Best Asian American Literature

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY: NPR · San Francisco Chronicle · Entertainment Weekly · The Huffington Post · Buzzfeed · Amazon · Grantland · Booklist · St. Louis Post Dispatch · Shelf Awareness · Book Riot · School Library Journal · Bustle · Time Out New York · Mashable · Cleveland Plain Dealer “Lydia is dead. What follows is a novel that explores alienation, achievement, race, gender, family, and identity--as the police must unravel what has happened to Lydia, the Lee family must uncover the sister and daughter that they hardly knew. There isn’t a false note in this book, and my only concern in describing my profound admiration for Everything I Never Told You is that it might raise unachievable expectations in the reader. *Starred Review* A teenage girl goes missing and is later found to have drowned in a nearby lake, and suddenly a once tight-knit family unravels in unexpected ways.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"On its surface, the story is a mystery: What led to the death of Lydia Lee, a sixteen-year-old honor student with (supposedly) everything to live for? The author delves into the lives of each family member: James, the father, who never felt really at home in any situation; Marilyn, the mother, whose dreams were shelved by the demands of marriage, family, and the times; Nathan, the older brother, whose brilliance is overlooked; Lydia, the golden child burdened with all the frustrated aspirations of her parents; and Hannah, the overlooked afterthought of a child, a silent but keen observer of everyone in her family. In addition, issues of race in America and women's roles are explored through the parents, James and Marilyn, who came of age in the 60s and early 70s at the height of the sexual and civil rights revolutions. Both psychologically astute and poetic, it draws the reader into the story and evokes sympathy and awe. I also loved the way the author treated memory, that old deceiver, who smoothes out that which we cannot bear to recall."
"It is so exquisite, so marvelously perfect, so regally quiet and elegant that surely, it must come from the hands of a old soul author. The story begins with the death of Lydia, daughter of Marilyn and James, which is told in the first sentence and slowly revealed through the book. Nathan, oldest son on his way to Harvard, Lydia, the middle sister and favorite one, and Hannah, truly growing up invisible. Her prose is lyrical and light, allowing you to float in the scenes, often between characters, as if you are a literary ghost spying on these people. By the time you read the final page, you realize Ng has managed to create such a reality, and that when it ends, there is a sense of loss."
"Her family is the only Asian town in their midwest community; her mother has put her own lapsed dreams onto Lydia; and her father has done the same - hoping Lydia will be popular. We see the dynamics between the mother and father, the three siblings, and the neighbor, Jack. It's fun reading two novels from the same author back-to-back - even though I read them in reverse order of their publication."

– Paula Hawkins. From the bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You , a riveting novel that traces the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and the enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives. In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned – from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. Enter Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother – who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town--and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. “Witnessing these two families as they commingle and clash is an utterly engrossing, often heartbreaking, deeply empathetic experience…It’s this vast and complex network of moral affiliations—and the nuanced omniscient voice that Ng employs to navigate it—that make this novel even more ambitious and accomplished than her debut…Our trusty narrator is as powerful and persuasive and delightfully clever as the narrator in a Victorian novel…It is a thrillingly democratic use of omniscience, and, for a novel about class, race, family and the dangers of the status quo, brilliantly apt…The magic of this novel lies in its power to implicate all of its characters—and likely many of its readers—in that innocent delusion [of a post-racial America]. She toggles between multiple points of view, creating a narrative both broad in scope and fine in detail, all while keeping the story moving at a thriller’s pace.” — LA Times “Riveting…unearthing the ways that race, class, motherhood and belonging intersect to shape each individual…Perhaps Ng's most impressive feat is inviting the reader's forgiveness for Mrs. Richardson –– a woman whose own mission for perfection, and strict adherence to rules ultimately become the catalyst for the maelstrom that ensues.” —Chicago Tribune. “Like Sue Monk Kidd or Madeleine Thien, Celeste Ng has a carpenter’s sure touch in constructing nested, interconnected plots…There are few novelists writing today who are as wise, compassionate and unsparing as Ng, about the choices you make, the ones you