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Days of Distraction
A wry, tender portrait of a young woman—finally free to decide her own path, but unsure if she knows herself well enough to choose wisely—from a captivating new literary voice
The plan is to leave. As for how, when, to where, and even why—she doesn’t know yet. So begins a journey for the twenty-four-year-old narrator of Days of Distraction. As a staff writer at a prestigious tech publication, she reports on the achievements of smug Silicon Valley billionaires and start-up bros while her own request for a raise gets bumped from manager to manager. And when her longtime boyfriend, J, decides to move to a quiet upstate New York town for grad school, she sees an excuse to cut and run.
Moving is supposed to be a grand gesture of her commitment to J and a way to reshape her sense of self. But in the process, she finds herself facing misgivings about her role in an interracial relationship. Captivated by the stories of her ancestors and other Asian Americans in history, she must confront a question at the core of her identity: What does it mean to exist in a society that does not notice or understand you?
Equal parts tender and humorous, and told in spare but powerful prose, Days of Distraction is an offbeat coming-of-adulthood tale, a touching family story, and a razor-sharp appraisal of our times.
The plan is to leave. As for how, when, to where, and even why—she doesn’t know yet. So begins a journey for the twenty-four-year-old narrator of Days of Distraction. As a staff writer at a prestigious tech publication, she reports on the achievements of smug Silicon Valley billionaires and start-up bros while her own request for a raise gets bumped from manager to manager. And when her longtime boyfriend, J, decides to move to a quiet upstate New York town for grad school, she sees an excuse to cut and run.
Moving is supposed to be a grand gesture of her commitment to J and a way to reshape her sense of self. But in the process, she finds herself facing misgivings about her role in an interracial relationship. Captivated by the stories of her ancestors and other Asian Americans in history, she must confront a question at the core of her identity: What does it mean to exist in a society that does not notice or understand you?
Equal parts tender and humorous, and told in spare but powerful prose, Days of Distraction is an offbeat coming-of-adulthood tale, a touching family story, and a razor-sharp appraisal of our times.
320 pages, Paperback
First published March 31, 2020
578 people are currently reading
29343 people want to read
About the author
Alexandra Chang
11 books350 followersAlexandra Chang is the author of Days of Distraction. She is a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree, and her writing has appeared in Zoetrope: All-Story, The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Guernica, and elsewhere. She lives in Ventura County, California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,001 reviews
May 12, 2022
I would say "possibly this book was made for me in a lab," due to how many things it has going for it that I have written at length about loving in the past, but I am trying to work on my belief that everything in the universe exists in orbit around me.
So instead I'll say the following series of things:
1) I go feral for books with unique formatting
2) This is like reading the diary of an acquaintance you know just well enough to identify as introspective and intelligent. It's a delicious indulgence
3) the ending of this is almost stunningly lovely, so lovely I hand-wrote the last pages in a notebook for no reason but to see them again
4) I want more from this protagonist or these characters or this author, or for this book to not be over, or to have confidence I could read something else like this someday
5) twenty-first century life is so strange and lonely, and there is so much we don't control, but there is a beauty to all of it.
Bottom line: A stunner.
4.5
So instead I'll say the following series of things:
1) I go feral for books with unique formatting
2) This is like reading the diary of an acquaintance you know just well enough to identify as introspective and intelligent. It's a delicious indulgence
3) the ending of this is almost stunningly lovely, so lovely I hand-wrote the last pages in a notebook for no reason but to see them again
4) I want more from this protagonist or these characters or this author, or for this book to not be over, or to have confidence I could read something else like this someday
5) twenty-first century life is so strange and lonely, and there is so much we don't control, but there is a beauty to all of it.
Bottom line: A stunner.
4.5
Read
April 29, 2021excuse me while i question the meaning of life and feel attacked by this very close portrait to what it feels like to work in tech but also vaguely in any white dominated industry while also being asian in a white country while also not knowing exactly who you are trying to find some semblance of roots ! ! my god the f e e l i n g s this book portrays with such clinical detachment and piercing honesty wowowow
if you couldn't tell, i LOVED this.
if you couldn't tell, i LOVED this.
April 6, 2020
Some books are plotty and others can meander through a life, soft and spare. This is one of the latter and it's a genre I get very picky about. There has to be some grand design to it, some purpose, some theme, some character that makes it all feel worthwhile and Chang delivers. Her protagonist--a millennial, a tech writer, a child of Chinese immigrants--doesn't just accept her circumstances, but change can feel impossible. (Her repeated requests for a raise at her job where she is not even a salaried employee but a contractor with no benefits lead her exactly nowhere.) And if she could change her life, what would she change it to? There are no clear answers to anything.
In the middle of all this she begins to worry more and more about her relationship with J, your classic well-meaning white guy. J is smart and kind, he loves her and worries about her. J also regularly downplays her frustration or concern around race, and commits plenty of microaggressions of his own. Our narrator starts to wonder what she is doing in this relationship, why she has chosen to be with a white man, and what having an interracial relationship really means, sending her into a deep dive of research and reading.
It is also a time capsule of the early 2010's, when social media was still maturing but integrated into daily life, and when media started growing specifically around a social strategy. (Which would by the end of the decade have destroyed most of them.) The way the internet and media and tech change so quickly, there's something staggering in looking back just a few years and seeing just how different things have become already. Chang nails this part of the book so much that it should be up there with books like STARTUP as catching this moment in capitalism. I found it so fascinating that I was really bummed when the narrator left.
There were so many things in this book I related to, especially about relationships. The tempo may be slow, especially in the second half, but it does pay off.
In the middle of all this she begins to worry more and more about her relationship with J, your classic well-meaning white guy. J is smart and kind, he loves her and worries about her. J also regularly downplays her frustration or concern around race, and commits plenty of microaggressions of his own. Our narrator starts to wonder what she is doing in this relationship, why she has chosen to be with a white man, and what having an interracial relationship really means, sending her into a deep dive of research and reading.
It is also a time capsule of the early 2010's, when social media was still maturing but integrated into daily life, and when media started growing specifically around a social strategy. (Which would by the end of the decade have destroyed most of them.) The way the internet and media and tech change so quickly, there's something staggering in looking back just a few years and seeing just how different things have become already. Chang nails this part of the book so much that it should be up there with books like STARTUP as catching this moment in capitalism. I found it so fascinating that I was really bummed when the narrator left.
There were so many things in this book I related to, especially about relationships. The tempo may be slow, especially in the second half, but it does pay off.
January 23, 2021
“Days Of Distraction” by Alexandra Chang has garnered much publicity and recommendations, and deservingly so. It’s billed as a “coming-of-adulthood” story which is indeed part of it. It’s a story of a woman in her early twenties following her beloved from San Francisco to Ithaca NY. But she’s not blindly following him, she questions her relationship with him and how following him could affect her career. She’s not happy in her current job and looks forward to making a change. Yet is this right for her?’
What I enjoyed was her quiet contemplations. She includes historical tidbits, generally about race and interactional relationships. I listened to the Audible production, read by Greta Jung. I was not a fan of Jung’s performance. To me, she was wooden and far from dramatic. I wish I would have read the story because I’m a visual learner, and there is so much information and insights piled in this novel that I wanted to see the words written. I needed to rewind the narrative many times.
This is an engaging story of a young woman growing into adulthood, and not blindly. Yes, she’s confused; yes, she’s searching. I enjoyed her emotional and intellectual deliberations. I suggest reading this one.
What I enjoyed was her quiet contemplations. She includes historical tidbits, generally about race and interactional relationships. I listened to the Audible production, read by Greta Jung. I was not a fan of Jung’s performance. To me, she was wooden and far from dramatic. I wish I would have read the story because I’m a visual learner, and there is so much information and insights piled in this novel that I wanted to see the words written. I needed to rewind the narrative many times.
This is an engaging story of a young woman growing into adulthood, and not blindly. Yes, she’s confused; yes, she’s searching. I enjoyed her emotional and intellectual deliberations. I suggest reading this one.
