Bad Asians

by Lillian Li

From the acclaimed author of Number One Chinese Restaurant comes an affecting novel about an unforgettable group of friends trying to make their way in the world without losing themselves, or one another.

Diana, Justin, Errol, and Vivian have been told their entire lives that success is guaranteed by following a simple checklist. They worked hard, got good grades, and attended a great university―only to graduate into the Great Recession of 2008. Despite their newly minted degrees, they're unemployed, stuck again under their parents’ roofs in a hypercompetitive Chinese American community. So when Grace―once the neighborhood golden child, now a Harvard Law School dropout―asks to make a documentary about the crew, they say yes. It’s not like her little movie will ever see the light of day.

But then the video, “Bad Asians,” goes viral on an up-and-coming media platform (YouTube, anyone?). Suddenly, two million people know the members of the group as cruel caricatures, each full of pent-up frustrations with the others. And after a desperate attempt at spin control goes off the rails, they are flung even further off course from the lives they’d always imagined. As they grow up and grow apart, the friends desperately try to figure out who they are and what it means to live a successful life in the new millennium.

Li’s novel is both an exploration of Asian American identity and a portrait of a generation shaped by the rise of the internet and the end of the American dream. An epic tale of friendship and coming of age, Bad Asians asks: What if the same people who made you who you are end up keeping you from who you’re meant to be?

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Genres: Fiction, Audiobook, Contemporary, Adult Fiction, Friendship, Literary Fiction

336 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication February 17, 2026

About the author

Lillian Li is a graduate from the University of Michigan's Helen Zell Writers' Program, where she received her MFA in fiction. Her first novel is forthcoming from Henry Holt (Macmillan) in 2018. Her work has appeared in Granta, Guernica, Glimmer Train, and Jezebel. She writes for the Michigan Quarterly Review. Currently, she lives in Ann Arbor, teaching at the University of Michigan, and slinging books at Literati Bookstore. Visit her website for more info.

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC from Netgalley, and was immediately sucked in. As a 90's raised millennial, so much of this was nostalgic, but especially the introduction of social media into our everyday lives. I really appreciated the depth of each character and their back stories. Parts reminded me of Crazy Rich Asians, and not just because the main characters are Asian, but also because of the deeper personalities that lie beneath the mask of what everyone else sees which is similar in that series as well. However, since I took my time with it, some stories got lost in the rush of memory. Definitely recommend to millennial and just before as the target audience.

[Angie Miale · Rating 4 out of 5]

A interesting character study and drama about millennial malaise- this time specific to 1st and 2nd generation Asian immigrants.

A group of 4 friends from a private school are the subject of a documentary called "Bad Asians" that goes viral on YouTube. Their frenemy Grace takes advantage of them and films them and interviews them. The way they are portrayed is not flattering, but it is well done. The book is about the aftermath of this and how it occurred. Themes are around relationships and groups of friends, found family and how those closest to us know us and then become complete strangers.

Here are 4 people who did everything right and the economy and world just passed them by. This is them coming to terms with their parents' legacy and expectations and how they chose to integrate into adult life. All 4 main characters ad internal demons and all had really interesting and compelling character ARC. I can definitely relate to the struggles and the nostalgia over the course of the novel. I can't quite call it historical fiction, but it is a time span that shows how much we change from our early 20's to the late 30's.

I particularly enjoyed the audiobook performance, only one narrator, but she had great pacing and different voices that I felt were authentic to the author's intentions for the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the ALC. Book to be published February 17, 2026.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bad Asians feels like a book club pick type of book. There are a lot of things to discuss and unpack over the course of the story, and characters that are conflicted and complicated.

The main gist of the book is that four friends and a relationship they had with each other is irrevocably changed by a former classmate who creates a video documentary about them during the recession years in 2008-2009.

The group are not only in the unfortunate position of trying to find jobs in a bad economy, they are also from a hyper competitive Chinese community where expectations of children are sky high.

When the video comes out, Grace’s editing has made Diana, Justin, Vivian, and Errol into Asian stereotypes, an act that has dangerous consequences not only for their friendship, but their careers-and it turns Grace into a wild success at the same time.