don’t, and the price you might pay for missed lives.” — Financial Times. “Like Everything I Never Told You , Ng’s excellent debut, the book plots its way into a smart, accessible conversation about race and class. “Ng writes with the wisdom of a hundred lives lived, churning out complex characters mostly sympathetic, sometimes loathsome, but all startlingly human.” — HarpersBazaar.com. “Fans of novelist Celeste Ng’s debut, Everything I Never Told You , and devotees of her resistance-ready Twitter feed can rejoice…The story drifts effortlessly between characters; each is full and memorable as they coax the novel to its fiery climax. “Couldn’t be more timely… Little Fires Everywhere might just be the signpost that we need, pointing a way forward with the gentle suggestion that sometimes doing the right thing means breaking some rules.” – Paste “Compelling… Little Fires Everywhere invests all of its emotional energies in the relationship between mothers and their children…in Ng’s precisely rendered perfect suburb.” – Vox. “Ng’s taut class drama is calibrated for fireworks.” – New York Magazine , Books to Read This Fall “Written with deep empathy and vivid characters who feel true to life, Little Fires Everywhere is a captivating, insightful examination of motherhood, identity, family, privilege, perfectionism, obsession, and the secrets about ourselves we try to hide.” – Buzzfeed. “There are few modern writers as brilliant at capturing the complexities of a family as Celeste Ng…The book is smart, nuanced, and exhilarating—but more than anything, Little Fires Everywhere is a gorgeous exploration of motherhood in its many forms, and the many different paths that women travel to get there.” — Shondaland.com. “Ng’s uncanny ability to embody multiple viewpoints makes for a powerful, revelatory novel.” – BBC.com, Ten Books to Read in September. “Ng has one-upped herself with her tremendous follow-up novel… a finely wrought meditation on the nature of motherhood, the dangers of privilege and a cautionary tale about how even the tiniest of secrets can rip families apart… Ng is a master at pushing us to look at our personal and societal flaws in the face and see them with new eyes… If “Little Fires Everywhere” doesn’t give you pause and help you think differently about humanity and this country’s current state of affairs, start over from the beginning and read the book again.” --San Francisco Chronicle. “Ng’s talent for depth of story and character development shines and will stay with you long after you’ve finished the book.” — Richmond Times-Dispatch “Immersive and thought-provoking…Hang on and prepare to be mesmerized as you meet two families in idyllic Shaker Heights, Ohio.” — The Missourian. “A multilayered, tightly focused and expertly plotted narrative…A deeply impressive novel with the power to provoke and entrance.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune “One of the best novels of the fall is an emotional tale about motherhood, class and so much more… Everything I Never Told You , was good, but this is better.” —AARP.org “Mesmerizing…The result is a deftly woven plot that examines a multitude of issues, including class, wealth, artistic vision, abortion, race, prejudice and cultural privilege.” —BookPage “Ng’s best-selling first novel Everything I Never Told You proved her deft hand at crafting family dramas with the deep-rooted tension of a thriller, a skill she puts to pitch-perfect effect in her latest entry…that is equal parts simmering and soulful.” —HarpersBazaar.com “A quiet but powerful look at family, secrets, and running from the past. “Ng’s stunning second novel is a multilayered examination of how identities are forged and maintained, how families are formed and friendships tested, and how the notion of motherhood is far more fluid than bloodlines would suggest…[A] tour de force.”— Booklist (starred review). “This incandescent portrait of suburbia and family, creativity, and consumerism burns bright…. As in Everything I Never Told You , Ng conjures a sense of place and displacement and shows a remarkable ability to see—and reveal—a story from different perspectives. -- Peter Ho Davies, author of The Fortunes "As if it wasn't totally obvious from her stunning first novel, Little Fires Everywhere showcases what makes Celeste Ng such a masterful writer. Celeste Ng is a powerful and poignant writer whose attention to detail is pitch-perfect. An Amazon Best Book of September 2017: With her first two novels, Celeste Ng has established herself as a writer of rare sensitivity and talent. Ng is a master of family and societal dynamics, shifting perspectives, and the secrets that we try to protect—and readers who loved her debut will recognize the author in this second novel, even as she continues to stretch herself as a writer.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The first 100 pages (one-third of the total book) just cover a lot of character study and plot set-ups. The plot focus about a Chinese baby abandoned at a fire station and the subsequent court battle when the single mother surfaces six months later to try to reclaim her daughter from the family in the process of adopting her, was really, really well done."
