Minor Feelings

For our next read, I was recommended Minor Feelings by some women I was sitting with at the APAICS Awards Gala. Minor Feelings is an essay written by Cathy Park Hong, a poet, writer, and professor at UC Berkeley. 

Sectioned into seven pieces, the essay explores Asian American identity, the “Model Minority” myth, language, the intersection of race and gender, history, and relationships. A main theme within the essay is how Asian Americans are almost “in limbo” when in comparison to other races, seen as “next to white” while still being marginalized; Hong dives into the layers of where Asian Americans stand and how that affects relations with other races and groups of people. While Hong’s transparent writing broadly encapsulates the Asian American experience and notes the complexities within the Asian race due to ethnicity and religion, I still found that there is a subtle focus on the East Asian experience (although I assume this is because Hong is Korean American and would therefore have experiences specific to East Asian women). 

Hong’s writing held a firm grip on me throughout the entire novel. I was moved by anecdotes that intertwine themselves with Asian and Asian American history. However, I did not feel connected to Hong’s personal story; I felt validated, and that is what enticed me. I found that Hong’s personal stories, narrations of history, and cultural criticisms exposed the foundation of Asian American self-perception, which allowed me to think about my own identity and experiences as an Asian American teen girl. 

In all, I highly recommend Minor Feelings to all readers, no matter race or ethnicity. It’s honest, it’s raw, and it portrays a story that has been historically diminished in the US.