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52 ratings | 5 reviews | avg rating:4.90

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Gish Jen

Goodreads Author

Born

in Long Island, New York, The United States

August 12, 1955

Website

http://www.gishjen.com/

Twitter

GishJen

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Nonfiction

Member Since

October 2012

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Gish Jen grew up in New York, where she spoke more Yiddish than Chinese. She has been featured in a PBS American Masters program on the American novel. Her distinctions also include a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, a Guggenheim fellowship, a Fulbright fellowship, and a Radcliffe Institute fellowship. She was awarded a Lannan Literary Prize in 1999 and received a Harold and Mildred Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2003. Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009, she has published in the New Yorker and other magazines.

John Updike selected a story of Jen's for The Best American Short Stories of The Century. Her newest book, Tiger Writing, is based on the Massey Lectures in th ...more

8 posts
Gish Jen's Blog

Boston Indie Bookstore summer recs

Delighted to see TIGER WRITING on the Boston Indie Bookseller summer reading list! Lot of other great ideas as well.

http://artery.wbur.org/2013/06/28/bos...

1 like · Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on July 10, 2013 05:18 • Tags: summer-reading

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Gish Jen’s books

Average rating: 3.62 · 15,992 ratings · 2,177 reviews · 37 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Resisters 3.58 avg rating — 4,340 ratings — published 2020 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mona in the Promised Land 3.51 avg rating — 1,909 ratings — published 1996 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bad Bad Girl 4.04 avg rating — 1,634 ratings — published 2025 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Typical American 3.42 avg rating — 1,841 ratings — published 1991 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Thank You, Mr. Nixon 3.97 avg rating — 1,195 ratings — published 2022 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Love Wife 3.32 avg rating — 1,176 ratings — published 2004 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Who's Irish? 3.66 avg rating — 814 ratings — published 1999 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	World and Town 3.32 avg rating — 726 ratings — published 2010 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Girl at the Baggage Claim: Explaining the East-West Culture Gap 3.51 avg rating — 440 ratings — published 2017 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Tiger Writing: Art, Culture, and the Interdependent Self 3.77 avg rating — 176 ratings — published 2013 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Gish Jen (?)

“A man was the sum of his limits; freedom only made him see how much so.”
― Gish Jen, Typical American

4 likes

“He was not what he made up his mind to be. A man was the sum of his limits: freedom only made him see how much so. America was no America.”
― Gish Jen

4 likes

“He was like a nation in crisis, looking back, and back and back — its history might be ugly, but its past shone perfect.”
― Gish Jen, Typical American

2 likes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Reading with Style: SP11 General Questions & Answers	212	104	May 01, 2011 10:11AM
The Seasonal Read...: Spring Challenge 2011 Completed Tasks (DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS)	2867	1124	May 31, 2011 09:01PM
Reading with Style: SP11 Reading w/Style Completed Tasks	931	319	May 31, 2011 09:15PM
The History Book ...: ARCHIVED: COMMUNITY ROOM (OFF TOPIC CAFE FOR CONVERSATION)	1134	670	Jun 10, 2011 09:55AM
readers advisory ...: Looking for something like Jhumpa Lahiri or Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet or	9	70	Jul 18, 2013 06:15PM
Wales MA Book Club: * Book Club Kits	1	9	Aug 10, 2013 06:30AM
You'll love this ...: Thing Two's Tidy Tally 2013	116	155	Jan 01, 2014 10:37AM
YA Buddy Readers'...: Author Game	521	380	Jan 31, 2014 03:17PM
500 Great Books B...: Decades, Centuries, and Millenia	8	413	Dec 06, 2014 09:46PM

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Gish’s Quotes

“The artist works by locating the world in himself”
― Gertrude Stein

tags: art, process, writing

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“Any jackass can kick down a barn. It takes a carpenter to build on.”
― Sam Rayburn

6 likes

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