The Conversation
- “But he hit me back first!” (13)
- Siegfried: If it was a Russian or any other white man who told blacks”to go back to Africa”, it would...
- Raguel: I saw that Spike Lee film “Do the Right Thing” years ago but still can’t understand it.
- bigWOWO: Stele: “Care to qualify that statement? Even if that were true, you have to look at this case on its...
- Two podcasts that address racism in the military, and Danny Chen the person (9)
- Raguel: The origins of racism in the American military as described by loudestfuckingazns is accurate. Very recently,...
- bigWOWO: Sorry, Larry, just noticed that the spam robot junked your comment. Approved!
- bigWOWO: Agreed. It just has more weight if you include your name. Not that the ideas are any less valid, but it just...
- Facebook IPO (5)
- King: Actually WOWO, I bump into plenty of Asians up at the Art Center College of Design http://www.artcenter.edu/a...
- bigWOWO: Agree with King. This might not be a bad thing for Asian Americans to hear about. We can jump off the STEM...
- Raguel: People are too accustomed to thinking about value only in terms of money. Even artists are guilty of it. Some...
- Stop SOPA and PIPA (7)
- Raguel: Found a great website, take a look at this: https://www.cdt.org/ Why should privacy be important, in an age...
- Raguel: Following the temporary shelving of SOPA and PIPA in the long line of net neutrality battles, the feds and...
- Chr..: “Asian American men have to get more involved, not less. It’s a civic responsibility, and you have to...
- Activism is as activism does (10)
- trolldetector: Brooks also goes onto say ‘You should attach yourself to a counter-tradition and school of...
- bigWOWO: By the way, speaking of activism, there was a great David Brooks column recently. He talks about how people...
- Raguel: I have no experience whatsoever with activism. I simply do not feel safe participating in it. There is always...
- How to Win a Streetfight (18)
- bigWOWO: No worries. I feel the same way. Nothing against her, but just doubtful.
- Raguel: Hi Byron! I’ve been occupied doing a lot of reading and thinking recently. I suppose its just another...
- bigWOWO: Hey Raguel, What about your comments on ASSK?
I agree with everything you said. About #1…I think...
- What Cultures Value (19)
- UFC 117 Sonnen vs. Silva Recap (1)
- bigWOWO: I think Michael Bisping solved the Chael Sonnen puzzle today, even though he lost a controversial decision....
- 6 on 1 Beatdown of Asian Man (36)
- King: “I mean I look around me and 99% of the time there are no women that look like or dress like Adriana Lima...
- SWR: Apparently the girl in the second video was not the girl who filmed the fight. It was probably unwise of her to...
- Raguel: I mean I look around me and 99% of the time there are no women that look like or dress like Adriana Lima in...
- Selfish Reasons To Have More Kids by Bryan Caplan (Review) (6)
- bigWOWO: Jeff, You called it! They were (if I recall correctly) 7 (twins) and 2. He’s still in the honeymoon...
- jeffat8asians: “Overpaying?” With the possible exception of college tuition (and even that is arguable),...
- Hitler: Kids suck lol.
- The Asian Rock Thread (16)
- ben: I’ve been getting into Asian rock music recently so thank you all very much for uploading all these videos.
- Simple Pickup on ABC News (132)
- Tommy: I think I’m coming here more for Moro’s comments than BigWoWO’s posts.
- Moroboshi: I didn’t say that. All I said was guys who believe in HBD are the same guys who probably also follow...
- Chr..: Moro, I don’t want to argue with you anymore! You seem to think that AMs are just as popular as other...
- “Lazy” Americans and the Decline of the American Middle Class (6)
- bigWOWO: But kobu, how can we have literature and art without money to support artists and writers? About...
- kobukson: I don’t know why everyone seems to think the notion of the decline of the middle class is such a bad...
- bigWOWO: There are a lot of veterans (supposedly) on that site. I can kind of understand it–military guys are...
- Aung Sung Suu Kyi Movie with Michelle Yeoh (45)
- bigWOWO: Eurasian, Lee Kuan Yew has always been upfront about Singapore’s hybrid system. To the best of my...
- Eurasian Sensation: @ BigWowo: New governments following independence or a major power struggle often have the sort...
- N: @bww And ironically, one of the rare democratic successes in the region that is Singapore behaves much closer to a...
- Paper Pushers by the Stunt People (4)
- Andre M. Smith: I divide my year annually between New York and Shanghai. One of my common visitations in the latter...
- Raguel: Smiley tests 8 )
8( - Raguel: ROFL! Thank you for thoroughly destroying Amy Chua, Andre. WELL SAID ^_^ You know the destruction is so...
- Amy Chua: Chinese Conceit, Chinese Ignorance, and the $24,000 question (245)
- Andre M. Smith: I believe some useful purpose will be served by offering here, what the lawyers might like to call,...
- N: What’s your opinion on Yundi Li and Yoyo Ma.
- Andre M. Smith: Amy Chua has never lived in China. Her understanding of its culture, that is, the culture as it’s...
- How to Finish Life With No Regrets (9)
- trolldetector: ^ i’d agree with that. but i wouldnt call them ‘idiots’, just misguided. crazy media...
- N: Agree with Jeff that not one regret is unlikely, the key is learn from it. Another way to look at it is that...
- American Jobs and India (14)
- lingyai: I am not sure what happen there with my name, that is not my email, so just ignore.
- lingyai@hotmail.com: @bigwowo Just because the average income in India is $2 a day doesn’t make a person...
- AM/AF couple: Nottyboy, Yes, just like every place of employment, upper management needs to do a better job in terms...
- Literary Fiction vs. Realistic Fiction and the Literary Hierarchy (6)
- Sana Rose: Well, now I am confused. I still can’t classify the novel I am writing.
