Asian American & Pacific Islander Literature

Goodbye, Vitamin is Asian American author Rachel Khong’s debut novel. Khong, whose grandmother had Alzheimer’s disease, explores how Alzheimer’s disease affects a family in this work of literary fiction. Written as a series of diary entries, Khong’s protagonist, Ruth Young, meditates on memory, forgiveness, and the challenges inherent in familial relationships as she navigates an adulthood that is not turning out as planned.Published in 2017, Goodbye, Vitamin received positive reviews and was named one of... Read Goodbye, Vitamin Summary

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In their 2009 nonfiction book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, husband-and-wife journalist team Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn document what they consider the paramount moral challenge of the 21st century: the oppression of women and girls. The book was an international bestseller, inspired a four-part PBS documentary of the same name, and launched the Half the Sky movement.Like many journalists, when Kristof and WuDunn first began their careers, they... Read Half the Sky Summary

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Hello, Universe (2017) is the third novel by Filipino-American author Erin Entrada Kelly. It is intended for children aged 8 to 12. The title won the 2018 Newbury Medal, and its author has garnered other awards for previous novels, including a Golden Kite Award and an Asian/Pacific American Award for Children’s Literature. Kelly’s other books include Blackbird Fly (2015), The Land of Forgotten Girls (2016), You Go First (2018), and Lalani of the Distant Sea... Read Hello, Universe Summary

Hiroshima, an account of the first atomic bomb used in warfare, is a nonfiction book by John Hersey. Alfred A. Knopf published it in 1946, several months after it first appeared as an article in the New Yorker. The magazine ran the article at the end of August 1946, just after the first anniversary of the dropping of the bomb, devoting the entire issue to the lengthy piece. The issue sold out immediately and was... Read Hiroshima Summary

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How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe (2010) is a science fiction novel by American writer Charles Yu. Yu wrote the novel after merging two separate story ideas—one about a father-son relationship and the other about a man who keeps waking up in different universes. The narrative views the emotional tension between the father and son through the lens of quantum mechanics and popular philosophy. The novel was a finalist for the John... Read How To Live Safely In a Science Fictional Universe Summary

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I Love Yous are for White People is a memoir by Vietnamese-American Lac Su, published in 2009 by HarperCollins. This guide refers to the first US edition. The title paraphrases Pa, the author’s emotionally distant and abusive father, who rebuffs his son’s declaration of love at the age of 14. Su writes in simple prose and organizes the material chronologically, relying on the power of his experiences as a young immigrant in Los Angeles to... Read I Love Yous are For White People Summary

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The story opens in February 1975. Hà lives with her mother and three older brothers (Brother Quang, Brother Vũ, and Brother Khôi) in Saigon, South Vietnam. Hà knows her father, a naval officer, only through Mother’s stories and memories; he disappeared nine years earlier, a victim of the Communist Army of North Vietnam. Hà learns fractions, practices embroidery, and celebrates the start of the new lunar year on Tết (February 11). As spring and Hà’s... Read Inside Out And Back Again Summary

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