New Books:
I've discovered another memoir by an Asian American/Chinese American who grew up in a restaurant family in the U.S. (See my review of Curtis Chin's memoir set in Detroit in the 1980s) Jane Wong's book is set in Atlantic City, NJ.
Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City: A Memoir by Jane Wong
Publication: May 16, 2023, Tin House Books
Genre: memoir, nonfiction, Asian American literature
In her debut memoir, Wong tells a new story about Atlantic City, one that resists a single identity, a single story, as she writes about making do with what you have―and what you don’t.
This is a memoir about family, food, girlhood, resistance, and growing up in a Chinese American restaurant on the Jersey shore. (publisher)
Afterparties: Stories by Anthony Veasna So
Published August 3, 2021; Ecco
Genre: short stories, Cambodian American literature, gay/lesbian fiction
I read the first three of nine stories so far, of the lives of young Cambodian Americans at home, school, work - their checquered lives, many on the lower income level, their families surviving as relatively recent immigrants and refugees from the Cambodian Civil War and the Khmer Rouge in the mid 1970s, a war called the Cambodian Genocide.
This war and their family history are still alive among these families, as they try to find their way in a new country, sometimes worried about the past finding its way into their present and future. The stories are set in a community in California.
In the first story, "Three Women of Chuck's Donuts," a single mother of two girls works 24 hours a day in her donut shop, part of her divorce settlement from her Cambodian husband.
The second story, "Superking Son Scores Again," has a badminton genius doing what he loves best - coaching the high school badminton team, while he does what he hates most, managing his parents' grocery store.
In a third story, "Maly, Maly, Maly" a young gay Cambodian bonds with his cousin, but when she starts growing into a young woman following her traditions in the community, he is left feeling very alone.
I'm eager to read the other stories by So, this talented, award-winning Cambodian writer, who sadly died, possibly of drug complications, in his late 20s.
