Asian-American Books

This is truly one of my favorite novels! This magnificent work hit home for me, I grew up with a Chinese mother in the Midwest, and felt deeply connected to the same issues of absorbing Chinese and American cultures - and finding my own identity in the middle of it. I remember so many of the traditional values of being a Chinese woman, having to be a dutiful daughter, and always putting myself last, and "Love Made of Heart" goes deep into the heart of these ideas. Ruby's growth often reminds me of my own realizations and obstacles of overcoming the past.

I highly recommend this book, it truly appeals to anyone, whether you're Chinese, a woman, or just anyone facing those past histories we often try to leave behind. We all have a journey of life, which often leads to reconciling with the things that have made us who we truly are.

LeYung's Book is excellent. I read it in two sittings. Dinner could wait. I had to find out what would happen to Ruby Lin. LeYung Ryan uses her novel to advocate compassion for mental illness and to help survivors of family violence find their own voices. I could relate on many levels to her book. I am Caucasian, way older than Ruby Lin, my family was not violent nor experienced mental illnesses and yet, LeYung's writing is so evocative, so much from the heart. . . she reaches deep and succeeds with her genuine and authentic voice. As I think about this book I read a year ago, I realize I want to read it again. Yes, it's that good.

Ruby Lin's dilemma, though specific to the individual mother-daughter issues she faces of how to support and love her mother who is plagued with mental illness, is universal to all mothers and daughters. How does one break away without breaking the love between them?

I recommend this book to everyone and especially to women who could use a good role model in finding their own personal power to stand up to men who exploit them, abuse them, cast blame or guilt or withhold their love.

Ruby Lin, in her quest to become an American Girl, learns powerful advice and strategies from the black and white American movies she watches as a child. When she steps into her own power goosebumps race.

The moments of love and surrender, and pain and abuse cause laughter and tears.

Above all this book has great heart.

Love Made of Heart is a wonderful book filled with emotion and drama from page 1.

I read all the customer reviews before reading the PW review. Egads. What planet did that person come from?

Honestly, it is as if that reviewer willfully detached themselves from the emotions prevalent throughout the story. It was merely a summary regurgitation of plot lines, but that is not what I look for in reviews to decide whether or not a book is worth my time and money.

I want to know if I will vicariously experience the lives of the characters while turning the pages. I want to laugh, to cry, to feel fully human and alive.

I want dramatic conflict. I want to read things that I would find terribly uncomfortable in real life. Conflict is drama.

This book has all of that, and it is done with grace and a deft touch. Anyone who has a mother should be able to recognize the various guilt trips that Ruby Lin's mother tries to repeatedly foist off on her. It rings true.

I look forward to reading LeYung Ryan's next book.

Love Made From Heart made me laugh, made me think, made me cry. Author Teresa Leyung Ryan takes the reader to a vulnerable place, where she uncovers the tear in a young girl's heart. From there, she shows how to grow from a tragic experience, how to become strong, how to heal. The reader not only comes away with a better understanding of the Chinese culture, the reader comes away with a better understanding of self, and of love. I highly recommend this book to anyone who comes from a dysfunctional family.

Jorgenson's writing style grabs you and puts you in the drivers seat as a Ranger in the infrantry, through the heat, humid and rain drenched jungle of Vietnam. Jorgenson has a very unique way of pulling you into the action that gets your blood pumping, ears ringing, and sweat dripping before you realize that your safe at home sitting on the couch reading. The book is hard to put down, your pulled into the relationships that Jorgenson had with his teammates as if they were your own; you feel as if your part of the team, living through the same experiences. And when your done with the book, you feel the same losses, like when a dear friend moves across the country, one that you won't ever see again, its hard to say goodby. Thank you, Kregg Jorgenson for letting me be part of your team!

It is a good book written on the Vietnam war. The author, veteran from the Rangers volunteered for the LRRP engaged in Cambodia in 1969/1970. He succeeds in outliving 54 missions. The book is a a beautiful testimony of a great soldier.

Written with common sense. Factual, but doesn't read like a reference guide. If you like the works of say, Mark Twian or Walter Isaacson, you'll like this writer's style. I believe it might out do "Kill Me If You, You SOB" because of the depth.

I picked up this book by chance at Barnes and Noble looking for new and exciting insight into the Calvary troops in Vietnam. I was not disappointed. Having read another book about Apache Troop, "Apache Sunrise", by Jerry Boyle, a cobra gunship pilot, it was interesting to read about the infantry of the 1st of the 9th Apache troop.