May 10, 2022
Update… $1.99 Kindle special. I think it’s worth it - great price! Great novel
Audiobook…..read by Greta Jung
….10 hours and 36 minutes
This book made me hungry!
Given we have no usable kitchen in the house —
[not starving]…protein drinks, veggie sandwiches, tea and cookies are a fine temporary diet,
but Asian-American Alexandra Chang mentioned yummy noodles & veggies often enough, in San Francisco….
I started getting a craving 🥢🍜 for “Khan Toke Thai House”, on 25th and Geary in S. F. (best kept secret…delicious S.F. neighbor Thai restaurant)….where running into Robin Williams when he was alive was not uncommon.
Getting real….
If I were writing longer - complete reviews- I’d not only have a lot to say about this books - it’s power and importance — but would be wanting share the voracious spot-on-killer-meticulously-spectacular- dialogue between Alexandra and Dad.
…..or phenomenal dialogue between Alexandra and boyfriend J.
An incredibly engaging and entertaining audio-listen.
One of the best ‘REFLECTS-CURRENT-TRUTH’….that I’ve read by ANY Asian-American….. ‘ever’. This is a fantastic book!
Smart, savvy, ingenious…..>
Themes include leaving home, Bay Area identity, working in the tech world, relationship with caucasian boyfriend, J, choices to make about work — moving to New York associated with choices with boyfriend, quandaries about racism, white privilege, sexism, Asian-American cultural history, ongoing ‘awesome’ conversations with DAD…..and just damn great storytelling…..
real - funny - offbeat- gut powerful complexities of modern life.
LOVE LOVE LOVED it!!!!!
Audiobook…..read by Greta Jung
….10 hours and 36 minutes
This book made me hungry!
Given we have no usable kitchen in the house —
[not starving]…protein drinks, veggie sandwiches, tea and cookies are a fine temporary diet,
but Asian-American Alexandra Chang mentioned yummy noodles & veggies often enough, in San Francisco….
I started getting a craving 🥢🍜 for “Khan Toke Thai House”, on 25th and Geary in S. F. (best kept secret…delicious S.F. neighbor Thai restaurant)….where running into Robin Williams when he was alive was not uncommon.
Getting real….
If I were writing longer - complete reviews- I’d not only have a lot to say about this books - it’s power and importance — but would be wanting share the voracious spot-on-killer-meticulously-spectacular- dialogue between Alexandra and Dad.
…..or phenomenal dialogue between Alexandra and boyfriend J.
An incredibly engaging and entertaining audio-listen.
One of the best ‘REFLECTS-CURRENT-TRUTH’….that I’ve read by ANY Asian-American….. ‘ever’. This is a fantastic book!
Smart, savvy, ingenious…..>
Themes include leaving home, Bay Area identity, working in the tech world, relationship with caucasian boyfriend, J, choices to make about work — moving to New York associated with choices with boyfriend, quandaries about racism, white privilege, sexism, Asian-American cultural history, ongoing ‘awesome’ conversations with DAD…..and just damn great storytelling…..
real - funny - offbeat- gut powerful complexities of modern life.
LOVE LOVE LOVED it!!!!!
April 6, 2020
Given the current unprecedented situation, the past few weeks have been one of the busiest and most difficult I’ve ever encountered — a sentiment I’m pretty sure many others also share at the moment. Reading has always been a solace for me and this time around is no exception. I’ve continued to read every day as I normally do, but the problem is that it’s been very hard to concentrate, which has caused my reading to become more “restless” than usual. I’ve found myself starting a book, but after getting a ways through it, my mind wanders, so I put the book down and, thinking perhaps it’s just not the right book for the moment, I start another one, only to have the same thing happen. As a result, I’ve got 4 or 5 books that I started and need to finish, though I’m resigned to the fact that it’s going to take longer than anticipated and also require more concentration on my part.
One of the books I started during this time period is Alexandra Chang’s fictional novel Days of Distraction , which is a coming-of-adulthood tale based in large part on the author’s own life and personal experiences. The protagonist in the story is a twenty-something Chinese-American woman named Jing Jing (whom we later find out actually shares the same first name as the author) — she works as a writer for a tech publication in San Francisco, California, where she is, notably, one of only two women on the entire staff (the other woman is a photographer named Jasmine, who also happens to be Chinese-American and also Jing Jing’s closest work friend). Jing Jing lives with her Irish American boyfriend J (he is referred to only by his one initial throughout the entire story), who is a research associate at a lab where he spends hours on end with mostly scientists and mice. Jing Jing is very close with her family — her mother and younger sister and brother who live near her, as well as her dad, who moved back to China after a not-so-amicable divorce from her mother. When J gets accepted to grad school in New York, Jing Jing decides to move across the country with him, leaving behind her family and her job in a bustling city to settle in the small, quiet, upstate town of Ithaca. Along the way, mostly to pass the time, Jing Jing begins acquainting herself with stories about her ancestral heritage as well as those of other Asian Americans in history, which leads her on a journey of self-reflection, especially as it pertains to her relationship with her boyfriend J.
Plot-wise, this is what I would call a quiet, slow-burn type of story where nothing much actually happens. The closest thing to “action” that ever occurs is the brief “road trip” that Jing Jing and J take across the country for their move. Aside from that, majority of the story consists of Jing Jing’s observations about the mostly mundane everyday things going on around her, and later, it shifts to reflections about her identity within a society that, for the most part, doesn’t realize she exists. The format of the story was one of the main things I had to get used to, as it was told in a way that required a little bit more attention than normal — narrated by Jing Jing in the first person, the narrative jumped around quite a bit, with short sections that at times felt anecdotal, interspersed throughout with excerpts from various articles or other things that Jing Jing happened to be reading at the time. In hindsight, given the format, this was probably not the best choice of book to read during this time period, but it paid off in the end because the story was one that resonated with me, and the characters too, I felt a connection to. While Jing Jing did come off as annoying at times (mostly in those situations where she would debate things back and forth extensively in her mind but then not take any action), she was a character I was able to relate to on many levels. With that said though, my favorite characters in the story were actually Jing Jing’s mom and dad (especially her dad, whose hilarious quips about society and culture always made me chuckle) — what I loved most was how the parents were written in a way where they did not come across as traditional, stereotypical Asian (specifically Chinese) parents, yet they were still such an important source of cultural insight for Jing Jing (and the reader as well). In most of the contemporary stories I read where there’s a young Asian protagonist at the center of the story, the parents are often portrayed in a very “traditional” manner, which isn’t necessarily wrong of course, since there are plenty of Asian parents like that, but on the other side of the coin, there are also many Asian parents who, like Jing Jing’s mom and dad, embody both cultural sentiments as well as modern sensitivities — it was definitely refreshing to see an Asian author tackle this aspect.
On the surface, this may seem like another “immigrant story” that centers around the protagonist’s struggle with identity and belonging, but it actually goes so much deeper than that. In addition to identity and immigration, it is also a commentary of sorts on several hot button societal issues such as racism, politics, interracial relationships, family dynamics, economics, history, culture and tradition, etc. What made this work for me was the subtleness of the commentary, presented in a way where it was essentially a neutral relaying of facts — rather than “preach” about society’s injustices and try to steer the reader toward a certain direction, the author — through the narrator’s experiences as well as references from history — offers up examples in a non-judgmental manner and let’s the reader decide for themselves.
This is one of those books where the reaction will be different depending on the audience. I definitely enjoyed this book and highly recommend it, though with the caveat that it may not resonate with others as much as it did with me. I look forward to seeing more from this author in the future!
Received ARC from Ecco (HarperCollins) via Edelweiss.
