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A review by noturstroganoff
Tropic of Orange by Karen Tei Yamashita
5.0
Karen Tei Yamashita is, in my mind, the Gabriel Garcia Marquez of Asian America.
I call this winter “Apocalyptic speculative fiction set in LA leading up to Y2K” Winter. There is so much information we’ve been gifted to build our futures.
~~~
Selections from Sesshu Foster’s introduction in the 2007 edition, whose poetry I adore:
“This is the ultimate book about Los Angeles, because there is no ultimate book about Los Angeles.”
“TROPIC OF ORANGE refracts the city’s passion like skyscrapers against the setting sun. This book holds in solar heat like granite.”
~~~
My favorite scene from the novel is from Chapter 43: Emi, JA journalist at the end of the world, stretched out for some sun on the roof of her news casting van, in the middle an abandoned freeway in LA—with phenomenal narration by Emily Woo Zeller, who captures a sardonic, fanciful, fuck-if-I-care attitude that I adore about so many Asian American women I’ve met, in the generations before me and my own—describing the “New Age Tan”:
“You arrive from some midwestern armpit, see, you’ve been raised on steak and potatoes. To you, ‘veggie’ is like canned beans, ‘vegan’ is, well, it’s a Trekkie word for aliens from the star Vega. Someone on Venice Beach reads you your astrological forecast, someone else reads you your aura. You find out you’re a star-crossed Aquarian with a future as a bisexual. You get a tattoo on your right ankle and pierce your navel. You join a gym…and get regular bodywork. You take up yoga, do a thorough detox, and go macrobiotic—miso, tofu and brown rice. You become religiously organic. You join an animal rights support group to heal your ‘inner animal’. You try to write a screenplay and get an agent. You go to bed under a pyramid with your therapist-healer. Your folks come out to see you, Disneyland, Universal Studios and Marilyn Monroe’s grave. They say, ‘California seems to be doing you some good! Got some color in your face for a change!’ Voila—a New Age Tan.”
I can just imagine the wry smile on Emi’s face. This so aptly describes the way people remake themselves within the venue of gentrification, when the entire economy is geared to support YOUR wellness. In a country with no universal healthcare. For this, I must meet Karen Tei Yamashita in person and shake her hand. She has a lifetime of my respect. Off to read everything KTY has ever written…
I call this winter “Apocalyptic speculative fiction set in LA leading up to Y2K” Winter. There is so much information we’ve been gifted to build our futures.
~~~
Selections from Sesshu Foster’s introduction in the 2007 edition, whose poetry I adore:
“This is the ultimate book about Los Angeles, because there is no ultimate book about Los Angeles.”
“TROPIC OF ORANGE refracts the city’s passion like skyscrapers against the setting sun. This book holds in solar heat like granite.”
~~~
My favorite scene from the novel is from Chapter 43: Emi, JA journalist at the end of the world, stretched out for some sun on the roof of her news casting van, in the middle an abandoned freeway in LA—with phenomenal narration by Emily Woo Zeller, who captures a sardonic, fanciful, fuck-if-I-care attitude that I adore about so many Asian American women I’ve met, in the generations before me and my own—describing the “New Age Tan”:
“You arrive from some midwestern armpit, see, you’ve been raised on steak and potatoes. To you, ‘veggie’ is like canned beans, ‘vegan’ is, well, it’s a Trekkie word for aliens from the star Vega. Someone on Venice Beach reads you your astrological forecast, someone else reads you your aura. You find out you’re a star-crossed Aquarian with a future as a bisexual. You get a tattoo on your right ankle and pierce your navel. You join a gym…and get regular bodywork. You take up yoga, do a thorough detox, and go macrobiotic—miso, tofu and brown rice. You become religiously organic. You join an animal rights support group to heal your ‘inner animal’. You try to write a screenplay and get an agent. You go to bed under a pyramid with your therapist-healer. Your folks come out to see you, Disneyland, Universal Studios and Marilyn Monroe’s grave. They say, ‘California seems to be doing you some good! Got some color in your face for a change!’ Voila—a New Age Tan.”
I can just imagine the wry smile on Emi’s face. This so aptly describes the way people remake themselves within the venue of gentrification, when the entire economy is geared to support YOUR wellness. In a country with no universal healthcare. For this, I must meet Karen Tei Yamashita in person and shake her hand. She has a lifetime of my respect. Off to read everything KTY has ever written…