Jorgenson's writing style is very smooth and readable. It makes the reader feel like he/she is right there with him in the jungle. I found myself having to re-read a paragraph from time to time as I was so "white knuckled" at times from being involved in the book. I was reading too fast in anticipation. Mr. Jorgenson also has a knack for weaving in historical descriptions about the units and military involvement in general so the reader has a better understanding of the war going on around his small part of it. I also commend him for the truth behind his writing. His humble descriptions of both traumatic events and the good times are appreciated by this reader. Also, his in-depth descriptions of his fellow troop and friends make the reader seem like he has known them for years.

I recommend Acceptable Loss to anyone interested!

It amazes me the dedication and bravery that the young people showed in serving our country. We owe our veterans a great deal for their service and being able to share their experiences with future generations.

Thank you Mr. Jorgenson!

I have been reading war stories since I was 12 years old (non fiction). My reading has covered all American Wars from the Civil War to Viet Nam. I have a collection of aroud 300 that I kept. This book is at the top of the list on Viet Nam and very high on all war books. The author tells it like it is . Most books on Viet Nam are about the marines with a lot of propaganda about the good old corps. The author tells of all the sensations he goes through, being afraid, the terror of being wounded. the allmost disreguard of the top brass. Should be read by all

I bought this book for my Chinese adopted daughter. She is only one right now, so I'm saving it for when she's older. I read the book and it is really well written, and definitely written from a kids point of view, which is why I like it so much. Lots and lots of colorful pictures in the book, and it also addresses the topic of abandonment in a very careful way.

The book arrived in a timely manner and in excellent condition as promised. Thank you.

By accident, i found this site! I am Chinese and my English teachers (They are a couple)were from the US. They also adopted a girl named Evie Xuezhi Braun from Changsha just the same city as Ying Ying.I was really moved by their adoptive actions when I heard they had no kids and wanna adopt a Chinese orphan. I can still remember the time they saw me off when I started for Shanghai to work there after my graduation.Evie was also there with her American Parents. I really wanna recommand this book to them. It sounds helpful to them and Evie. But we are all in China. I can't get the book~but I will tell them the name of this great book!! Thanks for your Americans' kindness!!! Many Thanks!!!

I liked this book written in the voice of a 9 year old girl, a very mature girl, I hope my daughter will enjoy reading this in the future, I enjoyed reading it.

This book gives us an inside look at an orphanage in Hunan Province and a young girl's homeland trip. It is full of big, color photographs from inside an orphanage, which is such a rare treat. Our 2 1/2 yr-old loves this book and loves all the pictures of the babies and the nannies. When it comes time to talk with our daughter about other issues surrounding her adoption, this book will be a valuable resource. In Ying Ying's own voice we hear about the one-child policy, infant abandonment and adoption.

"Kids Like Me in China" is a great book for children adopted from China and their siblings, cousins and friends. It can help adoptive parents bring up topics that may be difficult for us. It is a must-have!

This gorgeously written debut novel is comprised of brief chapters written with beautiful precision, stirring imagery, emotional depth and a sense of imminent tragedy (opens with the main character in a burn ward, both parents dead). Isa has a remote mathematical father, beautiful and expressive--although critical--mother, a tragic younger brother, a hippie family as friends, and an albino boyfriend who makes her feel less "other." Her story charts the silences in a death-quieted household, and the resulting isolation of the family members. I had trouble believing that a 16-17 year old girl would engage in such extroverted raucous sex (parents and teachers take note: graphic descriptions of sex); the albinism aspect felt somewhat contrived to me; and events revealed at the end also seemed somewhat unbelievable, as if it was created to fit characterization and fulfill a psychological plot device, rather than being a realistic act that would reveal character. Impressive first novel.

Secondhand World
Katherine Min

Katherine Min beckons us to accompany Isadora Myung Hee Sohn on her search for identity, her journey of teenage discovery as a Korean American. We stride, we stumble on a trail beset with family tension and cultural clash set in a mosaic of shifting relationships, of friendships done and undone, of a father's hidden quest for meaning in life.

Isa's father, entangled in his adherence to the accuracy of scientific proof, is unable to appreciate his daughter's and wife's appreciation for poetry. "Poetry," he said. "No substance. Anybody can write a poem. It's just words."

But words in the hands of a gifted writer do have substance. So magnificently evident in the volume before us.

The author's detailed phrases, allegories, and contemplative passages form the tone and substance that distinguish extraordinary writing. Her words vibrate as they pass into our memory bank.

