Book
Disorientation
Call Number
- FICTION CHOU (CEN)
Publication Information
New York : Penguin Press, 2022.
Physical Description
403 pages ; 25 cm
Summary
"29-year-old PhD student Ingrid Yang is desperate to finish her dissertation on the late canonical poet, Xiao-Wen Chou, and never read about 'Chinese-y' things again. But after four years of painstaking research, she has nothing but anxiety and stomach pain to show for her efforts. When she accidentally stumbles upon a strange and curious note in the Chou archives, she convinces herself it's her ticket out of academic hell. But Ingrid?s in much deeper than she thinks. Her clumsy exploits to unravel the note?s message lead to an explosive discovery, one that upends her entire life and the lives of those around her. With her trusty friend Eunice Kim by her side and her rival Vivian Vo hot on her tail, together they set off a rollercoaster of mishaps and misadventures, from campus protests and OTC drug hallucinations, to book burnings and a movement that stinks of 'Yellow Peril' propaganda. In the aftermath, nothing looks quite the same to Ingrid--including her gentle and doting fiancé, Stephen Greene. When he embarks on a book tour with the 'super kawaii' Japanese author he?s translated, doubts and insecurities creep in. At the same time, she finds herself drawn to the cool and aloof Alex Kim (even though she swears he?s not her type). As the events Ingrid instigated keep spiraling, she?ll have to confront her sticky relationship to white men and white institutions--and most of all, herself. An uproarious and bighearted satire, alive with sharp edges, immense warmth, and a cast of unforgettable characters, Disorientation is both a blistering send-up of white supremacy in academia, and a profound reckoning of a Taiwanese American woman?s complicity and unspoken rage."--
Contents
- Part I: Fall quarter. The curious note ; A benign coincidence ; The most common name in the English-speaking world ; Yellow peril 2.0 ; The versatility of tampons ; "Kumquats on an autumn day" ; Hollywood
- Part II: Winter quarter. Chinatown Blues ; Special occasion role-plays ; Traitor!
- Part III: Spring quarter. Chaos in the East Asian Studies Department ; Good old-fashioned American freedom ; Exhibiting all the usual signs ; The ultimate Asian woman ; Serial killers want to be caught
- Part IV; Summer. All hail emperor Bartholomew ; Total immersion ; Fever dream ; A priori, a posteriori ; Be a good girl
- Epilogue: A new you.