The book follows the four friends in the aftermath and explores the different paths it sets them on, while questioning if their relationship with each other would have withstood the test of time even without the radical intervention of ‘Bad Asians’.

I wanted to like this more than I did, because books about relationship dynamics can be really interesting. But I struggled with multiple things. First was that I didn’t really like any of the characters much. Second is that I find books centered around the idea that social media can be life-changing annoying, even if it’s true. I read books to get away from social media, not to be dragged kicking and screaming back into it.

Finally, it just didn’t hold my attention. Unlike books where you can’t put them down, I struggled to pick this one up once I did put it down. Despite the shocking posting of the video, there just wasn’t anything in the story that kept me invested-not the characters, and not the events of their lives as they unfolded. Maybe another reader would relate to one of the characters and feel a deep connection with this book, but I just got bored.

A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as an ARC on Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my very own. This book really hit close to home for me. Also being a first generation born and raised in the U.S. this book resonates the hopes and dreams an Asian parent bestows on their child and the pressures one may feel not to be a "bad Asian". This group of friends going through life trying to discover who they really are outside their parents wishes is a fascinating one. I loved how the book thoroughly went through each characters' stories because you become invested in what is going to happen to them next. I also love at how the end you get to learn more about the parents and their backstories. Even if you are not of Asian decent, I feel like we can all relate to not wanting to disappoint our families. This book will make you feel all of that.

[Mai H.]

ANHPI TBR

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co.

[Andre(Read-A-Lot) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m going to round up a bit to 3.5 ⭐️. I received an DRC and started reading this because I got such a kick out of Lillian Li’s, Number One Chinese Restaurant. This one started off slow, as the story didn’t seem to have a clear direction. As I continued reading the pacing picked up and I became slightly invested in the four friends and was curious to see how their lives would play out. It seems to be a recurring theme in Asian fiction( at least in my reading experience) that parents pressure their children to succeed in school, careers and marriage.

This narrative theme is prevalent in Bad Asians as the group of friends are driven in ways by their parents that leads the friends to act in ways towards each other that causes a rift in how they relate to one another.

When “Grace Li (who) was the golden child of their neighborhood. She’d graduated summa cum laude from Harvard…..”Grace decides to create a movie about the four friends who’ve been inseparable since grade school, and guess what?

She turns Justin, Errol, Diana, and Vivian into internet sensations, all without even realizing it! This upends the lives of the four and interrupts their trajectories. They all suffer somehow from the notoriety, leading them to employ another internet sensation to gain control of their narrative. That decision turns out to be disastrous, creating more problems than it fixes.

Ultimately this story is about the pressure to be great, and the desire to seen as such by their parents, each other and in a nod to this current generation, by social media culture. The conclusion was anticlimactic, and it left me disappointed. Not a bad read, just short of very good. Big thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt. Book will drop in February 2026

[Alina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to my Asian American Literature professor, Victor Mendoza (U of M), for teaching this book and providing us with advanced reader copies of Bad Asians! Thank you to Lillian Li herself for coming into our class and answering our questions and having a fruitful discussion about the book (and signing my copy)!!

This book was full of contradictory emotions. I simultaneously enjoyed my reading and was stressed tf out. I couldn't help but feel both pitiful of the characters and annoyed that they couldn't have made better decisions. But, I feel like that is what friendship ultimately is. It's a lot of forces that push and pull on each other, threatening to break the tie and unravel. Lillian spoke on how she was interested in a story about a friendship breakup and what makes friends stay together that is different from romantic or familial relationships. I've def had a bad friend breakup before, and I think the main thing about it is that it simmers. They continue to linger in the back of your mind and you think about reaching out but then worry about their feelings and back out, and I feel like Bad Asians captured that well.

Full disclosure I was not in a mind of consciousness when the recession happened, so I don't know first-hand experiences of it. But, I do know experiences of being compared to other successful Asian kids (and perhaps being the one people compared their children to, which, I'm truly sorry if that was the case 😭) and having the "American Dream" surround getting into an Ivy League and getting a good job. I think the pressure and envy was well written, because at the end of the day, these characters desire personal success above all, and the external factors from the economic recession to their internet presence holds them back from that.

