AAPI Month Bookclub (1 Viewer)

[StirFriedPanda]

How so?

in May I ended up actually finishing just 4 aapi books

It seemed like you were finished up 4 books just today.

 

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It seemed like you were finished up 4 books just today.

Ah I finished Joy luck club which was my goal for this aapi month, to read it! It is a staple of Asian American literature and while I myself didn’t read it, I was exposed to it in school since it was one of some “assigned readings” in 9th grade English, but the class was split into groups that were each assigned a different book, and I wasn’t in the group that got that one. Honestly, I’m not sure if the topic for that was immigration or culture or it even could have been Asian American but the other two books I remember groups reading (we might have been split into more than three groups idr), including my group were staples of Asian American literature, with joy luck club being Chinese American, picture bride (the one I read) being Japanese American and the namesake (the other book I remember portion of the class was assigned to read at this time) is Indian American. Since the 3 I remember are all Asian American literature and I don’t even know if there were more than 3 groups we were split into then, it might have been an Asian American literature unit or smth.

There’s a decent amount of Asians in California compared to other states, idk if it was like that for you too growing up since I know you’re Californian too, so that’s maybe why.

we also did read about various cultures so maybe that’s why we had an “Asian american” unit, like we did read abt black Americans, Latinx Americans, native americans, European immigrants and low socioeconomic white Americans during historical stuff like Great Depression, etc

but yeah that one I finished, I want to watch the movie too, I wanted to last year but it got removed from the streaming service before I could and I ended up watching 0 aapi movies last year.

this month I was focusing on reading aapi books so I didn’t rlly watch anything or stuff bc this was most of my spare time.

but the other books: level up by gene Luen Yang I got today and started (didn’t finish it and there’s others I’d prob wanna finish first) and I did read another book of his (and reviewed here), American born Chinese, this month.

China rich girlfriend is the sequel to crazy rich Asians, which I did read this month, but I have barely started it considering it’s 600+ pages. I plan to read the whole series (3 books) tho

my sweet girl is what I want to finish next! I really love it so far! It’s a thriller (I love thrillers) and the author (and main character) is Sri Lankan which isn’t something I see much in books but I love it so far but am not yet done.

the 4 aapi books I actually finished this May:
American born Chinese
Crazy rich Asians
Count me in
The Joy luck club

 

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Count Me In by Varsha Bajaj

AAPI Background of author: Varsha Bajaj is Indian American, a first generation immigrant who was born in Mumbai, India, and came to the US for her Masters in 1986. A racist and Islamic incident she heard about close to her inspired this book. Other AAPI books she has written include “Abby Spencer goes to Bollywood” about a half Indian girl whose Indian father has been absent from her life, but after an allergy attack, it becomes vital to know him at least for his medical history. Abby becomes excited to go to India and finally meet him, and he turns out to have become a Bollywood star. She also wrote “Thirst”, which takes place in Mumbai, India, and features a protagonist discovering that there may be some hoarding of water by the rich and powerful during what appears to be severe water shortages in her poor neighborhood.

AAPI Background of characters: There are two main characters in the book - Karina and Chris. Chris is basically said to be white, and Karina and her family are Indian American, with Karina being a third generation immigrant, her grandparents having immigrated to the US over 50 years ago and her parents having been born here. Despite being a third generation immigrant, Karina and her family still appreciate and practice Indian and Hindu culture and eat Indian food along with the American culture they have from being born in the country. Karina’s grandfather, who was an immigrant from India long ago and is a naturalized citizen, plays a pivotal role in the story. He is violently and physically attacked by a racist and Islamophobe judging him from his accent and color of his skin and calling him a Muslim. The author was inspired by a real life attack close to her, and violence against various people, including South Asians, for looking like “terrorists” and “Muslims” is unfortunately a real issue in the US, which is highlighted in this book. Karina herself faces some racist teasing at school for her Indian heritage, particularly from one boy, whose actions are never validated, and is rather shown in the book to be a more widespread, common form of racism while not as overt as physical attacks and called as what it is. No other characters’ ethnicities or races are really mentioned.


