6 Books to Read for Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month
Every year during the month of May, we celebrate Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month and the accomplishments and contributions that generations have given to the culture and history of the United States. The past year I’ve actively sought out more books by POC and have accumulated a lot of phenomenal books by talented writers. The books I’m sharing today are some that I feel everyone should read and that I thoroughly enjoyed and will revisit time and time again.
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
What can I say about Little Fires Everywhere that hasn’t already been said? This book was on my radar for a long time and I recently decided to pick it up after I saw that there was now an adaptation for Hulu. I wish I’d read it sooner. The story centers around the Richardson and Warren families in the picturesque and seemingly perfect town of Shaker Heights, Ohio in the late ’90s. The two families couldn’t be any more different - while Elena Richardson and her family are the quintessential American family who lives by rules, Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl live a transient life, never really settling down anywhere. Their differences become even more evident when they become intertwined in a custody battle involving the adoption of a Chinese baby and in themselves on opposing sides. Throughout this, both families learn about themselves and those around them as secrets are revealed. The book explores motherhood, race relations, class, privilege, and identity through the relationships between the two families.
Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami
Although it is a relatively short read, Strange Weather in Tokyo manages to explore the start of an innocent, convenience-based friendship that slowly develops into an intimate relationship, albeit an awkward one. It is a touching story about two people - a woman and her former teacher, who were lonely and happened to meet again years later and found solace in one another. The progression and development of their relationship are definitely quirky and awkward at times, but it happens so organically. It’s a story of old fashioned romance in modern-day Japan that spans several seasons.
White Dancing Elephants by Chaya Bhuvaneswar
White Dancing Elephants is unlike any collection of short stories I’d read prior. Spanning sixteen stories, Bhuvasnewar explores feminist, queer, religious, and immigrant stories and voices. At the center of each story is a woman of color confronting sexual harassment, racial violence, and violence that women sometimes inflict upon one another. This collection covers the inequality and immigrant experience in the United States, as well as the inequality women across the world face every day and the decisions they have to make.
Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha
Your House Will Pay follows two families - one African-American and one Korean-American as their lives are upended amid racial tensions following a shocking crime that is the result and retaliation of a decades-old crime. Grace Park lives a sheltered life with her parents in Northridge, a suburb of Los Angeles. Her once seemingly put together family has started to show cracks in its facade Her sister Miriam hasn’t spoken to their mother in two years and Grace can’t figure out why. Shawn Matthews is also dealing with a fractured family. A recent shooting in Los Angeles is causing memories of his late sister to painfully flood back. Set against the 1992 Los Angeles and the lasting effect it left on the city and its Korean-American and African-American communities, Che examines racial relationships between the two, their treatments at the hands of the LAPD, and how far we will go to protect our family.
Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong
An incredibly moving collection of poetry that explores family, war, grief, and romance. Using the Vietnam War as its main subject, Vuong reckons with the fall of Saigon and the loss of family and homes because of the war. Taking inspiration from his own upbringing, Vuong comes face to face with feelings of displacement and the history of violence that shaped his early years.
This Is Paradise by Kristiana Kahakauwila
A stunning collection of short stories set in Hawai’i that confronts the tension that exists between locals and tourists, tradition and expectation, and facade and authentic self. This Is Paradise explores the idea of home and wanting to belong somewhere, have a home and ties to a place. Kahakauwila shows us what it's really like living on the islands of Hawai’i.
