Customer Reviews

Who's Irish?: Stories

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am a working mom with little time to read fiction. But the need exists. Amy Tam never did it for me. Maxine Kingston Wong was too ethereal. Finally, I found an Asian American writer with an East Coast sensibility! Gish Jen's new book of short stories is a delight. There are treasures in this volume. For me, she is the most down-to-earth and funny(!) Asian American woman writing today. "House, House, Home" is one of the best short stories that I have ready anywhere, anytime. The short story format (some are more polished than others, but all are worth the time) makes for good summer reading.

Some of these stories were outstanding, all were good. The title story was great. This book is an excellent commentary on American society, and the experience of being an immigrant. This collection, like many other short story collections explores the theme of "East meets West," for lack of a more politically correct term. It explores some valuable questions in todays society. Jen's writing style is also excellent, and much improved since "Mona in the Promised Land."

I may have preferred this anthology of short stories to her last work (Mona in the Promised Land) because I tend to lean in that literary direction but I also noticed an improvement of Jen's writing style. Where as in the last novel I felt as if she wandered in certain sections, in each of her stories in Who's Irish? she seemed both eloquent but more straight to the point. Like Amy Tan, Jen is an Chinese American writer that is talented enough to relate her ideas and themes to the reader without him or her having to be of the same ethnic background. She did this exceedingly well in the short story House, House, Home with the protagonist Pammie.

I have truly enjoyed both of Miss Jen's novels--Typical American and Mona in the Promised Land--and I was really looking forward to this collection. I wasn't so thrilled by the time I was into the third story in this collection as I though this book was shaping up to stand as the classic example of someone who can write novels but can't write short stories. Then, suddenly, things improved dramatically. By the end I was convinced that Miss Jen can write short stories but, apparently, needs a much stronger hand in selecting what is working and what isn't, as this book is filled with good examples of both types of story.

Anyway, the second half of the book is much, much stronger than this first half.

The elements that make Miss Jen such a good writer are there throughout-a very gifted ability to render the immigrant experience, a strong writing "voice" and a potent sense of the drama that fills ordinary life combined with a gifted sense of timing. The problem with the first few stories is that they seem incomplete and disjointed. That dissipates quickly as the book moves along.

This is a book that's well worth the read but one has to stick with it and not let the early sections distract and irritate you to the point where you don't truly enjoy the really good parts.

Hopefully Miss Jen will manage any future collections more adroitly.

Jen's collection includes "Birthmates" which John Updike selected for his recent "Best American Short Stories of the Century." This is one of the few literary stories I've read with any insight into the business world and it shatters many a stereotype. My favorites, however, were the title story "Who's Irish?" and "Just Wait" (though I liked them all -- not a dud in the collection). In "Who's Irish," Jen subtly balances the humor and pathos of both intergenerational and interracial conflicts. The two grandmother characters are forever memorable! Reading "Just Wait," I was on the floor laughing at the sibling dynamics, but found much to chew on later. "Chin", the darkest story of the collection, illustrates the broad variety in this collection. The final story, "House, House, Home" goes far beyond the surface issues of a single mother in suburbia to provide insights into what attracts, and separates, men and women. The ending was unbelievably moving. This is a long story and I would not have minded it being a novel. Jen seems to have a talent for treating weighty subject matters within the confines of "ordinary life" (nothing exotic here). She also takes amazing risks with racial material without stumbling -- I find her characters to be complex & painfully authentic (you'll scream when you get to Duncan's mother). As with her last novel, Jen's voice in these stories is unique, intelligent, funny but not off-putting. Highly recommended.

The collection of short stories titled, "Who's Irish?" by Gish Jen, is a contemporary look at middle class, Chinese-American life in the suburbs. Generally, the stories are about Americanized children in conflict with the traditional Chinese values of their immigrant parents.

In all of her stories, Gish Jen shows an ability to create vivid characters with just a few telling details. He stories have a component that is comic and a component that is sad. Although most the stories are written in a very feminine voice, "Birthmates" and "Duncan in China," have male protagonists, and I am amazed at how authentic her male characters seem, especailly the latter.

The title story, "Who's Irish?" is a picture of cultural differences between America and China. The story is told in broken English through the eyes of an immigrant Chinese grandmother. Her daughter Natalie is banking professional with a three year-old daughter named Sophie. Natalie's husband John is an Irish-American who works only intermittently due to bouts of depression. Natalie and John rely heavily on Natalie's mother to baby sit Sophie. Natalie and John's marriage and child rearing are terminally American. Natalie's mother's attitudes and customs are traditional Chinese. Natalie's mother's comments and criticisms of American child-rearing methods and life in America are absolutely hilarious. The conflict over the granddaughter, Sophie, gets so bad at one point that the parents accuse the grandmother of child abuse and cut off all contact between granddaughter and grandmother. But, I'm not doing the story justice. It is a gem; I'm tempted to call it a masterpiece. It must be read to be appreciated. The only flaw that I can detect is that between the broken English and Gish Jen's use of sentence fragments, I found the rhythm a little choppy. I read this one twice. It was that good. I'm sure I will read it a third time.