Ms. Min's feeling for words may be best described in Isa's own explanation of why she enjoyed reading the dictionary: The words "...seemed to float in my brain, words - lovely and sinuous, devious and clever - surprising me with their specificity, their shadings, and their oddness."

As readers, we grudgingly reach journey's end, exhausted in a way, yet exhilarated in having had this opportunity to experience the debut of a gifted writer.

Glen W. Swanson and Annagreta Swanson, Peterborough, NH

Here's a case where the words "haunting debut" really do ring true. "Secondhand World" is genuinely moving, and the ache that you'll feel while reading it (and after) is the result of an immensely skillful writer using language to evoke a whole world of feeling. What a fine balance Katherine Min strikes in getting us to recognize the longing and isolation her characters feel. It's never heavy-handed. The book's insights are so precisely rendered they feel like real discoveries. Isadora and her struggle for acceptance may be front and foremost in many readers' minds (it may just be the most universal and therefore accessible aspect of the novel to talk about), but behind her lurks the story of her parents and their struggle is more harrowing, sadder, wiser. I won't forget them or this terrific book.

Secondhand World opens with a quote from the Orpheus Variations: "Of all the tricks of memory, the cruelest / Is accuracy." This sentiment is, I believe, the key to appreciating the savage beauty of this novel. The world that Isadora Myung Hee Sohn inhabits during her senior year in high school pulsates with an energy that is just beyond our capacity to understand. The minutiae of what is seen and felt every day becomes ominous not because of what happens, but because of what is observed.

There is no sepia-toned sentimentality. Isa's sloppy sexual awakening, her righteousness about her parents' flaws, the distance that grows between her and her closest friends from sharing too great a level of intimacy---the narrator bridges the gaps in our selective memories, reminding us of how painful and wondrous life at that age truly is.

The seemingly simple, layered narrative; the fires that bookend the pregnant silences in Isa's household; the irreversible consequences of being human----a person could reflect endlessly on the images, the language, and the emotional depth of this novel. How is it that we survivors (all of us) can fail to see or fail to understand even those closest to us? How can the fleeting and mundane make life sublime? This is not a plot-driven novel, yet it is almost impossible to put down.

Seattle was recently pummeled by 70 mph winds that brought down trees and power lines. Our lights went out at midnight, when I still had twenty pages left to go. I scrambled around for the flashlight so that I could finish the novel, ignoring the howling wind, the flapping of a neighbor's roof, and a passing emergency vehicle until I was done. Then I lay awake thinking not about the dipping temperature but about the story.

Secondhand World is a remarkable novel. I highly recommend it.

Read it for the flawless sentences or the unexpected turns: a coming-of-age novel in which loss is more than the vanity of innocence, a familial and cultural clash whose darker side inexorably turns into the light and the reader's full view, a first-person point-of-view that conveys the stuff of a world as well as an individual consciousness, a look at how American life is so richly imagined and so blankly played out, including wonderful coming-of-sexual age road trip that combines Henry Millerian exuberance with Nabokovian irony. The four main characters - the teenage Korean-American heroine, her immigrant parents, and her not-quite-blind boyfriend - deepen and come more alive on the page the more pages you turn. This is a deftly put-together novel that makes good on its promise and then some.

I must say that the author did an excellent job if he intended this book to be a record of the day to day action on all theaters of engagement between the French and the Viet Minh.

Because of the excessive level of detail, the book is very diffcult to read and appreciate. It is a mind numbing experience.

Read this only if you wish to know in detail the horrible sufferings that that combatants on either side faced in a senseless war. Otherwise you will be better off with just a summary.

The Last Valley: Dien Bien Phu And the French Defeat in Vietnam

Apparently the best account ever written on Dien Bien Phu. Just two brief remarks:
1. History is shaped by strong personalities, and there was an abundance of them in Dien Bien Phu. Despite the book's large volume, there would be welcome a chapter sketching portraits of key protagonists (Bigeard, Langlais, de Castries etc), at the expense of details on arms specifications.
2.The author is favorably predisposed to French military leaders, and I tend to sustain his argument about injustices inflicted to the French army by politicians. Nevertheless, he is inclined to offer unnecessary excuses to the former, as well as to soothe down quarrels. Why not state bluntly that Cogny and Langlais could not tolerate Navarre and de Castries respectively? Even though the outcome might not be different, leadership exercised by de Castries was apparently inadequate. During this epic battle, besides heroism, mistakes had been made also on the French part, which the author appears quite eager to justify, out of respect to this unique effort.