I wouldn’t say...
- Sana Rose: Well, now I am confused. I still can’t classify the novel I am writing.
- National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2012 (32)
- Raguel: http://www.occupydream.org/ ^ I heard about this from Russell Simmons. I hope that things develop well to...
- Raguel: So is that the reasoning for why you don’t need the right to due process? Are you some kind of fucking...
- N: @King The constitution gave power to the states to benefit white america or the constitution gave benefitial power...
- When Your Fan Base is Full of Crazy People (24)
- N: @American girl Too be honest, I don’t really see why this video that ‘disgusting’ –...
- Mitt Romney and the Problem of Wealth (6)
- Raguel: Where do people get their information and knowledge from, though? Media, and education, word of mouth only...
- “But he hit me back first!” (13)
Category Archives: Reviews
American Dervish by Ayad Akhtar (Review)
bigWOWO rating: Popular Fiction Gold
The problem with fiction reviews, especially with popular fiction, is that the reviewer can only give away so much without ruining the ending. As a result, I read American Dervish and expected a simple story of unrequited love and betrayal. Instead, it was much more. Ayad Akhtar uses this story not only to describe forbidden love and lust, but also to describe what it is like growing up Muslim. Check out this video where the author explains why he wrote it (he uses the “love story” description himself):
American Pastoral by Philip Roth (Review)
Oh wow, I had no idea American Pastoral won the Pulitzer. I think I must have read an earlier edition before the prize was awarded.
American Pastoral is a story in two parts. The early part is a first-person narration by a character by the name of Nathan Zuckerman, who recounts his young life and infatuation with an older Jewish boy named Seymour Levov who goes by the nickname “Swede.” They called him “the Swede” because he had blonde hair, different from the other Jewish boys. He was a star athlete, and Zuckerman, who is now an older and unmarried writer, gets back in contact with the Swede right before a high school reunion. The rest of the book is about the Swede himself and about his daughter who commits an unspeakable crime.
Civilization: The West and the Rest by Niall Ferguson (Review)
bigWOWO Review: Non-Fiction Bronze
Niall Ferguson is a gifted writer. The way he writes history makes it come alive. He does his research well, and he tells a great story. He’s the kind of history professor I wish I’d had in school. (And if I had made Harvard, maybe I would have had him.)And for the most part, this book was good. But then it slowly started to fall apart after the first few chapters, before completely landing in the toilet in the second-to-last chapter.
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (Review)
I thought Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections was a very good book, amazing, complex, ambitious, and powerful. The Corrections was a great book because of the complexity and Franzen’s grasp on modern life. Let me just say then: Freedom is on a whole different level. Franzen deserves all of the acclaim that the media has been paying him and more.
“Hooked” by John Franc (Review)
I don’t remember how I found out about Hooked, but I heard about it, ordered it from the library, forgot about it, and then received it a month later.
The book is about a group of successful, middle-aged men who, in between soccer practices and work, begin sneaking out and hiring prostitutes at high-end houses around an unnamed city. The main thrust of the narrative is the struggle between secrecy and authenticity, and between the men who hire prostitutes and their families. The book was written mostly from a first person plural point of view, reminiscent of Yiyun Li’s story from the perspective of a town. The author “John Franc” tells a good story and is skilled with language. “John Franc,” in keeping with the style of the narrative, is a pseudonym.
American Rust by Philipp Meyer (Review)
So far, I’ve read four novels from members of the New Yorker’s 2011 20 under 40 (Yiyun Li, Joshua Ferris, Meyer, and some dude whose name I won’t mention because his novel was absolutely PAINFUL). I wanted to check out Philipp Meyer’s novel because out of all the stories that I read in the New Yorker, his was my favorite. He’s also got a fascinating personal biography.
Fear of Flying by Erica Jong (Review)
I wanted to read something different, so I decided to check out Fear of Flying by Erica Jong. Erica Jong herself isn’t a racial minority (although she’s Jewish), but she was married to a Chinese American psychologist for a while (a dude with the last name Jong), and I had heard that Fear of Flying, an autobiographical novel, was about a White woman married to a Chinese guy. I had also heard that the book was an important one for the growing feminist movement during the 70′s, and I thought it might be good for me to educate myself.
Banana Boys (Heung Jiu Jei) by Terry Woo (Review)
bigWOWO rating: Popular Fiction Gold
Great news: Banana Boys is now available in the U.S. through Amazon. I had to drive all the way from Portland to Vancouver when I bought my copy seven or eight years ago. Now you can just order and get it in your mailbox.
I re-read this book last week because I couldn’t in good faith have a website that reviewed Asian American literature without having Banana Boys (Heung Jiu Jei) reviewed.
The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris (Review)
The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris is a book about Tim Farnsworth, a family man with a successful law career who develops a sickness where he sleepwalks at random times. His sickness is beyond the grasp of his doctors or the experts they recommend; he can start walking at night, during trial, or during the day, and he won’t remember when he started walking or where he went. The disease begins to destroy his life, his career, and his family. One day he decides to just up and leave. The story is about his struggle with the disease and how he manages his family life with his wife Jane and his daughter Becca.
Do You! by Russell Simmons (Review and Analysis)
bigWOWO rating: Strategy Gold
My sister-in-law brought this book to Malaysia, and since imported English-language books in Malaysia are uber-expensive, and since I had finished my other books, I decided to check it out. I started and finished in just a few days. There were a good number of reasons not to jump into the book–a foreword by Donald Trump, a title like Do You!, another “12 laws” to remember–but I finished, and I’m glad I did. It’s actually one of the better “strategy” books that I’ve read. The book is exactly what it says it is–12 “laws” that Russell Simmons used to build up his media empire. The laws are:
