Asian American X: An Intersection of Twenty-First Century Asian American Voices | 
| Creators: Arar Han, John Hsu
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 594313
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 264
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 0.8
ISBN: 0472068741
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.895073
EAN: 9780472068746
ASIN: 0472068741
Publication Date: August 5, 2004
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Product Description
"This diverse collection, like Asian America itself, adds up to something far more vibrant than the sum of its voices."
-Eric Liu, author of The Accidental Asian
"There's fury, dignity, and self-awareness in these essays. I found the voices to be energetic and the ideas exciting."
-Diana Son, playwright (Stop Kiss) and co-producer (Law & Order: Criminal Intent)
This refreshing and timely collection of coming-of-age essays, edited and written by young Asian Americans, powerfully captures the joys and struggles of their evolving identities as one of the fastest-growing groups in the nation and poignantly depicts the many oft-conflicting ties they feel to both American and Asian cultures. The essays also highlight the vast cultural diversity within the category of Asian American, yet ultimately reveal how these young people are truly American in their ideals and dreams.
Asian American X is more than a book on identity; it is required reading both for young Asian Americans who seek to understand themselves and their social group, and for all who are interested in keeping abreast of the changing American social terrain.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Asian American X January 19, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I ordered this book from Amazon months ago as a non-Asian who had questions about the experience of Asians in the US, and I have purchased other books on this topic, as well. While this book has some value, I find it is probably the least useful book for both Asians and non-Asians; the former because it's, for the most part, nothing each and every Asian American reading couldn't have written him or herself. A book that is along the same lines as this one but with more depth in terms of stories, experiences and backgrounds is "Balancing Two Worlds: Asian American College Students Tell Their Life Stories." I agree with the review by Charles Chea, basically--the lack of diversity in contributers hurts the book, as well. Too many stories sound the same. A lot of the writers are part-white/part-Asian; where are the part-black/part-Asian or part-Latino/part-Asian writers? What about more LGBT Asians and South/Southeast Asians? Asians who did not attend college? There are a lot of voices, and, thus, a lot of variety in experiences missing here.
For non-Asians, particularly blacks and Latinos, we cannot help but notice how certain groups of people no longer exist. Many Asians and Latinos complain that they are left out of black/white binary discussions of race, but whenever I read stories by Asians (not just in this book) they do the same thing. "American" is defined as "white" and vice versa, and that's who Asians are concerned with in terms of acceptance and fitting in, the way many stories in this book and otherwise tell it. Yet, one of the more upsetting things to Asian Americans is not being considered/feeling American themselves. Too many stories repeated this theme of American-ness as whiteness and wanting to be American/like whites, though I'm sure this is very central to the Asian American experience...which is one of the reasons why I'm certain any Asian American could have written most of the stories in this book. At the same time, unlike a similar book about Latino college students entitled "Mi Voz, Mi Vida," in which many of the stories include the authors fessing up to racist ideas towards blacks and darkness in general among Latinos, and one contributer discusses her interracial relationship with an Asian, we get next to no sense of what Asians think of/interactions with blacks and Latinos (though we do get a sense of colorism among Asians). I think the focus on whites, in itself, reveals a lot about Asian Americans to a non-Asian reader, though.
A few stories do stand out for originality, particularly an essay by a woman who liked to sing but felt that being Asian would hold her back if she pursued singing as a career and another essay about struggling with weight/body image issues as an Asian. There is (I think only) one story about struggling with sexuality, which also is more original and interesting than many other stories in the book. Aside from that, this book is probably most helpful to Asian Americans who are always in predominantly white environments or otherwise have very little contact with Asian Americans and just want to know other Asian Americans out there go through what they go through. It doesn't delve deeply into the Asian American experience or psyche on various issues/backgrounds, and it does next to nothing to convince someone who believes otherwise that Asian Americans experience racism or other forms of alienation or hardship to a significant degree in the US. As I mentioned before, "Balancing Two Worlds...," while still not necessarily showing the full picture of racial difficulty Asian Americans experience, does present more diversity despite the fact that its contributors attended an Ivy League school and demonstrates more complexity (again, not necessarily racially, but in life experiences).
misrepresentation March 3, 2006
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
The quality and thought put into each essay was excellent, though it could've been more diverse class and wealth wise.
While there is an obvious effort by the editors to include South/Southeast/East Asians and Pacific Islanders in order to represent diversely, there seems to have been a lackluster effort to include young APIA voices who are of college-age, but not in college. This would've broaden perspectives, assuming that most of them come from less educated and poorer backgrounds, exposing ideas, thoughts, and desires less uniform.
This a collection of APIA voices in college - hopefully, the editors will make better efforts to broaden the collection if they decide to create a second book.
 and I thought I was alone... December 14, 2005
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I found this book immensly moving. It's not really because the quality of the writing is all that good. There aren't any deep or poignant metaphors, just real life. I think that's more important than anything. What I liked most about this collection of voices is that I found I related to exactly what people said. I wanted to read more about their lives just to learn more about mine. I recommend it to anyone, Asian or not.
Great read February 16, 2005
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book provides insightful commentary on what life is like for young Asian Americans growing up in the United States. The collaborative treatment of the subject, driven by a group of talented writers, showcases a large spectrum of inspired voices. An enjoyable read.
A great collection of essays January 2, 2005
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Asian American X sets out to give its reader a broad understanding of today's Asian Americans, but I think it goes further. The collection of essays is really about what it means to be young and grappling with life's most important questions.
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