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Title: The Barbarians Are Coming by David Wong Louie ISBN: 0-425-17828-5 Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group Pub. Date: 06 March, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.18 (11 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Like a Big Mac: lots of calories-no nourishment.
Comment: I really wanted to like this book. I read it with great anticipation. I tend to like Asian-American authors and fine the retelling of their struggles bridging their family and cultural life with their American experience enlightening and entertaining. And, truth be told, this story probably had a lot to offer on that score.
However, in the end I found the book extremely disappointing, primarily because the main character is such a spineless wimp. I spent the entire book wanting to yell "Grow up you jerk!" It's been a long time since I have experienced so useless and loathsome a character. Had he been even halfway decent I probably could have gotten into the story. As it was I was so filled with pity for all these poor characters stuck forever in the same pages as this greedy, immature twerp that I lost track of the story entirely.
What's really frustrating is David Wong Louie can write. And the most impressive aspect of his writing is the depth and intensity of his characters. It's too bad he wasted so much effort on such a fine cast only to undermine it all in the end with such a lousy main character.
I can only hope his next effort is better constructed so that the story is allowed to emerge and be enjoyed.
Rating: 5
Summary: Welcome to the Future of Asian American Literature
Comment: The Barbarians are Coming is a shining example of Asian American literature taken to the next level of sophistication, primarily because it forgoes the cliched, played-out gimmicks of "ethnic genre writing" and instead focuses on characters and situations that are universal to the human experience. Thankfully, the author does not pander to self-exoticism, which unfortunately has become a disturbing trend among many of today's foremost Asian American writers. In the hands of a less capable writer, Sterling's story might have descended into the muck of italicised, explanatory nonsense about mystical ancestors and kitchen gods, but Louie is far too accomplished for that. The Lung family members, though Chinese American, face hardships and conflicts that all people can relate to. This book will make you laugh and cry all in one sitting, as the characters are supremely endearing for their very human faults and desires. Each one of them will undoubtedly remind you of someone you know; perhaps even yourself, at times. David Wong Louie is the present and future of not just Asian American writing, but of American literature in general. Do not miss this book.
Rating: 5
Summary: New chapter in Asian American literature
Comment: I agree with a previous review that this book is quite different from the more popular genre of Asian American litreature. The traditional Asian American literature usually ends at the point where the protagonist gives up on her cultural roots, and that is only the halfway point in this book. David Wong Louie tells the story of what happens after that point, and provides a touching portrayal of what many first/second generation Asian Americans must go through in the multiple stages - and generations - of their lives. I would recommend this book over many other standard textbooks of Asian American literature classes that reflect Asian American lives as accurately as blaxpoitation films reflect African American lives.
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Title: Arranged Marriage: Stories by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni ISBN: 0385483503 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 June, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: No-No Boy by John Okada ISBN: 0295955252 Publisher: University of Washington Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 1978 List Price(USD): $12.89 |
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Title: A Simple Habana Melody: A Novel by Oscar Hijuelos ISBN: 0060928697 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 17 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee ISBN: 0802136303 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Middle Passage: The Caribbean Revisited by V. S. Naipaul ISBN: 0375708340 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 08 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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