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The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays
The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays | Wesley Yang
4 posts | 5 read | 3 to read
The National Magazine Awardwinning writers debut collection of incisive, stylish essays on race and gender. One of the most acclaimed essayists of his generation, Wesley Yang writes about race and sex without the jargon, formulas, and polite lies that bore us all. His powerful debut, The Souls of Yellow Folk, does more than collect a decades worth of cult-reputation essaysit corrals new American herds of pickup artists, school shooters, mandarin zombies, and immigrant strivers, and exposes them to scrutiny, empathy, and polemical force. In his celebrated and prescient essay The Face of Seung-Hui Cho, Yang explores the deranged logic of the Virginia Tech shooter. In his National Magazine Awardwinning Paper Tigers, he explores the intersection of Asian values and the American dream, and the inner torment of the child exposed to tiger mother parenting. And in his close reading of New York Magazines popular Sex Diaries, he was among the first critics to take seriously todays Internet-mediated dating lives. Yang catches these ugly trends early because he has felt at various times implicated in them, and he does not exempt himself from his radical honesty. His essays retain the thrill of discovery, the wary eye of the first explorer, and the rueful admission of the first exposed.
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review
suzisteffen
Bailedbailed

The first and most famous essay is a dude being an inc3l at length before that was a word, and blaming the Virginia Tech shooting on the women who felt like the shooter was creepy enough in hitting on them that they called campus security. GUESS WHAT? They were right. Was there a potent mix of effed up racial politics too? No doubt. After I re-read the first essay (I‘d read it and rolled my eyes in 2010), I read reviews of the book & ❌.

Theaelizabet What!? 6y
suzisteffen @Theaelizabet Yeah, later today I‘ll link to some reviews but WHEW NO. 6y
Theaelizabet Please do. I had seen this book and thought I might be interested. Not at all what I thought it was, apparently. 6y
See All 12 Comments
suzisteffen @Theaelizabet I BOUGHT IT! Aaaah! The title ... I tell you what. OK just a second ... 6y
suzisteffen @Theaelizabet Also just to say the National Review & Qu1llette approved of it greatly, also a tip-off for me. 6y
Theaelizabet @suzisteffen A look back reminded me that I had heard of the book from Viet Thanh Nguyen‘s very lukewarm review in the NYT. I have personal reasons for an interest, so thanks for the links. I will read them. 6y
suzisteffen @Theaelizabet oh yes, Nguyen‘s review was def lukewarm but didn‘t call out the sexism - more like “what is the point of this book?” For those following our convo, here‘s that review: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/07/books/review/wesley-yang-souls-of-yellow-folk... 6y
suzisteffen @Theaelizabet and I don‘t in any way want to dismiss the centuries of racism around immigration policies and who‘s seen as sexy, a sexual being, a “real man” or a sex object of a woman, etc. BUT I don‘t think Yang addresses that *well* here. (The Slate link is very good on what happens when he approaches gender.) 6y
Theaelizabet Oh, no, I see where you‘re coming from and agree. We‘re on the same page. 6y
Weaponxgirl Can women please stop being blamed for shitty men‘s actions?! It‘s not our job to fix them or to feel at risk so that they can learn to be better people through us! Up with this I will not put. 6y
12 likes12 comments
blurb
LivingReflections
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There are many wonderful essays here, but if you don't put down the whiskey and old movies, you won't know about them...

review
Hooked_on_books
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Pickpick

An excellent essay collection covering the uniqueness of the Asian male experience in the US, racism in its recently revealed iterations in our society, and a closer look at the specific experiences of a few individuals. I thought the writing was terrific and appreciated the breadth and cohesion of the collection. I look forward to more from Yang.

Cinfhen Sounds fascinating and an interesting subject matter that doesn‘t get a lot of mention 6y
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blurb
Kobe83

Nyt notable book 2018

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