March Book Reads

Here are the Five Recommended Reads for this Month!

Books talked about in this post:

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Babel by R.F. Kuang

Behind You is the Sea by Susan Muaddi Darraj

White Supremacy Is All Around by Dr. Akilah Cadet

There, There by Tommy Orange

RF Kuang:

Earlier this year, I read two of R.F. Kuang’s recent bestsellers, Yellowface and Babel or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution. On a side note, I read Yellowface in a matter of several hours in one sitting while Babel which clocks in at 541 pages took me over 3 weeks to finish.

In Yellowface, the story is told by June Hayward, a white woman protagonist and fledgling author who steals and revises her dead friend and bestselling author Athena Liu’s manuscript and passes it off as her own.  This book invites you in for a rollercoaster ride through the protagonist’s messy journey as a writer taking full credit of Athena’s historical writing of the Chinese immigrant railroad workers in the US to the backlash she eventually faces from her critics, and the ghost of Athena that would haunt her throughout the story. Kuang introduces issues of cultural appropriation and theft, privilege, the dark business practices in the publishing world, and the question of “who gets to tell what story?”  Yellowface, through its satirical lens, aims to confront these issues head on, and challenge readers to what it means when history is being told from an outsider’s point of view, and how the predominantly white publishing world continues to enable these practices, along with the barriers that BIPOC authors and staff face in the publishing industry.  Yellowface is an infuriating, curious page-turner that left me vigorously shaking my head while being wowed by Kuang’s natural ability to make readers not lose sight of the moral issues in question every step of the way. 

Babel introduces readers to a young Chinese boy named Robin Swift from Canton who was orphaned by Professor Lovell from the cholera outbreak that killed Robin’s mother.  Robin is then rigorously trained in Latin, English, Ancient Greek, and Chinese and is enrolled in Oxford University’s prestigious Translation Institute otherwise known as Babel.  It is through Babel that he faces an unavoidable choice when tensions between England and China rose.  Does he stick with the privileges and comfort that he has with Babel, or does he join an underground group called the Hermes Society which calls for the destruction of the colonial expansion laid forth by England?  Can an institution like Babel be capable of altruistic change from within or can a revolution that includes violence be necessary to take down England’s imperial goals?  Kuang explores the effects of the opium wars, labor exploitation, Western colonialism, the power of both language and translation and its link to imperialism in this historical fantasy novel.  The story is one of friendship and betrayal, the connection between academia and colonialism, the effects of diaspora, and the limitations of white allyship, martyrdom, and BIPOC people working in academic and large institutions. 

Babel is a captivating read and I found myself gripping Robin’s hand as I followed through his journey and the moral decisions he and his collaborators are faced with. Kuang’s ability to capture history while taking us through the imaginary translation world makes for an unforgettable read, and one that should make us look closer into our history books. For myself, I was intrigued by Kuang’s approach to colonialism, identity, and diaspora as I think about my ancestors who were victims of the French colonization and US intervention during the Vietnam War, and my struggles with assimilation and family language loss. At times, I connected with Robin, and characters like Ramy, Victoire, and Griffin who experienced being othered in England.  Their stories felt more personal to me than I anticipated, and this allowed me to make these important connections to them throughout the book. After reading Babel, I may have to carve out some space time to read Kuang’s debut series, The Poppy War trilogy.  

Behind You Is The Sea by Susan Muaddi Darraj

I read Susan Muaddi Darraj’s debut fiction novel released earlier this year as an opportunity to delve into Palestinian American/Palestinian diaspora literature. Darraj takes us into the lives of three different Palestinian families living in Baltimore.  Behind You Is The Sea is a rollercoaster full of laughs, gasps, sadness, and celebration through a series of short stories.  Through these stories, Darraj aims to explore the non-linear paths that each character takes in their journey while confronting issues in their own backyard whether it’s a father battling through dementia, a son visiting his family homeland in Palestine to bury his estranged father, a debate on whether their high school play Aladdin is culturally inappropriate, among others. The book tackles the socioeconomic, patriarchal conflicts that happen between the families, and offers a humanizing, complex, and multi-layered approach to their stories.  There were touching, humorous moments and other moments that were uncomfortable to sit through. This beautiful story collection is one to recommend and comes at a time when Gaza is under siege. Support fellow Palestinian and Palestinian Diaspora writers and creatives in their work. 