I do wish Vivian got a little more character development, as I didn't really feel her change as viscerally as Diana, Errol, Justin, and even Grace. I did, however, greatly enjoy the interweaving of perspectives, as each chapter had their own tone and vibrancy to them. I can't wait for everyone else to read Bad Asians!

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won an advance copy of "Bad Asians" from a giveaway in exchange for an honest review. 

Li's novel follows a friend group fractured by a viral-video-gone-wrong circa 2009. The overnight success of the titular video, "Bad Asians," alters the trajectories of all those involved, for better and for worse. 

Millenials will connect with the depiction of the rise of social media and the post-recession jockeying for entry-level jobs. But the novel's core commentary centers the expectation of "success" for first-generation Chinese-Americans. Who defines your success? Do you have an obligation to succeed? How does the pursuit of success dominate the choices you make? Particularly in its third act, the novel speaks gracefully and empathetically on bridging the cross-generational understanding of success.

The novel is structurally tidy, bringing its characters full circle, and may strike some readers as contrived. Overall, it keeps a swift pace and well balances its ensemble cast. 4/5 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many Asian American children of immigrants are pressured into being a "good Asian" and the pressure is immense. Here we have a friend group who become not so good Asians aka Bad Asians due to circumstance and/or rebellion. What made this particularly effective is the advent of social media and being on display. And, loved how the book tracks this group for years and how these "kids" start realizing things about themselves and their parents. The reality is, we are all good and bad Asians since we contain multitudes.

I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

i might need to reread it before saying anything

rtc

[Sabina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an achingly nostalgic read, and an uncomfortably accurate one for those who have graduated college and may or may not still be living with their parents 😵‍💫 following four friends from childhood to accidental viral stardom and its inevitable fallout, this story had me SAT as I devoured the increasingly messy narrative. Full of intimacy so intense that it turns dysfunctional, warring perspectives that puts reality into a thousand different lights, and people who love so hard they can’t help but hurt each other, this was an exploration of early adulthood that made me see myself and my own friends and family in a clearer (and perhaps more sympathetic) frame. Li captures reality in camcorder snapshots and prose-in-motion. You MUST add this to your TBR and 2026 anticipated releases. Do so or fear my wrath!!!

[Akiho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shoutout to my sister and her Asian American lit class for the physical ARC.

Really enjoyed this ARC! After reading it I come to the conclusion that there’s not really bad Asians, there’s just Asians who do a range of things because they’re humans. But personally this was relatable, of being in a very competitive environment and constantly comparing yourself to others and their success even when you know it makes you feel bad, of balancing stability with your passions. I liked that this examined a friendship that was close but also toxic, and how it unraveled and what was left behind, to the new form it takes once people mature. The characters were insufferable a lot of the time, like to the point it was hard to feel too bad for them. Like maybe there could’ve been something a bit more redeemable about them?

This book also took place during an interesting time, not too far in the last but not recent either, when times were tumultuous for everyone but especially to anyone looking to enter the workforce at the time. This is dealt with early instances of virality and when Youtube was establishing as more than just short videos. I was a bit young for this exact age group but it was still a bit nostalgic to me. I liked how the book was structured and we got to visit each character at various stages and mindsets of their life, but wished that there was maybe a bit more development in between that showed how they transitioned.

Overall enjoyed this. Would recommend!

[Annie Tate Cockrum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and fun book about friendship, the early 2000s internet (think YouTube & Buzzfeed), family expectations and more. The flow got a little choppy in the middle but I’m glad I stuck it out because the ending redeemed it. Thanks for the galley and I look forward to Bad Asians coming out in February 2026.

[Luv2TrvlLuvBks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unsure if it was the writing style ? the characters? but couldn't connect with this read.

Don't think a reader necessarily needs to identify with a character or a character's journey, but, do think that the reader needs to be sufficiently engaged that the reader cares about what happens to the characters. I didn't. And this feeling negatively impacted the read.


This ARC was provided by the publisher, Henry Holt & Company | Henry Holt and Co., via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Lucy]

2.5

Didn't like any of the characters - it was a lot of drama and messy as well. Just didn't get that into it.