"Moreover, as the story progresses, it mines the undercurrents and conflicts unfolding in the neighborhood, and the inexorable events that ensue when an itinerant mother-daughter move in and casually defy every rule in the well-ordered, tony Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland. Elena Richardson was an ambitious journalist, but subverted her talent and success (now writing trivial articles for the community paper) after marriage to her attorney husband. She inherited property from her parents in the modest part of town and now rents it out to less fortunate individuals with, what she believes, is strong character and willing submission to Shaker Heights principles. Mia repurposes objects into unique formats and themes, photographs them, and uses techniques that reflect her perceptions of the world around her, which invites the reader into startling and intimate motifs. She furnishes a sly portrait of suburbia, where the cracks and fissures that aren’t present in the manicured houses and streets are nevertheless rupturing the very misguided families that the rules aim to defend."
"This long part took place right at the point of the book where something interesting was about to happen, and it took a while to get back into the story."
"I cannot say enough good things about this book."
"And by the end of the book I had more questions then answers."

Navigating between the Indian traditions they've inherited and the baffling new world, the characters in Jhumpa Lahiri's elegant, touching stories seek love beyond the barriers of culture and generations. But Mr. Kapasi has problems enough of his own; in addition to his regular job working as an interpreter for a doctor who does not speak his patients' language, he also drives tourists to local sites of interest. In that single line Jhumpa Lahiri sums up a universal experience, one that applies to all who have grown up, left home, fallen in or out of love, and, above all, experienced what it means to be a foreigner, even within one's own family. Frequently finding themselves in Cambridge, Mass., or similar but unnamed Eastern seaboard university towns, Lahiri's characters suffer on an intimate level the dislocation and disruption brought on by India's tumultuous political history. The two things that sustain her, as the little boy she looks after every afternoon notices, are aerograms from homeAwritten by family members who so deeply misunderstand the nature of her life that they envy herAand the fresh fish she buys to remind her of Calcutta. Delusions of grandeur and lament for what she's lostA"such comforts you cannot even dream them"Agive her an odd, Chekhovian charm but ultimately do not convince her bourgeois audience that she is a desirable fixture in their up-and-coming property.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Loved these short stories and can't wait to read more by this author!"
"I thoroughly enjoyed the book."
"I really enjoyed this book of short stories."
"Wonderful author."
"Beautifully written short stories."
"A collection of lovely, lyrical stories."
"Don’t know how I missed the point."
Best Native American Literature

The thirteenth novel in Craig Johnson's beloved New York Times bestselling Longmire series, the basis for the hit Netflix series Longmire Sheriff Walt Longmire is enjoying a celebratory beer after a weapons certification at the Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy when a younger sheriff confronts him with a photograph of twenty-five armed men standing in front of a Challenger steam locomotive. Praise for Craig Johnson: "It's the scenery—and the big guy standing in front of the scenery—that keeps us coming back to Craig Johnson's lean and leathery mysteries." "A Walt Longmire novel is like going on a ride-along with an old friend, watching him ferret out the bad guys with wit and humanity (and more than a few bullets), while we swap stories and catch up on old times...it's An Obvious Fact—it's good to have Walt back on the scene." More Praise for Craig Johnson and the Walt Longmire Mystery Series: Craig Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Longmire mysteries, the basis for the hit Netflix original series Longmire .