T. E. Lawrence wrote that amateurs do something because they love to, and professionals because they must. We can thank the muses that Martin Windrow is a self-described amateur, because this work bears all the hallmarks of serious and loving craftsmanship. He places both the war, and the battle in context, he casts a glaring light upon some of its myths, and he gives serious attention to the technical aspects of the battle that the great majority of military professionals would otherwise miss, such as the state of Viet Minh artillery tactics and doctrine. Were Fall still alive and writing, Windrow would still have outclassed him. Anything and everything you want or need to know about the battle for Dien Bien Phu is here. The very best military history I've read in English in a very long time. Bravo!

the book just kind of grabbed me, twice.
first when i saw it on the library shelf, i read "hell in a very small place" many years ago and have a continuing interest in vietnam and america's involvement there.
the second time is when i started reading it, it reads like an excellent detective story, i sat and sat and finished it at one sitting, not a small feat considering it is over 700 pages long. This style is the first very notable characteristic.

not only is the writing excellent, but the author is one of those people who you can imagine talking to. he appears to a military historian from his amazon authors page. writing since the 1970's with an accent on french and the foreign legion. But this book looks like a long term research project and literally a work of love. the detail and interest he displays puts it in a class almost by itself. the only other military history that i've been this impressed by is the boer war by pakenham. The research and simply put love that went into this book is evident thoughout and is a second notable item.

there is something else that makes it outstanding, several places he shows some very unique and well thought out ideas. they are just snatches of his worldview: some pages about the wounds caused by military bullets, a couple of places where he talks about the relationships between politicians and military leaders, and his discussion about how men fight for their buddies next to them, not geopolitical big things. There are just a few of these rather tantilizing glimpses, enough to make me look for more of his books. This disclosure of the man behind the work and his ideas developed from a lifetime of study in history is remarkable and the 3rd item i wish to point out.

I'd not a fan of military histories, nor an i particularly interested in the genre. But i do like his writing. I find the careful analysis of what happened, what lead up to it, how people responded fascinating and as yesterday proved, somewhat addictive. There is an overwhelming number of names, who went where and fought whom, etc, those datum that make up military history, but it is not so bad that it bores or obscures the ideas. He is a very careful documenter of the facts, desirous of completeness and setting the historical record straight. All elements which appear strongly in the book.

There is another thing remarkable about the book and it's author, a desire to look at the facts and the events and truly learn from them. To see this part of our world, a somewhat dark one, filled with the dead and lost, and remember them not just for their sacrifices but what these things have to teach us about ourselves and the societies we find ourselves in. and the first place to find the meaning of events is to get them right, to be factual and see what happened and propose why. something that this book does in a uniquely interesting and useful way.

i sure wish the militaries of the world had more thoughtful people like this author, either in their general staffs or in their officer universities. perhaps a significant dose of reality and history is what more of our military leaders need before embarking on disastrous campaigns.

This is a superb and well constructed book and is by far one of the best accounts of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu that has been written. The author gives the reader a great insight to the formation of the Viet Minh and their rise to become a formidable fighting force whose journey to power led to the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu.

The book is well balanced and very readable. It gives a well presented account of the battle and how it unfolded and also shows how, although the French were defeated, at some stages of the fighting, victory could have gone either way with the staggering battle casualties suffered by the Viet Minh.

He also deals with the communist purges in the north after the French had been defeated and the division of the country into North and South Vietnam.

This fine book would not be out of place on the bookshelf of anyone interested in the military campaigns of Vietnam.

I too was a forward air controller. The col. relives alot for me. The Ho Chi Ming trail was pure hell. 57mm rounds leave a lasting impression on one who has experienced war. The book deserves 20 stars.

This is an entertaining and honest read. I really enjoyed the writing style. This book focusses more on the life of a FAC than the actual flying of the missions. Fans of DaNang Diary and A Lonely Kind of War might be disappointed to find much less in the way of the white knuckle accounts of hostile engagements, but anyone interested in the people who fought the war can't fail but to be impressed with this book.

I really enjoyed this book. I am not very interested in war or military titles but this was a departure from the standard fare. Mr. Jackson's personality and joyful approach to life left me feeling proud. His view of life is very uplifting. I can't really explain the way this book made me feel, a combination of proud and sore, from laughing, but with a better understanding of why someone is willing to fight a war. The last chapter made me cry as did other parts but overall the book was a pleasure to read. I may even read it again I definitely will be buying it for friends. Thank you to the authors for helping me understand things that were unknown to me before this book.