Received a free copy from Netgalley.

[qq · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really excited to read this book. Growing up, all the examples I had around me were good Asians, Asians who were successful, who gave their parents bragging rights, who were absolutely perfect, the model minority. That pressure to not mess up and be perfect is so stifling and suffocating. Bad Asians was so perfect in creating these imperfect characters with imperfect lives who succumb to imperfect human emotions and desires. It created that stifling, suffocating environment perfectly. The author Lillian Li is such a genius writer; her words have such a distinct voice, it can go from booming to pleading in an instant. The characters were both hateable and loveable, I could understand them, yet I was like "Omg you're so stupid for making this decision" or "If I were you, I would've been so grateful for that opportunity." But that's what made this book so good and so true to its theme. It makes the reader feel like the characters and pushes us back out of the book to reflect on these thoughts and feelings. I think this book will resonate with a lot of people. But also, there was something so comforting in knowing that you can mess up and keep messing up but end up in an okay place as long as you try. Nothing is ever going to be the perfect state that we or our parents envision, but honestly that's okay. If we focus on that, we're never going to escape this shallow way of thinking. The book was really good in addressing that even though it's not pronounced, but it's softly there, guiding the narrative.

Also I really loved the nostalgia that the early YouTube days brought back! I think this is a really good summer read. It captures that post-grad feeling, but also I loved the spiraling of all the characters and how they keep being pushed to their brinks. I couldn't put this book down, I feel like I was totally drawn to the gossip of each character: Diana and her self-righteousness driving her on the path to picture-perfect success, Errol and his addiction to shallow pleasure to block out his brain-of-a-genius, Vivian and her people pleasing tendencies molding her idea of love, Justin and his indecisiveness bleeding through all his relationships, and Grace and her reckless and artistic approach to cutting people open.

Random Thoughts with Spoilers:
There's a lot of interesting things in this book. But I keep thinking about the parents in this book. They love collecting secrets about other families int he neighborhood. Even though it sucks to be gossiped about, the ending really prompted me to focus more directly on why the parents did this. When we're in the lowest parts of our lives, it's much easier to escape that depressing feeling when we look for people worse off than us. It validates us and tells us that we are doing good. But I think that maybe, we are doing good, not in comparison to others but just as we are. But it's hard to notice, and it's especially hard for these parents who are keeping their sufferings a secret from their kids.

One character that really stood out to me was Master Yi. As an adult, he doesn't really participate in the shallow gossip about the families, but he reads people's fortunes. It's like he understands the main pivots, low, and high points of these kids, and he seems right about their fortunes too. Our current state of life affects how we read a book, and currently I feel like being seen for your entire story rather than small shallow blips is such a gift. Being a bad or good Asian, a good or bad daughter/son is such a shallow label, it doesn't encompass that person at all.


Thank you NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for the e-ARC!

[Fresh Lemon · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 out of 5 stars

I went into Bad Asians with high expectations—partly because I love a good coming-of-age story, partly because I’m fascinated by messy friendships, and partly because I understand the perspectives of those who grew up right as the internet was rewiring many peoples' lives. In that respect, Lillian Li delivered exactly what I wanted in a lot of ways; in others, however, she surprised me, frustrated me, and made me think more than I anticipated (sometimes all at once).

The novel follows Diana, Justin, Vivian, and Errol—childhood friends from a competitive Chinese American enclave in Maryland—who graduate straight into the 2008 recession and end up moving back home. When Grace, a former golden child turned dropout, films a tiny documentary about them, the group shrugs it off… until it goes viral on YouTube as “Bad Asians.” Suddenly, their private insecurities and resentments are public property, and the fallout stretches across years.

What struck me first was how vividly Li captures the texture of early friendships—the way childhood closeness can feel both inevitable and suffocating. I loved how she renders the small social hierarchies, the unspoken roles each person plays in a friend group, the tangle of love and resentment that builds over decades.

That said, I also felt the middle third dragging. There were moments where I wasn’t sure what direction the plot was heading, or what exactly I was supposed to be rooting for. And some chapters felt so sprawling that I lost track of the emotional through-line entirely.