The book is aimed as kids and the language and wording definitely comes across as such. However, the book is interesting and does have serious subject matter. Beyond showing Karina’s Indian culture, and the racism and Islamophobia that culminated in a racist attack, the book addresses other topics as well, such as less overt forms of racism, the idea of what makes an American, and immigration, being a bystander, not knowing how to speak up, and things not being always how they seem/judging from first impressions, generational gap, influence of social media, power of a community, etc. The main characters are layered and likable, and the book has interesting interactions and issues as well as addressing the racism, while still spreading messages of love and hope, and having plenty of light-hearted moments. Anyone could read it and enjoy it keeping in mind the audience

 

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Picture Bride by Yoshiko Uchida

AAPI Background of Author: Yoshiko Uchida was (she passed away in 1992, R.I.P) a Japanese American who was born in California in 1921. She and her family experienced the unfair and racist incarceration at Japanese internment camps. Picture Bride has become an important part of Asian American literature and was also made into a movie. Other AAPI books written by the author:

• “Journey to Topaz” about an 11 year old Japanese American girl who is sent with her family to an internment camp after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
• “Desert Exile” her autobiography with the events before and after WWII as a Japanese American.
• “The Bracelet” is a picture book about a 7 year old Japanese American girl forced out of her home during WWII who loses a bracelet from her best friend.
• “The Wise Old Woman” is Uchida’s retelling of a Japanese folklore
• “A Jar of Dreams” is about an 11 year old Japanese American girl growing up in California during the Great Depression
• “The Invisible Thread” is a memoir of Uchida’s childhood during WWII
• “Journey Home” is about a Japanese American family trying to adjust to life after being released from an internment camp, still facing anti-Japanese racism.
• “The Two Foolish Cats” is based on an old Japanese folk tale
• “The magic purse” is another retelling of a Japanese folk tale
• “The magic listening cap” is a collection of Japanese folklore
• “The dancing kettle” is another collection of Japanese folklore adapted for American children with the hope of unifying the world with understanding of and exposure to different cultures.
• “Samurai of Gold Hill” is about a 12 year old boy who moves to America with his samurai father and has to adjust to becoming a farmer
• “Sea of Gold” is another collection of Japanese folklore adaptations
• “Forever Christmas Tree” is about a Japanese boy learning about Christmas
• The Sumi series is a humorous children’s series about a Japanese girl
• “The promised year” about a Japanese American girl visiting Japan
• “Takao and Grandfather’s Sword” is about a young Japanese boy trying to fix things after accidentally starting a fire and messing things up for his father
• “The birthday visitor” is about 7 year old Japanese American girl Emi thinking her birthday will be spoiled by visitors from Japan
• “In Between Miya” is about a poor Japanese girl learning being rich doesn’t equal happiness
• “The rooster who understood Japanese” is about a young Japanese American girl helping her neighbor find her pet a home

AAPI Background of Characters: The main character is a Japanese “picture bride”, a Japanese woman who comes to America to marry a Japanese (American) man residing in the US, in a marriage arranged with a picture of the bride as the spouses are in different companies. Picture brides generally married farmers and worked on farms, and became Japanese American. The main character and her family also experience the Japanese internment camps in the US in the novel.

I did not read this book this year. Since I have read barely any Asian American books prior to this year I am occasionally reviewing Asian American books I read earlier between reviews of recent reads. I read it in 9th grade English as during a unit where different parts of the class where assigned different books, I was in the group assigned this one. This is probably not for anyone younger than 12 … It has been a long time since I read the book, but it is a good understanding of picture brides, and how many early Asian Americans came to the US. Picture brides were matched in an arranged marriage by a matchmaker using pictures the American men sent back to their home country. With the Gentleman’s Agreement of 1907 banning Japanese immigration to America, picture brides coming to join their spouse in America was a loophole, which was how many early Asian American women came to the US. Besides the main character of Hana, there are other Japanese American characters as well as white characters the Japanese characters have relationships (no not romantic, but saying they interact is a bit minimizing isn’t it?) and shows a story of what it was like to be Japanese American at that time, with pre-existing anti-Asian laws and then specifically anti-Japanese sentiment and internment during WWII, 2nd gen immigrants trying to Americanize themselves and separate from their culture, dealing with arranged marriage, culture shock, etc., even still-birth iirc.

Either way, picture brides are a part of Asian American history not many people know about, and with this being a classic, you might as well give it a shot and learn more. It may make you uncomfortable though.

 

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So i didn’t finish the reviewing in time will come back