One of the books I started during this time period is Alexandra Chang’s fictional novel Days of Distraction , which is a coming-of-adulthood tale based in large part on the author’s own life and personal experiences. The protagonist in the story is a twenty-something Chinese-American woman named Jing Jing (whom we later find out actually shares the same first name as the author) — she works as a writer for a tech publication in San Francisco, California, where she is, notably, one of only two women on the entire staff (the other woman is a photographer named Jasmine, who also happens to be Chinese-American and also Jing Jing’s closest work friend). Jing Jing lives with her Irish American boyfriend J (he is referred to only by his one initial throughout the entire story), who is a research associate at a lab where he spends hours on end with mostly scientists and mice. Jing Jing is very close with her family — her mother and younger sister and brother who live near her, as well as her dad, who moved back to China after a not-so-amicable divorce from her mother. When J gets accepted to grad school in New York, Jing Jing decides to move across the country with him, leaving behind her family and her job in a bustling city to settle in the small, quiet, upstate town of Ithaca. Along the way, mostly to pass the time, Jing Jing begins acquainting herself with stories about her ancestral heritage as well as those of other Asian Americans in history, which leads her on a journey of self-reflection, especially as it pertains to her relationship with her boyfriend J.
Plot-wise, this is what I would call a quiet, slow-burn type of story where nothing much actually happens. The closest thing to “action” that ever occurs is the brief “road trip” that Jing Jing and J take across the country for their move. Aside from that, majority of the story consists of Jing Jing’s observations about the mostly mundane everyday things going on around her, and later, it shifts to reflections about her identity within a society that, for the most part, doesn’t realize she exists. The format of the story was one of the main things I had to get used to, as it was told in a way that required a little bit more attention than normal — narrated by Jing Jing in the first person, the narrative jumped around quite a bit, with short sections that at times felt anecdotal, interspersed throughout with excerpts from various articles or other things that Jing Jing happened to be reading at the time. In hindsight, given the format, this was probably not the best choice of book to read during this time period, but it paid off in the end because the story was one that resonated with me, and the characters too, I felt a connection to. While Jing Jing did come off as annoying at times (mostly in those situations where she would debate things back and forth extensively in her mind but then not take any action), she was a character I was able to relate to on many levels. With that said though, my favorite characters in the story were actually Jing Jing’s mom and dad (especially her dad, whose hilarious quips about society and culture always made me chuckle) — what I loved most was how the parents were written in a way where they did not come across as traditional, stereotypical Asian (specifically Chinese) parents, yet they were still such an important source of cultural insight for Jing Jing (and the reader as well). In most of the contemporary stories I read where there’s a young Asian protagonist at the center of the story, the parents are often portrayed in a very “traditional” manner, which isn’t necessarily wrong of course, since there are plenty of Asian parents like that, but on the other side of the coin, there are also many Asian parents who, like Jing Jing’s mom and dad, embody both cultural sentiments as well as modern sensitivities — it was definitely refreshing to see an Asian author tackle this aspect.
On the surface, this may seem like another “immigrant story” that centers around the protagonist’s struggle with identity and belonging, but it actually goes so much deeper than that. In addition to identity and immigration, it is also a commentary of sorts on several hot button societal issues such as racism, politics, interracial relationships, family dynamics, economics, history, culture and tradition, etc. What made this work for me was the subtleness of the commentary, presented in a way where it was essentially a neutral relaying of facts — rather than “preach” about society’s injustices and try to steer the reader toward a certain direction, the author — through the narrator’s experiences as well as references from history — offers up examples in a non-judgmental manner and let’s the reader decide for themselves.
This is one of those books where the reaction will be different depending on the audience. I definitely enjoyed this book and highly recommend it, though with the caveat that it may not resonate with others as much as it did with me. I look forward to seeing more from this author in the future!
Received ARC from Ecco (HarperCollins) via Edelweiss.
January 2, 2021
This reads like such a debut novel workshopped out of an MFA program where the POC author is forced to reckon with her Asian-American identity and biracial relationship by throwing everything she has out onto the page in a lightly fictionalized autobiography.
But as an Asian-American, bi-racially married dude working in tech this is just such a me book. The San Francisco tech environment with its open plan office spaces, standing desks and online watercooler chat fretting about the next round of imminent layoffs feels intimately familiar. The micro-aggressions experienced when travelling, the sixth sense of knowing just how much you might stand out in certain environments and how you contend with that in opposition to the blithe indifference whiteness can simply take for granted. And just the sheer fun of assembled "Snippets of Asian America" and how history has regarded the "yellow peril" over the years and how some have raised their defiant voices in demanding to be wholly seen. So yeah, I dug this book. Your mileage may vary.
But as an Asian-American, bi-racially married dude working in tech this is just such a me book. The San Francisco tech environment with its open plan office spaces, standing desks and online watercooler chat fretting about the next round of imminent layoffs feels intimately familiar. The micro-aggressions experienced when travelling, the sixth sense of knowing just how much you might stand out in certain environments and how you contend with that in opposition to the blithe indifference whiteness can simply take for granted. And just the sheer fun of assembled "Snippets of Asian America" and how history has regarded the "yellow peril" over the years and how some have raised their defiant voices in demanding to be wholly seen. So yeah, I dug this book. Your mileage may vary.
Read
April 6, 2020
9/3/20
Days of Distraction - what a stellar debut novel! The story follows a Chinese-American who as a fairly recent graduate works as a technology reporter in Silicon Valley. We get to watch as she deals with all of the crap that comes with the job: office politics, racism, misogyny etc. Then when her boyfriend J gets offered a PhD position in a remote town in upstate New York, she decides to pack her bags and join him. As time progresses she explores her identity, reflected on the past of those that came before her. This was such an amazing read. Stunning, stunning, stunning! Not a stone is left unturned as Chang explores all of the nuances that come with being a woman of colour and the constant struggle of trying to carve out a life for yourself, but at the same time being forced to see yourself through the lens of others. This has definitely been one of the most relatable books I've read. Also as someone who has worked in tech being the only woman and poc in the team, the first part was so triggering lmao.
8/3/20
Thank you Ecco for gifting me a copy of this book :)
5/12/19
This book is will be here in my hands in less than two weeks. Weehoo! Can't wait!! :D
29/11/19
'What does it mean to exist in a society that does not notice or understand you?'
I have seen this book float around on book twitter and bookstagram and now I'm super curious to have a read.
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June 5, 2022
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Days of Distraction should have been right up my street. Alas, it turned out not to be the ‘wry’, ‘tender’, and ‘offbeat coming-of-adulthood tale’ its blurb promised it’d be. Our quasi-unnamed narrator is a Chinese American woman in her early twenties who works at a tech publication. Her boyfriend is this generic white guy, who’s aptly enough referred to by just the one letter, J. The prose is plain & dry, the characters are as flat and thin as paper, the storyline is slow and repetitive. The narrator decides to follow J to an upstate New York town where he will be completing his degree. She works a bit from home but soon finds herself growing bored by her new life. She invests most of her time delving into American history and interracial relationships. Great chunks of text read as if belonging to a textbook, and in fact, I’d go as far as to say that the author should have either committed to writing a work of fiction or gone for an essay on this subject matter.
The narrative does highlight the sexism and racism our protagonist encounters at work and during her everyday life. In her old job, her managers are unwilling to give her a raise, confuse her with the other Asian American employee, or say inappropriate/racist/sexist things. Our protagonist doesn’t have a personality as such. She’s very much a generic millennial who expresses the typical woes and worries that are bound to arise during a person’s twenties. Her quarter-mid life crisis is a very subdued one. Nothing much happens. She has some awkward encounters or conversations, her boyfriend seems to minimise her experiences with racism (implying that she’s taken something ‘the wrong way’ or that that person ‘meant well’ and other yike-ey stuff like this). She eventually goes to visit her father who lives in China and here the story finally felt a bit more engaging, but sadly this section is rather short and that epilogue killed what little enthusiasm I had for this novel.
The dynamic between her and J was so boring and flat. They are together for reasons beyond me. Our narrator is not particularly likeable, which, if you know my book tastes, is not a problem. However, I do want some sort of personality. And this gal had none. I found her unfunny, uninteresting, and unpleasant. Is she entirely unsympathetic? No. However, she never struck me as a fully-realised person. J is even worse. He’s a white male straight American. That’s more or less his whole character. He was painfully bland. I did not care for him in the least nor was I at any point convinced by his relationship with our mc. I guess they were both boring?