Li is at her best when she pulls back the curtain on the pressures of Asian American identity: the weight of being a “good” child of immigrants, the quiet shame of failure, the way a community can bind and suffocate at the same time.

And by the end, I appreciated how Li refuses easy redemption. The characters grow, fracture, repair, drift—sometimes in satisfying ways, sometimes in ways that left me a little hollow. But the emotional honesty made the final chapters land for me, even if the ending is quieter than expected.

Overall, Bad Asians is layered, smart, occasionally meandering, and often deeply resonant. I didn’t always love the characters, but I believed them. And if you like messy friend groups, millennial nostalgia, stories about identity and expectation, or character-driven fiction with emotional bite, this one is worth picking up.

[Tanvi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's so unfortunate that law school has turned me into this monster who can't read without running social commentary, but alas, here we are (and I don't hate this version of myself, sorry h8rs!). I will admit, I almost DNFed this a couple chapters in. I could not connect with the writing style at all: Li is verbose, almost to a fault, and the sentences have a habit of meandering in a way that created a rift between the book and my enjoyment. However, I'm glad I stuck with it: a lot of these characters that I hated because of Li's writing style were incredibly well-fleshed out, and the book took this incredible turn of being a character study of these complex characters. I love a complex character! This was very thoughtfully done, genuinely fun to see where it was going next, and made me very invested in the plot line.

Now: social commentary. I cut a star because I thought this was far too long and needed an editor to cut some of those paragraphs down, but I have more nuanced commentary here too. I grew up in a super Asian community. I'm Indian, so I'm not as intimately familiar with some of these niches, but I believe myself to have a fundamental understanding of the pressures that dictate diaspora Americans, especially high-pressure diasporas, like the one I'm from in the Bay Area. I think any exploration of these diasporas and the sort of ticking pressure that they impose upon their children is incomplete without an exploration of other racial structures in the United States. I try not to get too involved in this sort of political discussion in the context of books (to some extent: books are inherently political and I am inherently annoying about that), but this is an explicit discussion of race, and I find that it was not flimsy commentary at all. Li is skillful, clearly incredibly thoughtful, but the backdrop of this book would be much more convincing if discussed with some context of the ways in which East Asian diasporas are sandwiched in the US. Model minority pressures dictate so much of what we (meaning, the big-A Asian We) do (and the plot of this book), and frankly, those can only be thought of within the framework of critical race theory. Anyway. I digress. Thoughtful, fun, and largely a good commentary on racial structures, and a great case study of five complicated and fun characters.

3.5 stars, rounded down.

[SVL · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was gifted a digital advanced readers copy of this upcoming novel from the Holt publishing team. This book caught my eye given its setting in Maryland, and it ended up being unexpected in terms of the plot covered in relation to the title. I thought the story would focus on the main video scandal but expanded far beyond that. The story largely explores the repercussions of our actions and words in the digital age during the height of YouTube. After a group of childhood friends is caught on video reminiscing on their past and recounting their woes in the midst of the 2008 recession, they go internet viral in the bad way. The author explores the impact their almost spoof video “Bad Asians” had for years after it goes viral, which was interesting given the video was published without their consent.

I usually enjoy books set in our fraught digital age, but ultimately all these characters were very unlikable, which drove my rating. Diana was a bitch at the beginning of the book and had no redemption arc, and the other characters were also so frustratingly stagnant in their growth, I was rooting against them all by the end of the story, despite their reunion that neatly harkened back to chapter one. I will say that Li does a very good job exploring the cancel culture of the 2000s and the pressure on young adults to fit a certain mold and the repercussions if they don’t. The technical career pivots all the characters made really appealed to me and made them seem relatable. Again, unfortunate about all their lack of personal growth.

Last thing I’ll note is that I enjoyed getting to peek inside the uber competitive Asian culture of southern Maryland. The author hilariously depicts the competitive families and striving parents that complicated their child’s lives at every turn. On the whole this was an enjoyable read but not life changing. Thank you to the publisher for advance access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[CR · Rating 4 out of 5]

A special thank you to Prof. Victor Mendoza and Ms. Lillian Li for both the ARC copy and our engaging discussion of this novel in class.

