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A review by babybearreads
I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita, Leland Wong, Sina Grace
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
I've learned a lot about big pieces of activism in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1960s/70s -- the Black Panthers in Oakland, the UC Berkeley and SFSU student protests, etc., but "I Hotel" fills in a huge gap of history about Asian American activism in the same region that I would say is less well-known. It helps complete the story in a BIG way (this tome is 600+ pages!) and did I mention it's gorgeous fiction?
Centered around the International Hotel formerly located in SF's Chinatown which was a haven for Asian American activism until it was sold, violently emptied out, and torn down, this book is a cacophonous kaleidoscope of voices from Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, and Filipino Americans refusing to be a monolith but also often working together to fight for change. It's an intimate multimedia portrait of a community, each and every unique person bringing their culture, food, beliefs, and experience to the table in the struggle to live, love, work, and fight. Though this book got dense at times, Yamashita has created a real achievement. This should be essential California reading.
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"You kids are right to make us talk about this again. Shouldn't forget as if it never happened."
Centered around the International Hotel formerly located in SF's Chinatown which was a haven for Asian American activism until it was sold, violently emptied out, and torn down, this book is a cacophonous kaleidoscope of voices from Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, and Filipino Americans refusing to be a monolith but also often working together to fight for change. It's an intimate multimedia portrait of a community, each and every unique person bringing their culture, food, beliefs, and experience to the table in the struggle to live, love, work, and fight. Though this book got dense at times, Yamashita has created a real achievement. This should be essential California reading.
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"You kids are right to make us talk about this again. Shouldn't forget as if it never happened."