This novel had potential but it very much lacked zing. The author’s sparse prose combined with her insipid character results in a rather underwhelming affair. Add to that those large portions of text that read as if straight from a textbook and there you have it, a snoozefest. The one aspect I did enjoy was our mc’s phone calls to her parents. I ended up rather liking her parents and I found myself wishing that they would play a bigger role in the narrative (the mc also has siblings but they have 0 impact on the story and her character). There were paragraphs or lines now and again that sort of struck a chord with me but they did not make up for the mc's waffling and self-pitying outweighed those few insightful moments.
While I won’t be dissuading anyone from reading this I do feel the need to recommend Edge Case as an alternative. While not perfect it did delve a bit more deeply into the realities of being a woc working in the tech industry. And if you are looking for more books following alienated women in their 20s I have made a list over here.
“Who knows. I could change my mind. It is changing all the time.”
Days of Distraction should have been right up my street. Alas, it turned out not to be the ‘wry’, ‘tender’, and ‘offbeat coming-of-adulthood tale’ its blurb promised it’d be. Our quasi-unnamed narrator is a Chinese American woman in her early twenties who works at a tech publication. Her boyfriend is this generic white guy, who’s aptly enough referred to by just the one letter, J. The prose is plain & dry, the characters are as flat and thin as paper, the storyline is slow and repetitive. The narrator decides to follow J to an upstate New York town where he will be completing his degree. She works a bit from home but soon finds herself growing bored by her new life. She invests most of her time delving into American history and interracial relationships. Great chunks of text read as if belonging to a textbook, and in fact, I’d go as far as to say that the author should have either committed to writing a work of fiction or gone for an essay on this subject matter.
The narrative does highlight the sexism and racism our protagonist encounters at work and during her everyday life. In her old job, her managers are unwilling to give her a raise, confuse her with the other Asian American employee, or say inappropriate/racist/sexist things. Our protagonist doesn’t have a personality as such. She’s very much a generic millennial who expresses the typical woes and worries that are bound to arise during a person’s twenties. Her quarter-mid life crisis is a very subdued one. Nothing much happens. She has some awkward encounters or conversations, her boyfriend seems to minimise her experiences with racism (implying that she’s taken something ‘the wrong way’ or that that person ‘meant well’ and other yike-ey stuff like this). She eventually goes to visit her father who lives in China and here the story finally felt a bit more engaging, but sadly this section is rather short and that epilogue killed what little enthusiasm I had for this novel.
The dynamic between her and J was so boring and flat. They are together for reasons beyond me. Our narrator is not particularly likeable, which, if you know my book tastes, is not a problem. However, I do want some sort of personality. And this gal had none. I found her unfunny, uninteresting, and unpleasant. Is she entirely unsympathetic? No. However, she never struck me as a fully-realised person. J is even worse. He’s a white male straight American. That’s more or less his whole character. He was painfully bland. I did not care for him in the least nor was I at any point convinced by his relationship with our mc. I guess they were both boring?
This novel had potential but it very much lacked zing. The author’s sparse prose combined with her insipid character results in a rather underwhelming affair. Add to that those large portions of text that read as if straight from a textbook and there you have it, a snoozefest. The one aspect I did enjoy was our mc’s phone calls to her parents. I ended up rather liking her parents and I found myself wishing that they would play a bigger role in the narrative (the mc also has siblings but they have 0 impact on the story and her character). There were paragraphs or lines now and again that sort of struck a chord with me but they did not make up for the mc's waffling and self-pitying outweighed those few insightful moments.
While I won’t be dissuading anyone from reading this I do feel the need to recommend Edge Case as an alternative. While not perfect it did delve a bit more deeply into the realities of being a woc working in the tech industry. And if you are looking for more books following alienated women in their 20s I have made a list over here.
April 21, 2020
This book took me a while to read (I kept getting distracted, harhar) - the Asian American narrator is working in a job she is good at but doesn't necessarily like but also has her stuck unable to get a raise - and then she moves across the country with her boyfriend for his grad school. She reflects on the living invisibility of not being white, in the tech world but also in her relationship. She examines the lives of some early Asian immigrants and wonders if she will ever be fully known.
Most of the book is pretty light on plot and while I appreciated the thought piece I'm not sure it worked best as a novel, as everything but the narrator seems peripheral to the point. It moves pretty slowly up until when she visits her father in China and that gives her the chance to think about everything from a removed perspective (and to experience the discomfort of not fitting in where her family comes from either since she was born in California.)
I had a copy from the publisher through Edelweiss; it came out March 31.
Most of the book is pretty light on plot and while I appreciated the thought piece I'm not sure it worked best as a novel, as everything but the narrator seems peripheral to the point. It moves pretty slowly up until when she visits her father in China and that gives her the chance to think about everything from a removed perspective (and to experience the discomfort of not fitting in where her family comes from either since she was born in California.)
I had a copy from the publisher through Edelweiss; it came out March 31.
July 30, 2021
Wow this book makes me feel so seen. Like some things I felt but never knew I felt are actually felt by other people.
It’s a slow-moving book. And I feel like I learned a lot. But as a story it didn’t go very far and I can’t actually say I really liked it.
I would not call it a novel; it kind of reads more like a personal essay on Asian American racism trying to be a novel. There are lots of historical excerpts, which are cool but kind of long-winded. I understand their necessity, but they further remove this book from actually being a novel.
The protagonist/narrator is really bitter. And I suppose as an Asian-American I could get behind her bitterness, but I don’t think the few events of the story are severe enough to justify so much bitter/salty/sourness from her.
I would recommend it for anyone who wants to understand the Asian-American mentality a little better— but that’s about it.
I also am like weirdly frustrated that Chang never discloses the names of the dog and the cat.
It’s a slow-moving book. And I feel like I learned a lot. But as a story it didn’t go very far and I can’t actually say I really liked it.
I would not call it a novel; it kind of reads more like a personal essay on Asian American racism trying to be a novel. There are lots of historical excerpts, which are cool but kind of long-winded. I understand their necessity, but they further remove this book from actually being a novel.
The protagonist/narrator is really bitter. And I suppose as an Asian-American I could get behind her bitterness, but I don’t think the few events of the story are severe enough to justify so much bitter/salty/sourness from her.
I would recommend it for anyone who wants to understand the Asian-American mentality a little better— but that’s about it.
I also am like weirdly frustrated that Chang never discloses the names of the dog and the cat.
June 15, 2024
The final pages of this book were incredible! And so much leading up to the ending had me tabbing particular passages either because of how incredibly relevant they felt as a millennial or how beautifully written they were or how well they crafted the characters' and their interactions.
I love Chang's writing and her worldview. After having read and LOVED her short story collection last year Tomb Sweeping , which was one of my favorite reads of 2024 and one of my favorite short story collections ever, I was eager to go back and read her debut novel from 2020. And I will say if you like her writing then you will like this book like I did.
This story follows a character who is at a crossroads in life. She's a few years out of college, living with her white boyfriend in San Francisco, and working as a tech reporter in the Silicon Valley. This is 2012, and the book really perfectly captures that time and place so well. Instagram and other major social media sites are still in their early days, and pairing that with a post-grad malaise, the story feels extremely relatable.
The title refers to these small snippets of writing the main character files away called 'Distractions' as she reflects on life, her family, her Asian American identity, technology, relationships, home, etc. The entire book chronicles a year or so as she moves cross country with her boyfriend for his graduate studies in New York, leaving behind their homes and families in California. It's about reckoning with change, conflict and growth in your mid-20s.
I felt that some parts of the story dragged a bit for me. As the character is developing a sense of self and examining her life and choices, she uses historical figures and research that she does for her writing to reflect on these issues. And at times I felt there was just a bit too much referenced in the story to other things; full paragraphs or pages of quotes from historical documents, journals, books, etc. that took me out of the story. I think that bit should have been cut back a bit to give the character more of a developing voice. It definitely slowed the pace of the story.