I was three when the Great Recession happened, so I'll never understand its realities beyond accounts from my parents or finance lectures. However, I was fifteen when the COVID-19 pandemic hit—meaning I was conscious enough to understand the economic and psychological impacts of such a crisis—so though I'm a generation below these characters, I still resonated with their malaise and frustration.

The premise of this book was a standout to me. It's one thing to write about the struggles of high-achieving Asian-Americans, but to juxtapose traditional pressures of academic and career success with the untraditional, uncontrollable possibility of unemployment was a fascinating choice. On top of that, the pressure of infamy on the lawless Internet, with content creation barely emerging as a lifestyle, turned this narrative into a refreshing and complex dissection of the modern American dream.

Our class discussion with Ms. Li left me with a lot to think about. As a whole, the push and pull of friendship and envy, children and parents, expectations and failures reminded me of my own overachieving community growing up. I thought the most unique dynamics were Errol's burnout and relationship with his (I presume) ADHD, the fading of Vivian and Errol's romance, Grace's fall and rise to internet stardom, and Justin's regret at the lack of accountability from his mother. From a writing perspective, the epistolary-style presentation of Grace especially added to her larger-than-life, fallen-angel characterization, since we never really get to see inside her mind. Overall I am grateful to have a signed ARC and look forward to Ms. Li's next work.

[Kiri HappySunshine · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up.
There is a lot to love about this story of four Asian-American friends growing up and hitting the workforce right at the recession of the early 2000s. I was excited to read it, relating strongly to the high expectations of first gen immigrant parents and having been exposed to a lot of similar ideology in my own youth. The book does a wonderful job fleshing out the relationships between the key four characters, as well as exploring their family relationships. There is some harsh parenting going down in some of the families, and some hyper-competitiveness happening all around. Then the frenemy, Grace, and her camcorder get added to this mix and a second major theme of the impact of social media and viral exposure gets added to the mix.
The book's pacing sometimes feels uneven. It takes quite a while for the key video to go viral, and there is a lot of background-building prior. Subsequently too, the book seems to lag a little while the friends' lives get messier and more chaotic. This is really quite a saga as we follow this group for many many years. It does all tie up well, however. Their friendships and connections are enduring.
I enjoyed the exploration of the main themes of the high expectation Asian parenting, the impact of the recession, and the impact of social media, as well as the themes of friendship and family. I think overall it's a quality read. I think it could just perhaps have been neatened up or condensed a little and some extraneous characters or events edited out.
The narrator was excellent and she did an incredible job capturing an abundance of voices and nuances.
Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced reader copy of this book.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is told in third-person, from the perspective of four friends: Diana, Vivian, Errol and Justin--friends who graduated in the 2008 recession. Herein comes Grace, resident golden child and aspiring film maker who asks if they could finish the documentary she started when they were in middle school. Layered with buried pain, jealousy and expectations, the friends must grapple with their newfound fame in the new digital age of surveillance, where nobody really knows what they're doing and everyone's just scraping by and pretending that they got this.
The book discusses a lot of problems encountered by Chinese Americans growing up with the burden of expectations from their parents who they feel they owe a lot to for moving to the country to give them a better life, shame, failure, growing pains and identity. But most importantly, it shows how growing apart doesn't have to mean staying away and forgetting.
What I didn't really like about the novel was that because the story was formatted in gap years, a lot of the character development happens off-the-page and we're just really checking in on everyone after years have passed. A good thing about this though is that we get to visit the past in a non-linear manner and catch up on everyone at different points in their lives.
I can't help but feel like Grace isn't a fully fleshed character but just a person who is there to trigger certain events, similar to Carrie (although Carrie's thread really did start with Grace's) and there wasn't much buildup to her being part of the group even in the end.
I did appreciate that the story ended with the gang getting back together and Justin and Z especially meeting each other halfway in almost a rom-comy manner.

