Charlie Chan Is Dead 2: At Home in the World (An Anthology of Contemporary Asian American Fiction--Revised and Updated) [Paperback]

Jessica Hagedorn (Editor), Elaine Kim (Preface)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 2004

More than a decade after its initial publication, the groundbreaking anthology Charlie Chan Is Dead remains the best available source for contemporary Asian American fiction. Edited by acclaimed novelist and National Book Award nominee Jessica Hagedorn, Charlie Chan Is Dead 2: At Home in the World brings together forty-two fresh, fascinating voices in Asian American writing—from classics by Jose Garcia Villa and Wakako Yamauchi to exciting new fiction from Akhil Sharma, Ruth Ozeki, Chang-Rae Lee, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Monique Truong. Sweeping in background and literary style, from pioneering writers to newly emerging voices from the Hmong and Korean communities, these exceptional works celebrate the full spectrum of Asian American experience and identities, transcending stereotypes and revealing the strength and vitality of Asian America today.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

A decade after Charlie Chan Is Dead (1993), until now the best source of contemporary Asian American fiction, novelist and poet Jessica Hagedorn returns to edit a new collection of 42 selections by members of America's fastest growing group. Classically separate from America's "melting pot," Asian immigrants have joined forces to combat racism and social injustice despite enormous differences among them in ethnicity, education, and income levels, a diversity well reflected in the fiction showcased here. There's the Chinese grandmother in Jen Gish's "Who's Irish," who cannot understand her son-in-law's Irish family's "plain, boiled food and plain, boiled thinking." Peter Bacho's "Rico," a portrait of an unemployed "fightin' Philippino" whose only option is enlistment during Vietnam. And Vietnamese-born Lindh Dinh's "Dead on Arrival," a privileged immigrant's stream-of-consciousness reverie that never strays far from thoughts of random mortality. Throughout, the family/not-family, belonging/outsider themes reverberate, rendering these stories at once particular and universal. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Jessica Hagedorn is the author of the novels Dogeaters and The Gangster of Love, Dream Jungle, and a collection of poetry and short fiction, Danger and Beauty.

Elaine H. Kim is an author and editor, as well as Associate Dean of the Graduate Division and Professor of Asian American Studies at UC Berkeley.

Product Details

• Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (February 24, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142003905
• ISBN-13: 978-0142003909
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #281,522 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Range of Voices and Cultures, July 2, 2004

By 

Debbie Lee Wesselmann (the Lehigh Valley, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Charlie Chan Is Dead 2: At Home in the World (An Anthology of Contemporary Asian American Fiction--Revised and Updated) (Paperback)

Jessica Hagedorn has put together a mostly impressive collection of short stories and a few novel excerpts written by Asian Americans. From well-known names to lesser known talents, this anthology covers the wide terrain of both stylistic approaches and Asian cultures. Its writers can claim heritages from Vietnam, India, the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Japan, Cambodia, and Korea. Some stories, such as Peter Ho Davies's "The Hull Case," have little, if anything, to do with Asian culture, but most have stronger connections to cultural uniqueness. Sarah Chin's "Red Wall" follows a Chinese-American narrator as she explores the faces of China as the member of a documentary film crew. Bharati Mukherjee, in her well-known and powerful story "The Management of Grief," explores the impact on the Canadian-Indian community of a plane crash in India that kills their loved ones. Ka Vang's "Ms. Pac-Man Ruined My Gang Life" tells of a Hmong member of a girl-gang who is forced by her home-girls to exact revenge on a Puerto Rican girl. Gish Jen's strong "Who's Irish?" is movingly told in broken but lucid English by a Chinese woman who doesn't like the wildness in her half-Irish granddaughter. Some of my favorite writers are included here: Chang-Rae Lee, Ruth Ozeki, Akhil Sharma, Mukherjee, Jhumpa Lahiri, Monique Truong. However, many of these forty-two writers were unknown to me before I read their stories, and I'm grateful Hagedorn introduced me to their work.

While some of these stories fall short of succeeding, all are well-written. The range in voices gives the reader a sense of the variety of the cultures and their individual members. I recommend this for readers of international fiction as well as Asian-Americans who long for writers who speak to their culture. This would make an excellent textbook for high school and college level courses that explore non-Western contemporary literature.

5.0 out of 5 stars Good, big & fat! 4th Asian-Amer anthology in 2 decades, reedited 93, July 19, 2009

By 

Phil Lee (Minneapolis, Minn, Silicon Tundra, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Charlie Chan Is Dead 2: At Home in the World (An Anthology of Contemporary Asian American Fiction--Revised and Updated) (Paperback)

This is a review of a 4th anthology on Asian American fiction, with a brief comparison to ones that came before. With a goal of looking expressly for new ethnic South East Asian, Vietnamese writers, I was in luck with four entries, by Linh Dinh (1963- ), Christian Langworthy (1967- ), Dao Strom (1973- ), Monique Truong (1968- ), and a bonus by a Hmong (Cambodia), Ka Vang (1975- ).