I initially ordered this book because I didn't think it could live up to its reviews and I was going to give it less than five stars. After reading it, I would give it six stars if that was possible. This is a top drawer example of a really well constructed, well written and well drawn picture of a man and his impressions and experiences in combat. Te story telling is brilliant, a real "page turner." I have read numerous volumes of war stories, many were excellent but none were able to catch and hold me like this one. Mike Jacksin has done a large favor for Vietnam veterans by showing just how normal they really were.

What a special book this is. It traces Mr. Jackson's experiences as a young man growing up in Ohio and follows him into air force training, pilot training and, finally, into combat. It does an excellent job of showing civilians what it is like to train for and experience war. I think it gives a more personal and even funny view of Vietnam than other books I have read of that era. It is also a timely book with solders once again marching off to war. Mike Jackson has my respect and appreciation.

An engrossing, fast moving story of a 1st CAV warrant officers experiences mid 1967-1968. Tom does a great job of explaining the elements of helicopter flight and flying tactics. The year he experienced had a high degree of combat, frequently against NVA, rather than VC. He writes well, has a story to tell, and tells it well.

I've read some other helicopter pilot's stories who served in the same III Corps AO I did in 1967 (with an assault helicopter unit, but not as an air crewman). The intensity level written about here is yet another level above what we were experiencing pre-Tet.

Like all the warrants I remember, he saw himself as a pilot rather than an officer, and measured others by their piloting skills rather than their rank. We enlisted men loved them for that. Officers with real skills (not surprisingly, the minimum AFTQ score - equivalent to an IQ score - for a WOC was higher than for an officer candidate).

I think you'll find this book a real page turner.

For me as a Combat vet, Vietnam 1966-68 101st Airborne grunt. I thought the book was great. I don't often read books about Nam, but this looked like a must. It brought back a lot good memories and not so good as well.Only Vietnam vets will have a true understand of this fine book.The UH-1H (AKA) HUEY was the best Helicpter ever built and I we all loved to see Charlie model UH-1C and the AH-1G Gun Ships too. Frank Allen

I bought 'To The Limit' a few months ago and have now read it from cover to cover three times. I've read a lot of Viet Nam aviation books over the years and I always considered Robert Mason's 'Chickenhawk' the standard for the helicopter community. Tom has now raised the bar. 'To The Limit' has got to be the most laid-back, lucid and sensitive book I have read on the subject.
He has a down-to-earth style (must be the Georgia upbringing!)which doesn't need profanity (as another reviewer pointed out), an obvious concern for the aircraft, his crew and his 'customers, and a very honest appraisal of his inner feelings under what can only be described as the highest possible levels of combat-induced stress.
Definitely a five star book - if there where more available, he'd get them.

I'm a civilian helicopter instructor with about 1100 hours. I learned that the guys who flew in Vietnam did things on an almost daily basis that we could consider suicidal. This book will open your eyes to what is possible when lives are at stake, nobody cares about wrecking an expensive turbine-powered machine, and the crew are willing to get themselves killed to bail out some troops on the ground. That said, I don't think I am going to see if a Robinson R44 can chop down a stand of bamboo...

It is really incredible what soldiers were asked to do - every day. The author writes a very readable description of his experiences as a combat helicopter pilot in Vietnam. Even more amazing is that his story is clearly not unique.

I think that even people who are not war story history buff readers will enjoy this book as well as the aformentioned.

I read "Sushi For One" about three weeks ago and couldn't wait to get "Only Uni" - but a part of me kept thinking that it wasn't going to be as good as the first book - WRONG! In fact, I truly loved this book more than the first one.

I would love to see the series continue and to include that little snot of a cousin "Mimi" - maybe if I knew why she was such a brat, I could at least like her! Who's with me? =)

Again, Camy surprised me. This book was spiritually challenging for myself, but was daring in the twist it took towards the end. It was realistic and teaches even the reader about God's grace and love as we watch Trish as she grows in her trust of God. I can't wait to read number three, and although I borrowed these books, I want to own them for myself!

This book was hard to put down. Considering that I do not read "chick lit" I think that is a ringing endorsement. Despite me being a middle aged married woman with children, it was easy to root for the heroine, Trish, in all her trials and triumphs. Tang manages to mix up the story line enough that you can never really anticipate what she is going to throw at you but when she does, it is all too real a possibility. Looking forward to her next book due in September.