Like I said, the ending was beautiful and I would definitely recommend this to readers who loved Chang's short stories, or those looking for a book about existential dread in the 21st century from a young person's POV. I can't wait to see what Chang writes next! I'm eagerly following her career.
I love Chang's writing and her worldview. After having read and LOVED her short story collection last year Tomb Sweeping , which was one of my favorite reads of 2024 and one of my favorite short story collections ever, I was eager to go back and read her debut novel from 2020. And I will say if you like her writing then you will like this book like I did.
This story follows a character who is at a crossroads in life. She's a few years out of college, living with her white boyfriend in San Francisco, and working as a tech reporter in the Silicon Valley. This is 2012, and the book really perfectly captures that time and place so well. Instagram and other major social media sites are still in their early days, and pairing that with a post-grad malaise, the story feels extremely relatable.
The title refers to these small snippets of writing the main character files away called 'Distractions' as she reflects on life, her family, her Asian American identity, technology, relationships, home, etc. The entire book chronicles a year or so as she moves cross country with her boyfriend for his graduate studies in New York, leaving behind their homes and families in California. It's about reckoning with change, conflict and growth in your mid-20s.
I felt that some parts of the story dragged a bit for me. As the character is developing a sense of self and examining her life and choices, she uses historical figures and research that she does for her writing to reflect on these issues. And at times I felt there was just a bit too much referenced in the story to other things; full paragraphs or pages of quotes from historical documents, journals, books, etc. that took me out of the story. I think that bit should have been cut back a bit to give the character more of a developing voice. It definitely slowed the pace of the story.
Like I said, the ending was beautiful and I would definitely recommend this to readers who loved Chang's short stories, or those looking for a book about existential dread in the 21st century from a young person's POV. I can't wait to see what Chang writes next! I'm eagerly following her career.
April 23, 2020
Days of Distraction captures that time in life when you’re kind of settled in your job and start wondering how and why you got there. A cross-country move with a long-term partner makes the narrator start to analyze her life more, focusing on the cultural aspects of her mixed-race relationship, her parents’ relationship, and what really matters to her. There is not a lot of action here, but I enjoyed following along as the narrator tried to sort out these big life puzzles.
October 8, 2020
A series of meta-fragments held loosely together by a voyage-and-return plot, Days of Distraction moves quietly, unobtrusively through the months of the narrator's life — from her soulless job as a tech reporter in Silicon Valley to Ithaca, New York, where her boyfriend is beginning graduate school, to China, where her father lives a small, lonely life, estranged from his American family.
Jing Jing, who longs to be a creative writer, doesn't fit in with her gadget-and-social-media obsessed millennial colleagues. As a Chinese-American, she is marginalized by omnipresent racism and struggles with what it means to have a White boyfriend. Her identity crisis becomes acute during her stay in China. She has lost the language of her immigrant parents and must rely on her father, with whom she has tenuous relationship, for guidance and translation.
The complexity of theme, the lovely writing, and the intense self-awareness of the narrator make this a notable read, if not a particularly engaging or memorable one. The reader is held at arm's length by the cool and distant tone and the navel-gazing deliberation of the narrative. I felt I was reading a story drained of all color and warmth.
Jing Jing, who longs to be a creative writer, doesn't fit in with her gadget-and-social-media obsessed millennial colleagues. As a Chinese-American, she is marginalized by omnipresent racism and struggles with what it means to have a White boyfriend. Her identity crisis becomes acute during her stay in China. She has lost the language of her immigrant parents and must rely on her father, with whom she has tenuous relationship, for guidance and translation.
The complexity of theme, the lovely writing, and the intense self-awareness of the narrator make this a notable read, if not a particularly engaging or memorable one. The reader is held at arm's length by the cool and distant tone and the navel-gazing deliberation of the narrative. I felt I was reading a story drained of all color and warmth.
August 28, 2019
This is really a wonderful book. I would say it is a “quiet” book, but that’s true only on the surface. Nothing big happens: there are no deaths, no global disasters, no terminal diseases. But under the surface of the relatively mundane plot, we get to experience the main character’s richly complex internal and interpersonal relationships, as well as the external forces operating on both.
In this context, Ms. Chang’s strength is using straightforward prose to convey this turmoil. She doesn’t try to shout down injustice or prejudice or ignorance. Instead, she holds examples up for the reader to view, which is far more engrossing.
One thing in particular I really appreciated about this story is the narrator’s relationship with “J.” It is a warm, loving relationship, treated tenderly, without sentimentality. It is a relationship I wanted to spend hundreds of pages in. The relationship is not conflict-free–the couple’s closeness raises issues for the narrator to contend with–but it was refreshing to spend time with characters who want to work things out.
Structurally, the book reminded me of Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli. There is also an extended section with the narrator’s father, and Ms. Chang’s adeptness at conveying his personality through dialogue reminded me of The Dog of the South by Charles Portis.
Other reviewers will give more details abut the plot, and maybe even better literary references. I would just summarize by saying this novel is very readable–even though the themes are anything but lightweight–and would recommend it to anyone I know.
In this context, Ms. Chang’s strength is using straightforward prose to convey this turmoil. She doesn’t try to shout down injustice or prejudice or ignorance. Instead, she holds examples up for the reader to view, which is far more engrossing.
One thing in particular I really appreciated about this story is the narrator’s relationship with “J.” It is a warm, loving relationship, treated tenderly, without sentimentality. It is a relationship I wanted to spend hundreds of pages in. The relationship is not conflict-free–the couple’s closeness raises issues for the narrator to contend with–but it was refreshing to spend time with characters who want to work things out.
Structurally, the book reminded me of Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli. There is also an extended section with the narrator’s father, and Ms. Chang’s adeptness at conveying his personality through dialogue reminded me of The Dog of the South by Charles Portis.
Other reviewers will give more details abut the plot, and maybe even better literary references. I would just summarize by saying this novel is very readable–even though the themes are anything but lightweight–and would recommend it to anyone I know.
April 27, 2020
Days of Distraction is Alexandra Chang’s debut novel that explores the life of a Chinese-American millennial living and working in San Francisco as a Tech Writer. She is at a point in her life where she needs to make decision, do she continue working as a Tech Writer even though she is underappreciated, not well paid, the office politics and racial tension is a lot to handle. Or, does she jump at the chance to make a fresh start with her boyfriend who is a PHD student looking to start a new programme. She goes between the two choices, weighing the pros and cons, getting feedback from her family, especially her mother and father.
In Days of Distraction Chang does an impeccable job of showing what life is like for a Chinese American, the racial tension, the cultural references that are all wrong, how people generally treat Chinese. At one point in the book the protagonist asked the question to herself Have I made myself this accommodating? A harmless vessel for their confusion and rage? They must see me as soft and small and unthreatening, because I have never suggested otherwise. . We see how the character tries to stand up for herself, to carve out a path but there is always some opposition.
I LOVED the writing in this book. The characters are fully formed and they STICK with you. Chang writes from a place of knowledge with soo much insight.
I strongly recommend this read!
What I learned reading this book
Also, it isn’t “shoe in,” it’s “shoo-in” as in to shoo somebody in a certain direction.
June 23, 2020
I'm very down the middle with this one. I think it started off pretty strong since it followed what the book advertise—a Chinese American woman in SF who's a tech writer. She's trying to advocate for herself in a white-dominated space while dealing with her white boyfriend's decision to go to grad school. They end up uprooting their lives and moving to Ithaca, New York so he can go to Cornell.
Up until the point they actually got to Ithaca—the SF section and the cross country road trip section—it was pretty interesting and felt very modern. I liked the freshness of the writing style; it reads like a Refinery29 thinkpiece.
However, once we get to Ithaca, the third section is loooong and gets monotonous as she is home most of the time, being really sour and antisocial. It deals with some interesting questions that I've definitely thought of before: are we as Asian women selling ourselves by dating outside our race, especially with white men? What's it like to be visibly Asian but to not know the language or not be raised in a traditional Asian household?
