A review by vickizliu
Stay True by Hua Hsu

5.0

I'm a big fan of all of Hua Hsu's essays in the NYer and this was no different. It's a bittersweet coming of age story of growing up in berkeley california as an alternative 90s kid and his unlikely friendship with a Japanese American frat boy friend Ken. I especially loved that it centered the male asian american experience, without that being the sole focus (it's first and foremost a story of friendship and grief). Really beautiful yet subtle writing style and the descriptions of little moments in the book captured how much of a profound influence his friend and death had on him.