A review by annayareads
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong

challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced

4.5

Overall, I really loved this book. Hong's words were both familiar and new to me as a Black femme in the US. Cathy Park Hong weaves the personal and the general together in a way that I wouldn't call masterful because that would do a disservice to the work that she does. She is careful to remind us that we cannot hold her words as some universal truth about all Asian Americans (she even troubles this group and who is held by it). One point of contention I had was during her discussion of cultural exchange. I come from this again as a Black American, but I think there is value in gatekeeping cultures from becoming mainstream. I don't think much has been gained from Black culture becoming mainstream; in fact, I think it has resulted in white faces being able to represent Black culture and divest it from its roots. Even though I can't completely agree with this aspect of one of her essays ("Bad English"), I can't express enough how valuable I think it is. I do not delude myself into thinking that just because I read this book that I understand wholistically the Asian American experience (or even the Korean American experience), but I have learned and I have felt and that is something we all need.
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