Towards the second half there were a lot more quotes from old journals and books about Asian women, especially Kin Yamei, who was the first ASAM woman to graduate as a doctor from an American university I believe. It seemed Chung wanted to parallel her own growth to Yamei's, but it ended up being really anticlimactic since she definitely wasn't as outgoing as Yamei.
I hadn't read the book's description in a while, so I kept asking myself while reading, "Wait, is this a memoir? Is this fiction? I'm confused?" And the ending was kinda just ?????? Like, what was the point of Rob?
I think it tried to have the same tone as an indie movie like "Lost In Translation," where the ending is open-ended and kinda just fades out, but like that movie, not much really climaxes during the actual story. So it's not bad and was actually pretty relatable? But it was kinda underwhelming?
Up until the point they actually got to Ithaca—the SF section and the cross country road trip section—it was pretty interesting and felt very modern. I liked the freshness of the writing style; it reads like a Refinery29 thinkpiece.
However, once we get to Ithaca, the third section is loooong and gets monotonous as she is home most of the time, being really sour and antisocial. It deals with some interesting questions that I've definitely thought of before: are we as Asian women selling ourselves by dating outside our race, especially with white men? What's it like to be visibly Asian but to not know the language or not be raised in a traditional Asian household?
Towards the second half there were a lot more quotes from old journals and books about Asian women, especially Kin Yamei, who was the first ASAM woman to graduate as a doctor from an American university I believe. It seemed Chung wanted to parallel her own growth to Yamei's, but it ended up being really anticlimactic since she definitely wasn't as outgoing as Yamei.
I hadn't read the book's description in a while, so I kept asking myself while reading, "Wait, is this a memoir? Is this fiction? I'm confused?" And the ending was kinda just ?????? Like, what was the point of Rob?
I think it tried to have the same tone as an indie movie like "Lost In Translation," where the ending is open-ended and kinda just fades out, but like that movie, not much really climaxes during the actual story. So it's not bad and was actually pretty relatable? But it was kinda underwhelming?
September 9, 2021
This whole book just has five chapters in total. It felt like words got dumped carelessly. Maybe I am sleep deprived and so every little thing is putting me off at the moment.
July 9, 2020
This is a deeply Asian American tale - professional invisibility (the so-called "bamboo ceiling"), pervy old men encounters, random microaggressions from well-intentioned liberal strangers in coffee shops + loving white boyfriend's subsequent confusion as to why the aforementioned coffee shop encounter is perceived as a negative experience - whole sequences of this novel could have been ripped from the pages of many an Asian American diary.
In addition, this is a distinctly Chinese American story - finally, we get a Chinese family dynamic that's not the well-trod conflict of protag's "American" dreams vs. parental Old Country aspirations (Zzzz). Our families are often messy in off-kilter, hard-to-explain ways, and this book courageously dives right into that chaos. In addition, the awkward moments depicted when the Shanghainese-speaking protagonist has to explain to a perplexed Chinese stranger that she cannot, in fact, speak Mandarin - you're telling my life, Alexandra Chang! Once, I gently interrupted a shopkeeper's initially friendly barrage of Mandarin to explain that I only speak Cantonese before quickly scurrying away - she mused aloud, half to my retreating back and half to herself, "What kind of Chinese person can't speak Mandarin?" I was both pleased that I'd caught that much, and deflated, because it hit true: what kind of Chinese person am I? This book is largely about existing inside that question.
Despite a multitude of high points, I admired this novel more than I actually enjoyed reading it. My pandemic "cooped up with kids for months now" focus-addled brain is a bowl of warmed over jello as is; this book, with its constant subject hopping, disarray-by-design, was like wading in a pool of my own mental mush. While there's an undeniable Art to how Chang composed and arranged this work (I picture her workspace during the writing of this novel as something akin to the stock image of the unhealthily obsessed federal agent's wall map, with the many tributaries of multicolored string denoting each crime family's cappo), something about the narrative flow never stopped bordering on self-indulgent to my reading sensibility. You, the reader, have to agree to go with along with Chang to all the places (and there are a great many), and trust every destination is worthwhile. While that's essentially what reading is, a trust exercise between reader and author, the "Here, There, suddenly... Everywhere!" way of telling this story means Chang is basically asking me to take a new leap of faith every few pages, often while I was still trying to process the previous one. In addition, she leaves the reader at each juncture's mini-denouement without explanation - you're left to draw your own conclusions as to why you were taken there, to an old article about early Chinese immigrants in the time of Chinese Exclusion, or to excerpts from an Asian American chatroom where all the participants are criticizing Asian women who date white men. While drawing my own conclusions is my default preference, every few pages in a new direction + hazy closing starts feeling like actual work. Nevertheless, I'm in awe of what Chang has pulled off, because her uncompromising narrative provides an ingenious contrast to the Model Minority passivity of the main character; put another way, this story, about a protagonist who appears the very epitome of a Model Minority, is delivered within a structure that strenuously opposes Model Minority compliance. It's hard not to admire the heck out of Chang's storyteller grit.
I read this book while being constantly bombarded with headlines about mounting anti-Asian sentiment due to coronavirus panic, and politicians capitalizing on said hysteria... reading something so affirmative to the experience of being a 1st generation Chinese American woman, knowing that we have another voice among us who intimately understands the absurdity, disbelief, and exhaustion that comes from inhabiting the strange position we Asian Americans occupy in this country, a writer who can convert the madness of contradictions into intelligent, thoughtful rebellion, was both comforting and galvanizing... I'm all in for the next one, though my hope is that we abandon the wall map for the second go (or at the very least, use a few less strings).
In addition, this is a distinctly Chinese American story - finally, we get a Chinese family dynamic that's not the well-trod conflict of protag's "American" dreams vs. parental Old Country aspirations (Zzzz). Our families are often messy in off-kilter, hard-to-explain ways, and this book courageously dives right into that chaos. In addition, the awkward moments depicted when the Shanghainese-speaking protagonist has to explain to a perplexed Chinese stranger that she cannot, in fact, speak Mandarin - you're telling my life, Alexandra Chang! Once, I gently interrupted a shopkeeper's initially friendly barrage of Mandarin to explain that I only speak Cantonese before quickly scurrying away - she mused aloud, half to my retreating back and half to herself, "What kind of Chinese person can't speak Mandarin?" I was both pleased that I'd caught that much, and deflated, because it hit true: what kind of Chinese person am I? This book is largely about existing inside that question.
Despite a multitude of high points, I admired this novel more than I actually enjoyed reading it. My pandemic "cooped up with kids for months now" focus-addled brain is a bowl of warmed over jello as is; this book, with its constant subject hopping, disarray-by-design, was like wading in a pool of my own mental mush. While there's an undeniable Art to how Chang composed and arranged this work (I picture her workspace during the writing of this novel as something akin to the stock image of the unhealthily obsessed federal agent's wall map, with the many tributaries of multicolored string denoting each crime family's cappo), something about the narrative flow never stopped bordering on self-indulgent to my reading sensibility. You, the reader, have to agree to go with along with Chang to all the places (and there are a great many), and trust every destination is worthwhile. While that's essentially what reading is, a trust exercise between reader and author, the "Here, There, suddenly... Everywhere!" way of telling this story means Chang is basically asking me to take a new leap of faith every few pages, often while I was still trying to process the previous one. In addition, she leaves the reader at each juncture's mini-denouement without explanation - you're left to draw your own conclusions as to why you were taken there, to an old article about early Chinese immigrants in the time of Chinese Exclusion, or to excerpts from an Asian American chatroom where all the participants are criticizing Asian women who date white men. While drawing my own conclusions is my default preference, every few pages in a new direction + hazy closing starts feeling like actual work. Nevertheless, I'm in awe of what Chang has pulled off, because her uncompromising narrative provides an ingenious contrast to the Model Minority passivity of the main character; put another way, this story, about a protagonist who appears the very epitome of a Model Minority, is delivered within a structure that strenuously opposes Model Minority compliance. It's hard not to admire the heck out of Chang's storyteller grit.
