Disorientation Disorientation

Disorientation

A Novel

    • 4.5 • 32 Ratings
    • $6.99
    • $6.99

Publisher Description

A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE SELECTION * A MALALA BOOK CLUB PICK * AN INDIE NEXT PICK * A FAVORITE BOOK OF 2022 BY NPR AND BOOK RIOT * A MUST-READ MARCH 2022 BOOK BY TIME, VANITY FAIR, EW AND THE CHICAGO REVIEW OF BOOKS * A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2022 BY GOODREADS, NYLON, BUZZFEED AND MORE

A Taiwanese American woman’s coming-of-consciousness ignites eye-opening revelations and chaos on a college campus in this outrageously hilarious and startlingly tender debut novel.


Twenty-nine-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 years of grueling research, all she has to show for her efforts are junk food addiction and stomach pain. When she accidentally stumbles upon a curious note in the Chou archives one afternoon, 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, upending not only her sheltered life within academia but her entire world beyond it. With her trusty friend Eunice Kim by her side and her rival Vivian Vo hot on her tail, together they set off a roller coaster of mishaps and misadventures, from book burnings and OTC drug hallucinations, to hot-button protests and Yellow Peril 2.0 propaganda.
 
In the aftermath, nothing looks 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 for the first time… 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.
 
For readers of Paul Beatty’s The Sellout and Charles Yu’s Interior Chinatown, this uproarious and bighearted satire is a blistering send-up of privilege and power in America, and a profound reckoning of individual complicity and unspoken rage. In this electrifying debut novel from a provocative new voice, Elaine Hsieh Chou asks who gets to tell our stories—and how the story changes when we finally tell it ourselves.

GENRE
Fiction & Literature
RELEASED
2022
March 22
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
416
Pages
PUBLISHER
Penguin Publishing Group
SELLER
PENGUIN GROUP USA, INC.
SIZE
3
MB

Customer Reviews

sunshine04624 ,

great book but definitely a tough read

certainly leaves you disoriented!! but thinking deeply

ChuckBass10 ,

Love this book!

A well written story about what it’s like to be “other.” masterfully brings in trending (cultural and political) topics from modern day into the tight knit community that’s even crafted in the novel. You don’t need to be of a certain race to understand what Ingrid is feeling - Elaine does all the heavy lifting for you. Amazing book!

More Books Like This

Tourist Season Tourist Season
2007
Bad Heir Day Bad Heir Day
2010
Heads of the Colored People Heads of the Colored People
2018
Pretend I'm Dead Pretend I'm Dead
2018
Wish Come True Wish Come True
2011
This Body This Body
2009

Customers Also Bought

Either/Or Either/Or
2022
Shmutz Shmutz
2022
Nuclear Family Nuclear Family
2022
Fake Accounts Fake Accounts
2021
Lorna Mott Comes Home Lorna Mott Comes Home
2021
All This Could Be Different All This Could Be Different
2022