John Updike selected the story, "Birthmates," as one of the best stories of the past century, but I don't even think it's one of the best stories in this collection. It's about a middle-aged man, a lost soul named Art Woo, a computer industry professional whose marriage has fallen apart and whose future career is uncertain.

In, "The Water Faucet Vision," the main character is a fifth grade Catholic school student. Her parents fight viciously, and her best friend's father has run off. She and her girl friend deal with it by practicing extremes of Catholic spiritual asceticism. The girls behavior and conversation is highly comic, but is doesn't take a therapist to see their underlying emotional pain.

"Duncan in China," is one of my favorites. Even though I am not of Chinese descent, I identified strongly with Duncan. He is a man in his thirties who hasn't found himself yet. He's gone through all sorts of jobs, careers, colleges, and training programs. He has become fascinated lately with ancient Chinese art objects-vases from the Ming dynasty, and he decides to take a long trip to China. He visits Shantung province where an uncle and nephew lives. His expectations are that he will find the true spirit of China and in doing so, will find himself. He's also hoping to fall in love. I can certainly relate to that. Duncan discovers that his uncle and nephew live in the worst destitute poverty, and they don't show the faintest sign of manners or hygiene. Duncan learns no one in China cares about Ming vases or any other high, cultured aesthetics. Duncan takes up teaching English at a factory. He develops a big crush on a ravishing and sophisticated older woman who is a student in his class (I can really relate to that!).

In, "Chin," the viewpoint character is a white ninth-grade boy in an urban neighborhood. He interacts with a boy named Chin whose parents are recent immigrants. His observations make the family seem peculiar and inexplicable. Although it's not a great story, I liked the idea that the author chose to look at a Chinese immigrant family through the eyes of a white American.

"Just Wait," is centered around a pregnant woman's friends and family gathering for a baby shower. It took her years to get pregnant. The story ends in a mother's joy at having a child. In real life, Gish Jen had great difficulty getting pregnant, and her stories are sprinkled with the hopes and sorrows of women desiring a baby. This is strictly a woman's story.

"In the American Society," is told by Mona, who is in junior high school. He family lives in the suburbs where their father owns a pancake house. Mona's family is invited to a fancy outdoor party, but Mona's father and some of the other guests don't exactly get along.

"House, House, Home," is the story of the daughter of Chinese immigrants who goes to art school and without telling her parents, marries a fruitcake professor who is thirty years older than her. The husband's personality and physical appearance seems to be modeled after the artist Andy Warhol, right down to the white hair. She tells the story of their very bohemian life together. (Very un-Chinese-American!) Her husband is a royal [pain]. You want to scream at her for staying with such a jerk. Her parents, I felt, were relatively tolerant for immigrant Chinese, but eventually they shunned her and cut her off financially.

Although the story is slow and drawn out in parts, the descriptions of pregnancy, nursing and raising kids is very vivid, touching and close to home. Ironically, what kept me going was the lack of credibility of the story. Children of Chinese immigrants do not major in art, and they certainly don't marry fruitcake white art professors! The part with the most credibility was when the parent's cut off contact. What kept me going was that I felt sooner or later the story had to burst.

Some of these stories were outstanding, all were good. The title story was great. This book is an excellent commentary on American society, and the experience of being an immigrant. This collection, like many other short story collections explores the theme of "East meets West," for lack of a more politically correct term. It explores some valuable questions in todays society. Jen's writing style is also excellent, and much improved since "Mona in the Promised Land."

i am not asian-american, but enjoyed the book alot. i loved the title story "who's irish", but each story following was like a separate little jewel.

The title story written in pidgen English of a Chinese grandmother was cute, but too stereotypical. It reminded me of the movie Joy Luck Club. I am also a 1.5 generation Asian-American like the author, but I must have had a different experience of the United States, regarding growing up as an Asian among a white society, that makes me hard to connect with the stories. Even though I studied Confucianism and East Asian History at Harvard, I didn't realize we Asians were so pessimistic and dour in our outlook of American Society. I did enjoy the last story of the professor and his young wife. This one could be made into a full fledge novel. I did enjoy reading the whole book because I could understand the author's experience in Cambridge. I gave the book with favorable recommendations to my younger sister who may connect better with the stories written by Gish Jen. Look forward to more books. JL

The title story, Who's Irish? is hilarious. The Chinese grandmother of a Chinese-Irish but basically American child is the focus. A traditional grandmother looks at her very American and very 20th century grandchild and is horrified...at her granddaughter's``un-ladylike, un-Chinese" behavior.

The babysitting arrangement does not work out...needless to say. The Chinese grandmother finds a comfortable niche living with Irish American grandmother, suggesting that age differences are more significant than racial differences.