I read this book while being constantly bombarded with headlines about mounting anti-Asian sentiment due to coronavirus panic, and politicians capitalizing on said hysteria... reading something so affirmative to the experience of being a 1st generation Chinese American woman, knowing that we have another voice among us who intimately understands the absurdity, disbelief, and exhaustion that comes from inhabiting the strange position we Asian Americans occupy in this country, a writer who can convert the madness of contradictions into intelligent, thoughtful rebellion, was both comforting and galvanizing... I'm all in for the next one, though my hope is that we abandon the wall map for the second go (or at the very least, use a few less strings).
June 19, 2020
This book put a lot of thoughts that I've been having onto the page, but not to a satisfying conclusion. I want to love this book, to make it my new Holy Grail, but instead I am just slightly disappointed. I'm glad to read these thoughts that I'm thinking on the page — the discomfort of listening to a white man speak better Mandarin than me, the frustration of talking to someone who can never, never understand and makes no effort to try — but the narrator left me so close to angry. Maybe at her; maybe at myself. She had a sort of passivity and insecurity and sadness rolled into each other that was too close to pathetic for my liking, and maybe too familiar for my liking.
I want to love this book for putting words to the thoughts swirling in my head, but I wish that it didn't have to be through someone so unhappy, so dependent, so scared. I want a narrator who is comfortable with their heritage and their identity, or who struggles with it because they want to celebrate it, someone who puts themselves first and knows why that's important. I don't think we have to be small and scared and quiet to have these thoughts — we can be confident and strong and confused, too.
I want to love this book for putting words to the thoughts swirling in my head, but I wish that it didn't have to be through someone so unhappy, so dependent, so scared. I want a narrator who is comfortable with their heritage and their identity, or who struggles with it because they want to celebrate it, someone who puts themselves first and knows why that's important. I don't think we have to be small and scared and quiet to have these thoughts — we can be confident and strong and confused, too.
November 15, 2019
Searching, wise, honest, beautiful. A novel that lingers, with characters that feel so whole.
January 1, 2024
trebalo je da je završim juče i da mi ova dvojka ostane u 2023. čitalačkoj godini, ali šta ćeš
August 18, 2019
What a funny, energetic, and insightful read. This is the relationship novel for our alienated age. Chang shows us a young Chinese American woman who, as she leaves behind her tech-reporter job in San Francisco for unknowns in upstate New York, struggles to define herself as an individual to her white boyfriend, to her co-workers, to her family, to herself, and must decide what is worth loving at a time when nothing feels real. I’d recommend this to anyone who wants to read a book that feels very now.
People who liked Offill’s Dept. of Speculation and Khong’s Goodbye, Vitamin will want to read this, as it also has that same literary-yet-accessible vibe. Also, because of the narrator’s darkly funny wit, I often thought of Renata Adler’s Speedboat. For example, one of many great lines: “I’ve seen Mark Zuckerberg a few times in person, but never close enough to examine the pores in his skin or the pupils of his eyes, so I’m not certain he has either.”
Some random stuff…The fragmented structure is smooth and propulsive. The dialogue has such rhythm to it. And the politics of the book are complicated, never reductive.
People who liked Offill’s Dept. of Speculation and Khong’s Goodbye, Vitamin will want to read this, as it also has that same literary-yet-accessible vibe. Also, because of the narrator’s darkly funny wit, I often thought of Renata Adler’s Speedboat. For example, one of many great lines: “I’ve seen Mark Zuckerberg a few times in person, but never close enough to examine the pores in his skin or the pupils of his eyes, so I’m not certain he has either.”
Some random stuff…The fragmented structure is smooth and propulsive. The dialogue has such rhythm to it. And the politics of the book are complicated, never reductive.
April 2, 2020
I give Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang my highest recommendation. This book explores topics of race, work, love, and family as experienced by young people today. It is funny and thoughtful and thought provoking. It would make a great book club selection as it is a perfect conversational base for so many important topics of our time. It’s a compelling read, I devoured it in one big gulp.
April 16, 2023
→ 3.5 ☆
it was a lovely read on a rainy & slow day. it had such an odd formatting; it's written in paragraphs. it has chapters, but within the chapters it's divided paragraphs. it was so odd, but it made it so much quicker to read. it's only about 300 pages as well, so it's a quick read. well, it should've been. it's slice of life, and you're reading about the main character's life as she's navigating adulthood. i mostly read it when it was rainy or i felt in the mood to read it. so, it did end up taking ME a while. not bad at all, though. i picked it up because of the cover, to be honest. i really liked the cover.
mwah,
alayla. 📖
“the tea bag says: the purpose of life is to know yourself, to love yourself, to trust yourself, to be yourself.
by when is one meant to achieve this purpose?”
it was a lovely read on a rainy & slow day. it had such an odd formatting; it's written in paragraphs. it has chapters, but within the chapters it's divided paragraphs. it was so odd, but it made it so much quicker to read. it's only about 300 pages as well, so it's a quick read. well, it should've been. it's slice of life, and you're reading about the main character's life as she's navigating adulthood. i mostly read it when it was rainy or i felt in the mood to read it. so, it did end up taking ME a while. not bad at all, though. i picked it up because of the cover, to be honest. i really liked the cover.
mwah,
alayla. 📖
May 19, 2020
I have some conflicted feelings about this book. While I think it captures the existential dread of a quarter life crisis really well, and I think it contains important conversations about microaggressions and racism, and about existing as an Asian-American person in America and in Asia, I didn't really connect to the narrator and I found all of the secondary characters to be annoying (granted, Greta Jung's voices for these characters might have played a big part in that). I also couldn't tell if this was supposed to be a fictionalized version of Chang's life - at one point J calls the narrator (previously only called Jingjing) "Alexandra" which happens to be the author's name - and I wished it was either just a novel or just her memoir and not both in one. The story is also very meandering and untethered, but that is the point, but at some times I felt like the story was dragging. I did enjoy all of the quotes and examination of Asian people in mixed race relationships sprinkled throughout the book and thought it all tied in very well.
Overall, this book wasn't a style that suited me, but I did enjoy certain parts of it.
Overall, this book wasn't a style that suited me, but I did enjoy certain parts of it.
May 29, 2020
"It is difficult to parse which parts of me come from my family, from being Chinese, from being Asian American, from being American, from being a woman, from being of a certain generation, and from, simply, being."
TW: racism, sexism, xenophobia, mentions of suicide, mentions of abuse
I’m telling you this fair and square: without the audiobook, I would never in a million years have finished this book.
And not because of the topics or the characters or the writing style (which, all three were incredible and outstanding), but because the chapters where so long my slug-brain would have refused to continue reading, and because the way this book was formatted made for an unquestionably alienating experience.
Days of Distraction was a coming-of-adulthood tale; it was personal and intimate. Plot wise, nothing much happened as the majority of the novel centered around the main character’s internal observations and reflections.
In fact, the whole story was narrated not in a linear, plot-based way, but it was more based on snippets and highlights of the main character’s life.
The narrative jumped around a lot. It felt anecdotal, with some excerpts from various articles or books the main character was reading, mixed in with every day life and deep, personal thoughts and fears.
It was like hearing somebody’s random thoughts, their murmurs and ramblings and inner monologues; jumping from one topic to the other without any kind of context or connection – no rhyme nor reason.
I mean, the connection was there: there was a slight plot, there was (the majority of the time) a linkage between the various thoughts. Indeed, what truly pushed the story forward was the inner struggle of the main character. But it still felt rather alienating and I felt like a stranger, detached from it all.
And I have to admit that at times I was slightly overwhelmed and also slightly confused.
Do not get me wrong.
I actually found absurdly interesting and insightful following the main character’s mind. Mainly because of a move from San Francisco to upstate New York, she started questioning everything even more than she already used to do.
Literally everything.