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The first story, let’s call this one A, takes place in the early 1970s when Marine Walt Longmire comes home from Vietnam to Wyoming’s Absaroka County and takes a job as undersheriff to Lucian Connolly Walt is on a train full of sheriffs from other Wyoming counties, heading from one end of the state to the other and then back again. We meet all kinds of interesting characters, one being Sheriff Marv Leeland, another Marine, who lost part of his right arm in WWII on Peliliu. The main part of this story involves the potential parole of a criminal who Walt arrested long ago and was responsible for a number of murders."
"Also, sometimes seems that since the TV series started, the book plots have taken on a pace much different than the earlier books."
"All the parts are here for a great Longmire mystery—the familiar cast of characters, the western locale, even intrigue on a train, with a thematic nod to Agatha Christie’s "Murder on the Orient Express.""
"The story unfolds over two different time periods (1972 and "modern day") and that limits much of the Walt/Vic/Henry banter I've grown attached to in the series."
"I love the Longmire series....Johnson tried a different format this writing and it took a while into the story for me to get used to the jumps. back and forth in time."
"I hate it when authors or TV shows engage in this tawdry practice to get you to follow along at your expense instead of giving you a satisfying stand alone product. Sometimes writers just lose the spark of what made their series a hit and just start pumping out sub standard work to keep the bucks rolling in. The great ones, Michael Connelly, John Sandford, Robert Crais, just manage to keep them coming with no lapse in quality, nurturing the spark."
Best Hispanic American Literature

But Oscar may never get what he wants. Amazon Best of the Month, September 2007 : It's been 11 years since Junot Díaz's critically acclaimed story collection, Drown , landed on bookshelves and from page one of his debut novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao , any worries of a sophomore jinx disappear. He captures not only the fat, virginal, impractical Oscar, but he also gives a sexy vigor to Yunior, who serves as narrator and Oscar's polar opposite. Davis also gives voice to Oscar's mother, Beli, whose fukú curse infects the entire family, except for Oscar's sister, Lola, performed in a flat voice by Snell, whose performance overlooks Lola's energy and resolve.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"A terrific story which sucks the reader in and holds on to you until the final page."
"Interesting."
"Love love love this book and Junot Diaz."
"Díaz uses tone and point-of-view brilliantly as he weaves together languages, cultures, and characters."
"The main character, Oscar, was easy to sympathize with and I fell in love with his passion immediately. As a somewhat closet nerd myself, I saw myself at his age falling in love with all the classic sci-fi, the first time I discovered Roleplaying games, spending hours lost in your imagination."
"This book is excellent, there is so many layers to it."
"I was really excited to read a book about modern day people with similar interests to me - science fiction, superheroes, fantasy."
"Really acquired an appreciation for life of Dominicans and their culture, mentality, and temperament."
Best Jewish American Fiction

The New York Times bestseller "A beautiful and elegant account of an ordinary man's unexpected and reluctant descent into heroism during the second world war." All he has to do is design a secret hiding place for a wealthy Jewish man, a space so invisible that even the most determined German officer won't find it. Lucien Bernard—who, like the book's author, is an architect—is offered a large sum of money to outsmart the Gestapo by devising unique hiding places for Jews, though he knows that anyone caught helping them will be tortured and killed by the Germans. Offered a juicy German factory commission that involves working with a Nazi officer who admires architecture and art, Lucien's web weaves more complexly. And when he falls in love with Adele's assistant, rescues a child, and contacts some of the individuals he's saved, the stakes grow higher and Lucien's thoughts turn from money to vengeance. Despite the dangers, Lucien likes fooling the occupying Germans, the money is excellent, and it comes with a lucrative opportunity to design a new factory for the Reich.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Anyone who follows me, knows that I HATE writing reviews and have the highest praise for those of you that are so good."
"Enjoyed the focus on the hiding of important Jews for limited times prior to moving them to other countries."
"a good book--showing good ways for architects to create hiding places 'almost in plain sight."
"because of the french inflection I chose to listen vs read this book..I was not disappointed."
"I'd love to research this more."
"Really enjoyed this book."
"Wonderfully written and engrossing story of a struggling French architect who tries to find work during WWII occupation of Paris."
"A terrific story."