Camy Tang has another winner with Only Uni. As with the first book, my 13 year old daughter finished it before me (and she never reads). I loved Trish and enjoyed her many disastrous church volunteer endeavors. What a twist at the senior home (I won't give it away)! Can't wait for Single Sashimi to come out.

I would see advertisements for Sushi for One and its sequel, Only Uni in a mail order catalog I get regularly. I kept thinking they looked interesting, but never picked them up. About a month ago I finally read Sushi for One, which was good. I liked the characters, but it made it so that I couldn't wait to read Only Uni. I was surprised to find that I liked Only Uni much better than Sushi. I was able to relate to Trish more than sports-crazed Lex. The writing flowed better, and of course I still wanted to whack Grandma Sakai in the head. I can't wait to read Venus' story in Single Sashimi. These next 4 months will be torture.

Very good account of life in Recondo. The walk through the Vietnam service portrayed in this book, will keep you in the moment.

This book gave a good accounting of the training to become a Long Range Reconaisance Patrol leader, and what it was really like to be almost alone, behind the enemy lines.

another excellent book by Larry Chambers. This details his attendance at the coveted Recondo School in Vietnam, detailing the processes and the experiences. Very well written and I cannot recommend it enough for anyone looking into the LRRPs of Vietnam

This is an exelent book, it covers the author time while serving in F coy/ 58 LRP and L coy/ 75 Ranger

One of the things I love is the way the author decribes the small details, the nitty gritty...attention to details are importend, but it is details in the field...


This book also gives an avid account of the authors trip to the famed MACV recondo school and has plenty of goddy tips that can be used even today by modern patrol soldiers.

The author is a modest man, but you cannot miss that fact that Larry Chambers was icecold in combat.....did things that many others would have freaked out on......
I could not put i down

Go Buy it

"I made this book mandatory reading for my Ranger team. I'd quiz my men about what they'd learned; to be bold, daring, tenacious, audacious, and don't be afraid to make a decision. We went from the worst platoon in the regiment to the best platoon in six months. In training we'd get to objective so fast they had to hold us back.

US Army Master Sergeant H. "Max" Mullen Ret.
75th Ranger Regiment

The shipment was out to me in a couple of days! This book is awesome, too! Thanks!

It's hard enough for a kid to absorb and become part of American culture. This book provides a glimpse into Choi's attempt to master two cultures. Choi's memoir is both very funny and thought provoking. She has a wonderful storytelling style - she lets the characters dish out the plot with "kettles" of unabashed humor. I haven't read a book this quickly in years.

The book was hilarious, I couldn't put it down. All the situations that she describes in the book are just great. It made me feel better that I'm not the only one with a crazy family, especially since I also come from a Korean background. The book def puts a smile on your face and if you want more she keeps up a blog, so check that out too.

I have a Korean mother, and an American father. I was raised in as much of the Korean tradition as possible, and often thought my mother was out of her mind. Having American friends, I would see how their families and mothers were and thought that my mom was just neurotic and out to make my life miserable.

Annie's book is so well written. I felt that I could relate to everything she wrote. By reliving vicariously through her words, I was finally able to see that my family dynamic was not about control and disappointment, rather more about love and wanting the best for me, albeit in a very strange, stressful, mind game sort of way.

Annie says on page 196: "Though we hate to admit it, we care what our family thinks; we've been brainwashed to seek approval and obey, just like the rest of Korea's children." I've repeated this line again and again, and not one of my Korean friends (and siblings) haven't laughed out loud at the funny, but very true statement.

You will fall in love with Annie's family. You will adore her mother. You will feel like you know her in some strange way. This is probably because her spoken English is written as is, and you feel like she is talking to you. If you have a Korean parent, you will laugh at how the English language is somewhat butchered, yet that you are able to read and understand every bit of broken English, mispronounced and incomplete words. You will laugh at the different logic that cultural differences bring, and you will find yourself in stitches over the similarities that seem to be universal in the Korean family dynamic.

This book is a joy to read. It is side splitting funny, and not dull for one second. You'll start reading and not put it down. Then you will go through withdrawal when you are finished. You'll find yourself ordering copies for friends of similar backgrounds, and referring to over and over again.

Annie is comical and quick witted. I only hope that she will continue her memoir into the future.

hilarious and heartfelt, Annie Choi's book made me laugh out loud, and explained to the rest of the world what it's like to grow up Asian American or specifically, with nutty but loving parents who can barely communicate with you. Except in "Engrish" that is. However, the funniest thing she has written in my opinion was her "Open Letter To Architects" which is not in this collection. Good stuff though.