Her culture, her personality, her dreams, her choices, her job, her relationships, her family.
Her race. Her entire identity.
She also wondered how she acted in and reacted to American society. She thought about her identity within a society that does not realise she even exists.
How her identity as a Chinese-American, her race and her beliefs are perceived and seen by the others. But also by herself.
She questioned racism and her own personal choices and action concerning racism. The micro aggressions and misunderstanding and fights she had to live through because of her benevolent white boyfriend – who simply does not understand.
She wondered what the hell is she doing and what she wants to achieve and where she wants to go, what she wants to do, why she wants what she wants.
She wants thing to change, but doesn’t know how.
Her fears, doubts, insecurities and questions were incredibly relatable. And for as much as I found the format of the book alienating and sometimes tiring, I also found the rambling and messiness of the book to be perfectly appropriate and understandable. The format mirrored the main character’s frantic thoughts and research for answers.
It mirrored her fears regarding her race and her place in the white America.
Witnessing her struggle with who she was, what she was, how she was and why she was, was insightful, relatable, impressive.
The main topics were race, racism, interracial relationships, xenophobia, privileges, whiteness, sexism and identity. But there was also a commentary on belonging, immigration, politics, family dynamics, culture and tradition.
All handled wonderfully, all incredibly powerful and full of passion.
On the other end, though,I thought the passion and power were lacking specifically towards the end. Moment in which the story dragged quite a lot and everything ended in what I felt was a bit anticlimactic and pointless way. The ending made me question the whole sense of the book and somewhat made me think that there was no point in me reading the book since the results, the outcomes felt useless. The ending made everything feel a bit useless.
Moral of the story, though: for as much as I appreciated all the aspects singularly, all together this book was too much for my inferior slug-brain.
The plot was challenging but at times too much so. The writing style was engaging but also alienating. The handled topics were poignant and powerful but I was also massively overwhelmed by them.
Days of Distraction surely proved me one (1) thing: I am just too stupid to fully comprehend and appreciate the depth of some books. And Days of Distraction is one of those books.
"The tea bag says: The purpose of life is to know yourself, to love yourself, to trust yourself, to be yourself.
By when is one meant to achieve this purpose?"
TW: racism, sexism, xenophobia, mentions of suicide, mentions of abuse
I’m telling you this fair and square: without the audiobook, I would never in a million years have finished this book.
And not because of the topics or the characters or the writing style (which, all three were incredible and outstanding), but because the chapters where so long my slug-brain would have refused to continue reading, and because the way this book was formatted made for an unquestionably alienating experience.
Days of Distraction was a coming-of-adulthood tale; it was personal and intimate. Plot wise, nothing much happened as the majority of the novel centered around the main character’s internal observations and reflections.
In fact, the whole story was narrated not in a linear, plot-based way, but it was more based on snippets and highlights of the main character’s life.
The narrative jumped around a lot. It felt anecdotal, with some excerpts from various articles or books the main character was reading, mixed in with every day life and deep, personal thoughts and fears.
It was like hearing somebody’s random thoughts, their murmurs and ramblings and inner monologues; jumping from one topic to the other without any kind of context or connection – no rhyme nor reason.
I mean, the connection was there: there was a slight plot, there was (the majority of the time) a linkage between the various thoughts. Indeed, what truly pushed the story forward was the inner struggle of the main character. But it still felt rather alienating and I felt like a stranger, detached from it all.
And I have to admit that at times I was slightly overwhelmed and also slightly confused.
Do not get me wrong.
I actually found absurdly interesting and insightful following the main character’s mind. Mainly because of a move from San Francisco to upstate New York, she started questioning everything even more than she already used to do.
Literally everything.
Her culture, her personality, her dreams, her choices, her job, her relationships, her family.
Her race. Her entire identity.
She also wondered how she acted in and reacted to American society. She thought about her identity within a society that does not realise she even exists.
How her identity as a Chinese-American, her race and her beliefs are perceived and seen by the others. But also by herself.
She questioned racism and her own personal choices and action concerning racism. The micro aggressions and misunderstanding and fights she had to live through because of her benevolent white boyfriend – who simply does not understand.
She wondered what the hell is she doing and what she wants to achieve and where she wants to go, what she wants to do, why she wants what she wants.
She wants thing to change, but doesn’t know how.
Her fears, doubts, insecurities and questions were incredibly relatable. And for as much as I found the format of the book alienating and sometimes tiring, I also found the rambling and messiness of the book to be perfectly appropriate and understandable. The format mirrored the main character’s frantic thoughts and research for answers.
It mirrored her fears regarding her race and her place in the white America.
Witnessing her struggle with who she was, what she was, how she was and why she was, was insightful, relatable, impressive.
The main topics were race, racism, interracial relationships, xenophobia, privileges, whiteness, sexism and identity. But there was also a commentary on belonging, immigration, politics, family dynamics, culture and tradition.
All handled wonderfully, all incredibly powerful and full of passion.
On the other end, though,I thought the passion and power were lacking specifically towards the end. Moment in which the story dragged quite a lot and everything ended in what I felt was a bit anticlimactic and pointless way. The ending made me question the whole sense of the book and somewhat made me think that there was no point in me reading the book since the results, the outcomes felt useless. The ending made everything feel a bit useless.
Moral of the story, though: for as much as I appreciated all the aspects singularly, all together this book was too much for my inferior slug-brain.
The plot was challenging but at times too much so. The writing style was engaging but also alienating. The handled topics were poignant and powerful but I was also massively overwhelmed by them.
Days of Distraction surely proved me one (1) thing: I am just too stupid to fully comprehend and appreciate the depth of some books. And Days of Distraction is one of those books.
"The tea bag says: The purpose of life is to know yourself, to love yourself, to trust yourself, to be yourself.
By when is one meant to achieve this purpose?"
January 8, 2020
Such a graceful, stylish & totally absorbing novel. It worked on me so quickly that I hardly realized I was inhaling the book, as though the struggles brought up here— of disillusionment, freedom, self-possession, loneliness— had become as intoxicating to take in as a drug. Ostensibly about a young Chinese-American woman moving cross country along with her white boyfriend (who is entering a PhD program) the book quickly develops into a witty deliberation on the negotiation of political context in developing personal history, the pitfalls of interracial love, and the search for a livable self amid a wasteland of "well-meaning" racists and demeaning work prospects. This was so good, and I hope it finds as wide a readership as it deserves.
March 16, 2020
The digital arc of this book was kindly provided by the publisher via Edelweiss+ website in exchange for an honest review.
3,75 stars
I quite liked this book, especially the first part of it that is set in San-Francisco. The writing was good, I even highlighted some nice quotes and sayings. But after some time, the main character started to grate on my nerves a lot, I understood her concerns and struggles or at least tried to, but she was being such a negative Nancy and at some point, I didn't want to read about her anymore. However, I understand that I'm not this books's primary reading audience so if you think you're - then you might enjoy this novel a lot more.
3,75 stars
I quite liked this book, especially the first part of it that is set in San-Francisco. The writing was good, I even highlighted some nice quotes and sayings. But after some time, the main character started to grate on my nerves a lot, I understood her concerns and struggles or at least tried to, but she was being such a negative Nancy and at some point, I didn't want to read about her anymore. However, I understand that I'm not this books's primary reading audience so if you think you're - then you might enjoy this novel a lot more.
Want to read
March 10, 2020March 10, 2020:
✔ a perfect blend of humour and sincerity
✔ complexities of the Asian-American life as seen today
✔ observations on race, technology, and relationships
✔ highly acclaimed debut novel
Mentioned on the blog: Fanticipating Reads of March 2020 | Five Under-Hyped Diverse Books To Look Out For This Month
✔ a perfect blend of humour and sincerity
✔ complexities of the Asian-American life as seen today
✔ observations on race, technology, and relationships
✔ highly acclaimed debut novel
Mentioned on the blog: Fanticipating Reads of March 2020 | Five Under-Hyped Diverse Books To Look Out For This Month
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