Charlie Chan Is Dead 2: At Home in the World

Charlie Chan Is Dead #2

by Jessica Hagedorn (Introduction), Christina Chiu (Contributor), Peter Ho Davies (Contributor)

More than a decade after its initial publication, the groundbreaking anthology Charlie Chan Is Dead remains the best available source for contemporary Asian American fiction. Edited by acclaimed novelist and National Book Award nominee Jessica Hagedorn, Charlie Chan Is Dead 2: At Home in the World brings together  forty-two fresh, fascinating voices in Asian American writing—from classics by Jose Garcia Villa and Wakako Yamauchi to exciting new fiction from Akhil Sharma, Ruth Ozeki, Chang-Rae Lee, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Monique Truong. Sweeping in background and literary style, from pioneering writers to newly emerging voices from the Hmong and Korean communities, these exceptional works celebrate the full spectrum of Asian American experience and identities, transcending stereotypes and revealing the strength and vitality of Asian America today.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Asian American, Asian Literature, Reference

573 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Jessica Tarahata Hagedorn was born (and raised) in Manila, Philippines in 1949. With her background, a Scots-Irish-French-Filipino mother and a Filipino-Spanish father with one Chinese ancestor, Hagedorn adds a unique perspective to Asian American performance and literature. Her mixed media style often incorporates song, poetry, images, and spoken dialogue.

Moving to San Francisco in 1963, Hagedorn received her education at the American Conservatory Theater training program. To further pursue playwriting and music, she moved to New York in 1978.

Joseph Papp produced her first play Mango Tango in 1978. Hagedorn's other productions include Tenement Lover, Holy Food, and Teenytown.

In 1985, 1986, and 1988, she received Macdowell Colony Fellowships, which helped enable her to write the novel Dogeaters, which illuminates many different aspects of Filipino experience, focusing on the influence of America through radio, television, and movie theaters. She shows the complexities of the love-hate relationship many Filipinos in diaspora feel toward their past. After its publication in 1990, her novel earned a 1990 National Book Award nomination and an American Book Award. In 1998, La Jolla Playhouse produced a stage adaptation.

She lives in New York with her husband and two daughters, and continues to be a poet, storyteller, musician, playwright, and multimedia performance artist.

Reviews

[Cherrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Purchased this book almost three years ago when I was browsing a local bookstore waiting for dinner reservations. I consider it fate that this book snagged my eye and I ended up purchasing it -- what won me over was seeing Professor Elaine Kim's name on the cover, I'm not gonna lie. (Elaine Kim is a media studies prof at UC Berkeley and she is the reason I am so absorbed with Asian Americans in American media.) If you don't want to read the rest of this review, just know that I file this under MUST READ if you love literary fiction and/or you are looking to diversify your bookshelf.

This anthology of short stories by Asian Americans from all different walks of life took me on a whirlwind! Each story was so well-written, I was sucked into each story and spit out at the last period. I discovered new authors I had never heard of -- seriously feel like I've been living under a rock *cry emoji*. I had never heard of Theresa Cha before until I read Cathy Park Hong's essay on her life & death, and then I read her short in this anthology during the same week (what a coincidence, huh?!).

Several shorts that stood out to me and got me thinking long after the story was over:
- Gina Apostol surprised me with "Cunanan's Wake" because I didn't think of Andrew Cunanan as a person with a family who mourned him. My first introduction to Cunanan was via the show "The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story," which tells the story of Andrew Cunanan's obsession with S&M and older gay men and how he plotted Versace's murder. (The show has forever changed the way I view actor Darren Criss because he was just TOO good in the show. Also, I couldn't finish the shower because of the violence.) The short humanized Cunanan for me and gave me a different perspective on him -- I mean, it doesn't justify or negate the fact that he is a killer and killed one of the most talented fashion icons the world has ever seen.
- "Submission" by Karl Taro Greenfeld painted such a realistic & poignant picture of Sandi’s desperation and meticulousness. I was rooting hard for Sandi because she’s Hong Kongnese and I have a soft spot for HK.
- Akhil Sharma's main character in "Surrounded By Sleep is a child and to hear his perspective on his brother's paralysis and brain incapacity was heart-wrenching.
- Ka Vang's dark humor and feminist thought hidden in “Ms. PAC-Man Ruined My Gang Life” haunted me along with visuals of the gang fights with scissors and screwdrivers.

Ending here for now, planning to revisit these shorts in a couple of years with renewed eyes.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this for a class and didn't have high expectations, since I had never been a big reader of short stories. But after reading Sexy by Jhumpa Lahiri, which has now become my favorite short story of all time, I began to realize that short stories can be one of the most inspiring forms of writing.
Some of the stories are confusing and many of the stories have a sexual nature but all and all worth checking out if you like short stories.

[Sammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of short stories by Asian-American authors. Very good Asian-American authors. Chilling. Shocked. Powerful prose that shakes the soul leaving one numb.

Everyone who met me the last week thought I was depressed or upset: I could only tell them that I was reading and feeling a little shell-shocked.

Not the whole truth. I feel sick. There is a small little tuff of nausea in my stomach going through each page of the book. I wished the editor, Jessica Hagedorn, had put a few more comedies in ther to lighten up the load. But her attitude probably was, "who can laugh when so much is unhappy in the world. With Asians. In America."

I just finished Bharati Mukherjee's "The Management of Grief" was the perfect story about Toronto. I liked also the hyper-macho "Rico" by Peter Bacho. And Marilyn Chin. I honestly think I love her. And the enigmatic selection "Ahjuhman" from Chang-Rae Lee's "Native Speaker." Magical realism of Eric Gamalinda's "Formerly Known as Bionic Boy."

Feeling all sick and frighten and nauseated. It is as if that this is what I should aspire to and I cannot look at myself in the mirror and not see the seed of this thing in it.

Frightening. Truely frightening.

[Bryan Worra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who says the short story is dead? The quality of the individual stories tends to skew very high, and in evaluating the anthology as a whole, it is a good value as a means to introduce one's self to both established and emerging writers within the Asian American community and to observe the different narrative strategies that might be employed to convey both personal and community experiences.

One shouldn't walk away thinking this is THE definitive anthology of Contemporary Asian American Fiction, but an affirmation that there should be many more such anthologies in the world, and that the reading public will be well-rewarded for it.

[Valery · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant collection of Asian and Asian American short stories.

[Jennifer Li · Rating 3 out of 5]

You've got to pick and choose from the semi-crappy to semi-decent stories, but I like the efforts of those who compiled this book so here is my hurrah for Asians and Asian Americans.

[amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

MORE BUNNY.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this book for my Asian American Lit. class. Full of short stories by AA writers. A few of my favorites: Rico, sexy, Two Parables: Moon.

[Brandon Potter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wouldn't normally read this, but it's for a Lit class.

[Alicia]

got this book when the bookstore on the drag closed. most of the stories were okay and i remember one or two that still stick with me today, but for the most part it was just confusing and vague.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent and varied