White Supremacy Is All Around: Notes from a Black Disabled Woman in a White World by Dr. Akilah Cadet

I first learned about Dr. Akilah Cadet aka @ChangeCadet on IG a few years ago through my former podcast guest and DEI leading practitioner Michelle Mijung Kim. I became an immediate fan of Dr. Cadet once I followed her on Instagram and saw the invaluable insight and perspectives on anti-racism work and what it means to hold space for these dialogues. Dr. Cadet runs Change Cadet, an organizational development consulting firm that is committed to supporting anti-racism and DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) into an overall organizational identity and strategy.  Her debut memoir, White Supremacy Is All Around which was released this February takes us into the personal lens into the author’s life and the intersectional identities that she navigates as a Black disabled woman. She shares how white supremacy and ableism can show up daily whether it’s within family and friends, the medical industrial complex, and the work environment.  

Dr. Cadet intricately ties her own experience in these situations and how the different forms of racism/misogynoir shows up in her life.  One of the more striking moments she recounts involves the distressing instances of gaslighting she endured, both in the emergency room and various medical settings. Her candid sharing sheds light on the unfortunate prevalence of these experiences for Black women in the medical facilities. Despite the racial and other forms of trauma that she shares in her stories, Dr. Cadet never loses her wit and humor in her storytelling.  She finds ways to remind us of the joy that can exist and thrive in a world that is often challenging to survive in.  As an added bonus, she shares her profound love for Beyonce in her stories.  Dr. Cadet’s book aims to challenge the norms of our society that harms BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and disability communities, and how we can serve to be better advocates in this lifelong work.  Her book will no doubt make you sit through your own discomfort, but it is a necessary read that will urge you to take action.  

There, There by Tommy Orange

Named as a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2019 and a recipient of many critical accolades, Tommy Orange’s fictional literary debut There, There is an emotionally-charged and compelling read that goes into the different yet connected narratives of 12 Indigenous characters in modern-day America. Before the story begins, the author goes into a brief but critical ride through the historical violence and cultural erasure experienced by the Indigenous people that often goes untold and sanitized in US history books. Orange takes us into the lives of these characters that live near Oakland, some of whom are connected to one another by family as they prepare to attend the Big Oakland PowWow. In these stories, the author presents to us the challenges and outcomes that generational oppression and trauma can cause when it's being passed down, in this case, through the lives of these characters.  The author aims to convey how the past genocide of the Indigenous people plays a significant role in how that trauma has continued to impact these communities today. 

Orange explores the different identities and lived experiences of each character. Characters like Jacquie Red Feather who struggles with alcohol addiction despite being a substance abuse counselor, Edwin Black who is both white and Native American who is in search of his Native Father that he never met to Dene Oxedene, a young aspiring documentary filmmaker looking to collect stories from other Indigenous folks as a way to honor his uncle, and to Thomas Frank, a Cheyenne who is a drummer who was fired from his job as a custodian due to alcohol abuse. The author does an excellent job at bringing up the various identity and family struggles that are tied to the lived Indigenous experience, and what it means to honor a culture when it has gone through erasure.  MINI SPOILER: This book becomes emotionally intense, specifically in the last 20 pages of the PowWow celebration, and each character is affected by the outcome of that event. 

Orange impresses me in his ability to storytell through his characters, and ensures to his readers about the history that should never be forgotten, and the people who were and are still a part of it.  He holds nothing back in revisiting history, taking us through the personal struggles and conflict with his characters, and the hope and humanity that he instills throughout the book.  A powerful recommended read that will leave you visibly moved and shaken, but also thankful that we are learning these important stories. 

Orange has just released his book Wandering Stars which is available now, and I can’t wait to continue reading through his literary journey.