[Mal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced audiobook

When Grace, a childhood frenemy, drops out of Harvard Law School and moves back home Vivian, Diana, Justin, and Errol feel some schadenfreude about this turn of events. All having grown up with the message that success equals going to a good college and then getting a good paying job, they were pummeled by the 2008 recession, which forced them to move back into their parents' houses earlier than Grace, who'd been seen as the golden child of the neighborhood. Grace admits to the group that she really wants to be making documentaries and sets about making one about the group, calling it Bad Asians. Once the documentary comes out, each person in the group's life gets impacted in ways big and small.

This was an incredibly engaging story. It's one of those audiobooks that makes you continue to sit in your car after you've parked, just to hear a little bit more. The characters are all layered and complex, in ways that made me cringe and feel great sympathy for them, and it's fascinating to see which characters fold to the expectations set up for them and which ones don't, as well as which characters find more traditional success. While all of the characters get about the same amount of page time, Diana, Grace, and Justin feel like the biggest impact characters on the book. I found myself wanting to get back to them when I was in the other characters' sections. BAD ASIANS is an insightful and cathartic look at the inheritance given to the children of Chinese immigrants when the society they've been molded to succeed in, drops the floor out from beneath them.

Bad Asians is out February 17, 2026

[Cheer is Currently Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

BAD ASIANS REVIEW
RATING: 4
GENRE: Literary fiction

Li’s Bad Asians is an introspective look at a group of childhood friends whose lives get turned upside down by a former classmate’s release of a documentary they had filmed post-college. With a tongue in cheek title, Bad Asians, it takes a look at what it means to be to be a child of immigrants and the expectations of Asian culture.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book as it’s set up in 3 parts and told through the perspective of our main leads. We initially are not sure if we should be rooting for Diana, Vivian, Errol, and Justin but their lives have been exposed due to Grace’s vindictiveness. The longtime children hood friends attempt to navigate those this period of notoriety and how it affects their friendship. Each of the four main leads have always played a specific role in the friend group - but now, it seems those roles are the things that are stifling them as they are shown and dissected by the public.

The weight in which each character battles for their self-identity from the group that they known their whole lives is beautifully written. The four have been forever tied by their families and circumstances, yet we find that it is not enough to sustain through difficult times. I recommend this book for those who are looking to find their own voice and those who enjoy a coming of age story.

Thank you to Henry Holt & Co and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book. I recommend this book for those who are looking to find their own voice and those who enjoy a coming of age story.

[Bargain Sleuth Book Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley, Henry Holt & Company and MacMillan Audio for the digital copy of this book; I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Content Warnings provided by reviews on Storygraph:

Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Biphobia
Moderate: Bullying, Medical content
Minor: Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse
I’m always a fan of books that delve deeply into family and societal dynamics. Bad Asians explores friendship and culture. I found it quite emotional at times, with a complex narrative that sucks you in from the first chapter.

Four friends, Diana, Vivian, Errol, and Justin, have their lives changed when a former classmate, Grace, makes a documentary about the group; collectively, their lives are analyzed during a very hard time for many people: the Great Recession of 2008-2009. All of the friends are graduating and trying to find a job in this economic downturn, and it’s made all the worse because they are part of a very competitive Chinese American community.

Grace’s racist editing has made the group of friends look like every Asian stereotype you can think of. When the video goes viral, those portrayals have very serious consequences, both in how others interact with them, but also affects their careers and home life.

For the most part, I enjoyed this book, although at times it felt a little uneven in pacing. As for the audiobook, Bad Asians is Narrated by Katharine Chin, who does a great job portraying the friends with all their roller coaster emotions. I would definitely listen to another audiobook narrated by Chin.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found Bad Asians to be a very interesting read. The story of a group of friends with high expectations from their parents, who find themselves graduated from college and living back at home while unemployed. When one of the friends, Grace, wants to make a documentary, they agree thinking it is something just between them that will never be seen. When it gets uploaded onto a new and up and coming site, it goes viral and suddenly each of the friends becomes a household name being judged by strangers. Steeped with stereotypes and each of the friends depicted in a not so wonderful light, the quick thrust into the limelight takes a toll on their friendship and careers, except for Grace who has found great success.

