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A review by lauren_endnotes
The Face: Strangers on a Pier by Tash Aw
5.0
This essay - part of a larger multi-author series all entitled The Face from Restless Books - explores both the physical and historical face of the writers. This essay, by Tash Aw impressed me so much that I want to read more of his work, as well as the others in this series of essays.
In six succinct chapters/mini-essays, Tash Aw recounts cultural and ethnic history, both his own, and post-colonial southeast Asia, as well as his ancestry in Taiwan and China. He speaks of the classifications and identifications - putting people in boxes - that he experiences every day. People always asking where he is from, or assuming that they know based on his skin, his face, his accent. In Thailand, he is mistaken for Thai, in his childhood home of Malaysia, he is surrounded by Cantonese diaspora, but also of the rising Asia, growing nationalism and identity with new nations, and the newly-minted "middle class".
Kuala Lumpur's Twin Towers referenced in the book as the author looks out from his home, conversing with his father.
It was a fascinating and illuminating read. Right after I finished this book, I sought out his other books.
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Read for Book Riot's 2016 Read Harder Challenge - an author from Southeast Asia
In six succinct chapters/mini-essays, Tash Aw recounts cultural and ethnic history, both his own, and post-colonial southeast Asia, as well as his ancestry in Taiwan and China. He speaks of the classifications and identifications - putting people in boxes - that he experiences every day. People always asking where he is from, or assuming that they know based on his skin, his face, his accent. In Thailand, he is mistaken for Thai, in his childhood home of Malaysia, he is surrounded by Cantonese diaspora, but also of the rising Asia, growing nationalism and identity with new nations, and the newly-minted "middle class".
Kuala Lumpur's Twin Towers referenced in the book as the author looks out from his home, conversing with his father.
It was a fascinating and illuminating read. Right after I finished this book, I sought out his other books.
--
Read for Book Riot's 2016 Read Harder Challenge - an author from Southeast Asia