American Eyes: New Asian-American Short Stories for Young Adults [Mass Market Paperback]

Lori Carlson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 1995

In this unique collection of touching and heartfelt short stories, ten young Asian-American writers re-create the conflicts that all young people feel living in two distinct worlds -- one of memories and traditions, and one of today. Whether it includes dreams of gossiping with the prettiest blond girl in class, not wanting to marry the man your parents love, or discovering that your true identity is ultimately your decision, these extraordinary stories by writers of Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Hawaiian, Filipino, and Korean descent explore the confusion and ambivalence of growing up in a world different from the one their parents knew -- and the choices we all must make when looking for a world to which we want to belong.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"There is no subject that is off-limits for an Asian writer, just as there is no subject that is off-limits to a writer of any race," writes Cynthia Kadohata in her hard-hitting introduction to this anthology. The 10 stories here, strikingly diverse in both form and content, prove her point. "Fortune Teller," by Nguyen Duc Minh, for example, affectingly measures the pain and frustration of an adolescent crush by examining the experiences of a Vietnamese American boy whose father has only recently returned from seven years in a "reeducation" camp. And in Kadohata's "Singing Apples," the 12-year-old daughter of migrant workers in California conveys the persistent meanness of her grandmother, as well as the guilt the grandmother inculcates in her. An absorbing excerpt from Fae Myenne Ng's novel Bone, set in San Francisco's Chinatown, focuses on characters struggling to make it financially and emotionally in a fragmented world where trust is dangerous. While common concerns-such as home, American pop culture and generational difference-link the themes of these stories, the volume as a whole celebrates differences and the beautifully multiple variables of American life. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up?Home?what does it mean to Asian-American adolescents growing up in a country that often regards them as aliens? This intriguing collection of short stories presents answers as individual as each writer's voice?answers that transcend the color of skin, hair, and eyes?and speak to the human heart. The search for identity sometimes leads back to Asian roots: in one selection, an adoptee journeys to her native Korea to find her biological parents. For others, the battle takes place on the home front. In the darkly funny, surreal, and painful "Knuckles," a Chinese-American girl stubbornly refuses to eat her mother's ethnic cooking. (You don't need to be Chinese to understand the issues of control and self-destruction depicted here.) Immigrants from Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines tell their stories as well, and each selection is firmly anchored in a particular time and place. This collection surpasses Laurence Yep's American Dragons (HarperCollins, 1993) in the uniformly excellent quality of its writing, the acuteness of characterization, and the sophistication of its themes. American Eyes crackles and burns, warms and illuminates.?Margaret A. Chang, North Adams State College, MA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett (December 30, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449704483
• ISBN-13: 978-0449704486
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.4 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #519,728 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #70 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Multicultural Stories > Asian & Asian American
  • #93 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Asian American

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Coming from an Asian girl., November 30, 2000

A Kid's Review

This review is from: American Eyes: New Asian-American Short Stories for Young Adults (Mass Market Paperback)

American Eyes is a great book. It tells the whole world how it's like for us "Outsiders". The book says many true things about Asian people and how we live and think. I enjoyed the book because it reminded me not too be so obnoxious about having black hair, brown eyes and having parents who are traditional to thier culture. It teaches lessons like its okay not too be a "Blond blue eyed and tall". The story "House Painting" was a story I got addicted to. It told about a sister off at college coming home and the parents being very excited. Over all the book was great. For the children or adults who hate reading long boring stories, "American Eyes" is a book every one could enjoy and surely isn't boring.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A collection of stories that are easy to relate to., April 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: American Eyes: New Asian-American Short Stories for Young Adults (Mass Market Paperback)

Though the stories like "Blonde" and "Knuckles" read like childish stories, I found the rest of the book to be pretty interesting and easy to relate to. It's nice to know that I'm not alone in my dislike for Asian foods ("Fortune Teller") or my lack of knowledge of my ethnic language ("Summer of My Korean Soldier"). My favorites were "Fortune Teller," "Singing Apples," and "Summer of My Korean Soldier." The references to the different cultures were a learning experience. And the stories don't have happy endings, which is a life lesson in itself.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars a pointless collection, July 24, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: American Eyes: New Asian-American Short Stories for Young Adults (Mass Market Paperback)

I bought this book knowing that it is a collection of short stories by Asian writers that is intended for young adults. However, I was not expecting a book written by young adults. That's what the story of this book reads like. The themes explored in this book are pretty cliched: do we really need another story about Chinese kids being embarassed by the ethnic food her mother packs for them for lunch? Not only are the topics cliched, their treatments can't be more standard. I believe that some of these stories could have been written by non-Asians who owns a Chinese-English dictionary.

I think the major problem with the stories in this collection is that they are too short. The book is only about 140+ pages, and it contains ten stories. A better collection would leave out some of the more sophomoric works, such as _Blonde_ or _Home Now_, and expand the excerpted novels.