Which Side Are You On, Ryan Lee Wong
Which Side Are You On, Ryan Lee Wong
List: $16.95 | Sale: $11.87
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Which Side Are You On
A Novel

Author: Ryan Lee Wong

Narrator: Scott Takeda

Unabridged: 5 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/04/2022

Synopsis

How can we live with integrity and pleasure in this world of police brutality and racism? An Asian American activist is challenged by his mother to face this question in this powerful—and funny—debut novel of generational change, a mother’s secret, and an activist’s coming-of-ageTwenty-one-year-old Reed is fed up. Angry about the killing of a Black man by an Asian American NYPD officer, he wants to drop out of college and devote himself to the Black Lives Matter movement. But would that truly bring him closer to the moral life he seeks?In a series of intimate, charged conversations, his mother—once the leader of a Korean-Black coalition—demands that he rethink his outrage, and along with it, what it means to be an organizer, a student, an ally, an American, and a son. As Reed zips around his hometown of Los Angeles with his mother, searching and questioning, he faces a revelation that will change everything.Inspired by his family’s roots in activism, Ryan Lee Wong offers an extraordinary debut novel for readers of Anthony Veasna So, Rachel Kushner, and Michelle Zauner: a book that is as humorous as it is profound, a celebration of seeking a life that is both virtuous and fun, an ode to mothering and being mothered.

About Ryan Lee Wong

Ryan Lee Wong was born and raised in Los Angeles, lived for two years at Ancestral Heart Zen Temple, and currently lives in Brooklyn, where he is the administrative director of Brooklyn Zen Center. Previously, he served as program director for the Asian American Writers’s Workshop and managing director of Kundiman. He has organized exhibitions and written extensively on the Asian American movements of the 1970s. He holds an MFA degree in fiction from Rutgers University–Newark.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Thomas

I liked that this book featured a young Asian American man, Reed, engaging in activism for racial justice and trying to figure out the best ways he can advocate for change. I found the intergenerational aspect of how Reed communicates with his activist Asian American parents and learns their history......more

Goodreads review by Sophia

:'-( cathy park hong... you led me so astray the ideas at the heart of this novel are fantastic, but you can't string together twitter threads, put them inside dialogue quotations, and call it a successful novel. characters should have more to them than being a vessel for distilled ideological or ge......more

Goodreads review by Letitia

saw Elaine Chou who wrote my favorite book of the year ‘Disorientation’ rave about it, so I had to add this to my TBR ----- I enjoyed this debut by Ryan — it's timely, interesting, and extremely thought-provoking. ‘Which Side Are You On’ is set on the backdrop of the killing of a Black man by an Asia......more

Quotes

“A thought-provoking and poignant coming-of-age story.” Time

“Scott Takeda dazzles in his narration of this thought-provoking novel…Takeda takes on this novel of ideas, embodying each character’s unique dialogue.” AudioFile

“Told with the witty brio of our narrator’s youth.” Esquire

“Wong handles his narrator’s earnestness with understated brilliance—especially when he skewers that very same sincerity.” Entertainment Weekly

“The story, both moving and funny, is sure to speak powerfully to the many who struggle to find hope and joy in an unjust world.” Vogue

“[A] delightfully laid-back debut…which attempts to think through one of the great questions of our times.” BookForum

“Electric, and occasionally heartrending, dialogue between mother and son—start to affect Reed’s clear-cut views…hinting at the importance of empathy and humanity in the effort to fully understand one’s community.” Publishers Weekly (starred and boxed review)

“[A] dynamite debut novel…The portrait of a sanctimonious young man who wakes up to the reality of generational trauma and well-meaning failure is spot-on.” Shelf Awareness

“A promising coming-of-(political)-age debut.” Kirkus Reviews

“Wong’s debut pulls on personal history and was inspired by the 2014 Akai Gurley/Peter Liang case in Brooklyn, New York.” Library Journal

Awards

  • Millions.com Pick
  • Literary Hub Pick
  • Library Journal Pick
  • Bustle Pick
  • Shelf Awareness Pick
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