By 신 선 영 Sun Yung Shin
I would like to recommend Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong (One World, 2020). Claudia Rankine says, “A ruthlessly honest, emotionally charged, and utterly original exploration of Asian American consciousness and the struggle to be human.”
It is the book that has best articulated the combination of “shame, suspicion, and melancholy” that has been a seemingly immovable aspect of my Asian American immigrant experience, whether related to interior life, sociality, or cultural criticism. It is brilliant and vulnerable and I wish everyone would read it and understand more about us.
신 선 영 Sun Yung Shin was born in Seoul, Korea, during 박 정 희 Park Chung-hee’s military dictatorship, and grew up in the Chicago area. She is the editor of the best-selling anthology A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota, an award-winning author of several poetry collections, and co-editor of Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption, and author of bilingual illustrated book for children Cooper’s Lesson. Watch her episode of Spooky Stories to Scare the Covid-19 Away.