My quest was to examine the lyrical nature of Vietnamese literature. Unfortunately none of the featured authors had this style rub off on them, dubiously trying to write as an Asian American, whatever that is supposed to imply. I came to this conclusion after skim reading the full-length books by the Dinh, Strom, and Truong.

IMHO, Linh Dinh (1st gen immigrant, 1975, fellowship in Italy) is trying too hard to write on hip topics, much like Amy Tan did in her later novel with ersatz erudition in such work as "Saving Fish from Drowning (05) [Amazon 3* instead of 4.5*]." I'd highly recommend he stick with poetry and have bilingual works published; such as Nguyen Du.

Dao Strom's (1st gen immigrant, 1975) "Grass Roof, Tin Roof," is good writing, but lacks utilizing elements of former "Viet" lyrical skills.

And Monique Truong's (1st gen immigrant, 1974, Yale, Columbia Law Sch) tries too hard trying to emulate the French.

So why are these 1st gen Vietnamese authors trying to be something that they aren't?

Only Ka Vang, (1st gen immigrant, 1980, PoliSci UMN, lit & theatre, UK), the single Hmong author stays closer to her cultural roots.

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So where does one find lyrical Vietnamese poetry and prose? Seek:

James Banerian (Ed & transl), "Vietnamese Short Stories: an intro [10 anthology]," Sphinx, 1986, 0-932729-03-7, 160pgs. Try a main metro or college library using worldcatDOTorg.

Nguyen Du (1765-1820), transl Huynh Sanh Thong, "The Tale of Kieu (bilingual Ed)," Yale, 1983, 0-300-04051-2, 211pgs, 21 bucks pbk.

Barbara Tran (MFA Columbia, Monique TD Truong, Truong K Luu (Harvard, Boston U), (Eds) "Watermark: VN Amer poetry and prose [23 authors]," Asian Amer Writers' Wkshp, 1998, 1889876046, 227pgs, 20 bucks pbk.

If more Hmong literature is desired, see,

Mai Neng Moua (Ed, MN Hist Soc), "Bamboo among the Oaks: contemporary writing by Hmong Americans [23 authors]," MNHS Borealis, 2002, 0873514378, 205pgs, 15 bucks pbk. Ms Hagedorn was aware of this anthology with comment in her intro, pxxix.

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This Reviewer admires Ms Hagedorn (1949- ), editor for this revised and updated 2004 version (original version 1993) anthology, on pursuing Asian American fiction to the next level. Her background includes born in the Philippines and studying playwrighting at ACT in SF, see wiki. This version includes a Preface by Elaine H Kim, Prof Asian Studies at Cal Berkeley. As a seeker of higher multicultural literary talent, of interest to this Reviewer was Christina Chiu, "Doctor," p76-92; Nora Okja Keller's "Beccah," p192-202; and Don Lee's "Voir Dire," p254-74. Its great that the editor has a 5-10 line bio of the author on the first page so the reader can select interesting topics.

This anthology has 42 stories. The most stories are from ethnic Filipino and Chinese authors with 10 each, then Japanese and S Indian with 6 and 5 stories, 4 each Korean and Vietnamese, 2 Pacific Islander Hawaiian, and 1 Hmong. None from Indonesia, although this populous Muslim state was acknowledged in the Intro, Sabina Murray's story "Folly" p346-61 was set in WWII Indonesia. The book includes a 10-pg bibliography and 2pgs of anthologies.

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Having re-scanned the previous books on the topic "Charlie Chan...[1] (93)" and the seminal "The Big Aiiieeeee! (83)" as well as the annual mainstream anthologies, such as "Best of Amer SS," "Best Amer Nonrequired Reading," and "The O Henry Prize Stories," means that Asian SS is becoming an accepted, more mature genre. Perhaps it will become popular enough not to wait a decade...before another anthology accumulates.

The first "Aiiieeeee! (74)" anthology, co-edited by Shawn Wong (1949- ), includes a hilarious short story (part of a NYC off-Broadway play) by Frank Chin on grandfathers and the Chinese style of raising chickens. One of the few Asian male authors, playwrights and subject of filmmakers (comparable to Amy Tan's (1952- ) "Joy Luck Club (89)") his boyhood experience was localized to CA's SFO area (see FC wiki). Both authors have furthered the stereotypical dichotomy of Asian thought patterns and typical things that Chinese hold dear, family and food.

Then there was a "Big Aiiieeeee![2] (91)" anthology that was 600+ pgs but was mainly on CN & JP authors. "Charlie Chan is Dead [1] (93)," with 48 writers in 569pgs, did not have any SE Asian authors, mainly East Asian CN, JP, KR, with a sprinkling of Filipino.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Anthology for Classes, September 3, 2007

By 

Kansas City Star (KC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Charlie Chan Is Dead 2: At Home in the World (An Anthology of Contemporary Asian American Fiction--Revised and Updated) (Paperback)

This is a great anthology to teach from: whether you're teaching a creative writing class or a literature class, this has worked very well in my experience. In its variety of styles and forms, and with authors born all across the US and in many countries abroad, this book is truly diverse.