along as mentors and professors nudge in different directions, until research is rote and not necessarily under one’s own agency. This of course ties in with bigger themes and plot later, but as someone who wrote just an undergrad thesis last year and suffered constant heartburn and anxiety, this is something that drew me to the book, and it’s definitely one thing this book gets right — the author understands and aptly communicates the politics of university departments, funding and, of course, optics. I don’t want to spoil too much by bringing up other specific issues that come up, but I felt they were talked about in really valuable ways. Even though I had my problems with this book, I still would recommend it.
If you like thinking about Asian-American identity, fetishization, representation etc and also kind of whacky reads, or think you’ll get a kick out of some pretty colorful characters and rightfully mocking creepy white men populating the East Asian studies departments, this book is for you! Thank you so much to Penguin Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!
We’re given access to the Ingrid Yang’s perspective, a twenty-nine year old PhD student who for the last eight years has dissected poetry in her university’s East Asian studies department, but because of internalized racism / discomfort / model minority myth, she has never before examined her relationship with whiteness. As the summary states, a revelation during the last dregs of her dissertation work sparks a series of events that calls into question how she sees herself and her institution.
But what I couldn’t get past in this book, despite zany but good bones here, was the very…. juvenile? tone. Yes, plots are conceivable in a funny-sad way, but it was more a question of writing style (not sure how to describe beyond, consciously trying to be funny) in combination with perpetual bewilderment and denial from Ingrid. Ingrid’s choices, like everything else, are exaggerated to an extreme, but they don’t feel fitting to the behavior of an adult, really, and it took something out of it for me. Maybe Ingrid’s inner monologue is slow to accept realities before her eyes as a reflection of how she’s been molded to society’s expectations for so long, and maybe the revelations spelled out are a way to make the points more accessible for some readers, but I can’t help but suspect that the readers interested in the themes of this book will already be many steps ahead of Ingrid’s discoveries, and will tire of being spoon-fed revelations through her. That being said, as despicable as some of our horrible characters were, their dialogue was executed to a tee and felt so believable if this stuff were to go down, so I say great work with those sections.
Personally, I really enjoyed the discussion of dissertation dread, falling into an academic track and making one’s way along as mentors and professors nudge in different directions, until research is rote and not necessarily under one’s own agency. This of course ties in with bigger themes and plot later, but as someone who wrote just an undergrad thesis last year and suffered constant heartburn and anxiety, this is something that drew me to the book, and it’s definitely one thing this book gets right — the author understands and aptly communicates the politics of university departments, funding and, of course, optics. I don’t want to spoil too much by bringing up other specific issues that come up, but I felt they were talked about in really valuable ways. Even though I had my problems with this book, I still would recommend it.
If you like thinking about Asian-American identity, fetishization, representation etc and also kind of whacky reads, or think you’ll get a kick out of some pretty colorful characters and rightfully mocking creepy white men populating the East Asian studies departments, this book is for you! Thank you so much to Penguin Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!
malplum's review
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
rosynk's review
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
veexene's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25