The book follows the lives of the four friends and the different paths they have chosen in the aftermath of the chaos. It takes a look at the expectations placed on each of them by their parents and society and how the pressure to be a good child, have a good career, etc follows them through life. Afterall, no one wants to be a disappointment. Will the image of “bad Asian” follow each of the friends forever? Will they be able to reconnect and reignite their friendship?

Thank you to Henry Holt Books for the gifted copy of this book as well as Macmillan Audio for the gifted audio version. It was such a great experience to both read and listen as they each have a unique experience. Katharine Chin did a wonderful job mastering each of the characters and bringing them to life.

[Sharondblk]

Some books I can't really give a rating to, as this veered wildly from a 2 to a 4 star. The plot tells the story of 4 friends, who are filmed at different times by Grace, who was peripheral to their friendship group at school. These are the 'Bad Asians' of the title. The story then moves to different characters at different times, so it's not continuous, but jerky, dropping in and out of their lives with little regard for a traditional story arc. we also get glimpses of the parents and their lives and choices. While the expectations of Chinese parents are part of the point of this book, it meant there were a lot of characterless in play.
I nearly quit at the end of part one, because I couldn't see WHY these people were friends. They were rather awful to each other. I persevered, and the middle section they go their own way. there were some interesting storylines. By the third section they are back together, and while I enjoyed this part, I'm not sure it made any sense, given what had gone before. There was not really much growth, although there is some. It's got some interesting messages and thoughts about what success could mean.
The narrator was very good, well matched to the content, non-intrusive and did the voices well.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bolinda Audio for the audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Diana, Justin, Errol, and Vivian live in a competitive Chinese American community. They come together in elementary school, and graduate during the 2008 recession. They find that the narrative they were raised with – just work hard – does not pay off the way they anticipated. Navigating the challenges of moving back home and figuring out where to go next is complicated by Bad Asians, a YouTube documentary style video uploaded by another of their peers, Grace.

Bad Asians explores identity and growing up within an Asian American community. It takes that pivotal time in life when you're supposed to transition from student to employed, setting it against the recession. Add YouTube, and you find your most tender moments exposed to others. Bringing the pieces together, Bad Asians is a story of finding yourself, figuring out who your friends are, creating your own story while others try to create it for you, and figuring out different ways to define success in unexpected times. Li’s voice shines through, breathing life into each character. While it felt a bit jumpy in the beginning, it came together in such a satisfying way.

Thank you NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co for the digital ARC for review.

[Janet Fiorentino · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read “Number One Chinese Restaurant” ages ago so it was wonderful to have a chance to review Lillian Li’s next effort, “Bad Asians.”

“Bad Asians” presents an interesting premise—what can happen when you’re pushed to succeed and despite all of your parents’ support and encouragement, your life falls apart?

Here, we meet a group of twentysomethings whose lives have not quite turned out as expected when they graduate school just as the 2008 recession hits. Hence, when a video of them lamenting the cards of dealt them goes viral, they’re not quite ready to handle to repercussions. I found the premise unique with plenty of potential and I appreciated the portrayal of the early days of Youtube’s popularity.

The author shifts the focuses between each of the major characters, shifting between the present and their pasts. The jumping around made it slightly difficult to follow the plot lines and the story dragged in places but overall, it was a decent read.

Three and a half out of five stars.

Thanks to the author, Net Galley, and the publisher and a chance to read and review this novel.

[Jamie Cha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give the book 3.5 stars. I like fiction. I was excited to read this book. I am older than it's target audience. I was excited about the premise of the book. I had not read the authors other book.

It took me a long time to read this book. I honestly couldn't get into it. I liked the beginning of the book. The rest of the book dragged on for me.

I liked the characters in the beginning of the book. I liked the idea of a diverse Asian set of characters. Then I lost interest in the characters. I learned some of the characters. There were too many characters to really delve into their lives.

The book seemed too long for me. Not enough happened to make the book so long. I didn't get excited for the ending. The ending was anti-climatic.

The book used the R word ( more than once). I found that offensive. So . many other words that could have been used.

The book is a pretty original concept. I applaud the author for this. I am grateful to the author and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.