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Chinese Prodigal: A Memoir in Eight Arguments
From an exciting and sharp-voiced new observer of American culture, a forthright and probing debut exploring Asian American identity in a racially codified country After his father’s passing in 2019, David Shih sought to unravel the underlying tensions that defined the complex relationship between him and his parents. Ultimately, this forced a reckoning with the expectations he encountered as the only son of Chinese immigrants, and with the realities of what it means to be Asian in a de facto segregated country. At a moment when anti-Asian racism is increasingly overt, Chinese Prodigal is a work of rare subtlety, offering a new vocabulary for understanding a racial hierarchy too often conceived as binary. In public life and in Shih’s own, “Asian Americanness” has changed shape constantly, directed by the needs of the country’s racial imaginary. A sliding scale, visibility for Asians in America has always been relative to the meanings of white and Black. A memoir in essays, Chinese Prodigal examines the emergence of “Asian American” identity in a post–Civil Rights America in the wake of Vincent Chin’s death. Shih guides us through the roles offered to Asian Americans to play, whether a model minority, a collaborator in the carceral state, or a plaintiff in the right-wing effort to dismantle affirmative action, illuminating what these issues have to teach us about American values and about the vexed place Asians and Asian Americans inhabit today. And mining his own experiences—from his failures of filiality to his negotiations within an interracial marriage—Shih masterfully captures the intimate costs of becoming an American. Chinese Prodigal knits together the personal, the historical, and the present, offering an incisive examination of a society and the people it has never made space for. It is a moving testimony of a son, father, and citizen stepping outside the identities imposed on him.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published August 15, 2023
24 people are currently reading
2809 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
March 13, 2024
Familiar with many events described in the book but couldn't get into it somehow. The mix of memoir and commentary in this book didn't work out well for me. Was very glad when I got to the final page😁
2023
October 16, 2025ANHPI TBR
Memoir March TBR
Non-fiction November TBR
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Atlantic Monthly Press
Memoir March TBR
Non-fiction November TBR
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Atlantic Monthly Press
February 15, 2023
rated: 4 stars
its a bit strange to be writing a review where there isn't a single other person's review to rely on, but i guess that means that all the thoughts im putting down are truly my own. it took me a while to wade through this book, but i definitely think it was well worth the read. stories about regular people are always more compelling to me in their reminders that everyone around me have complex lives that could fill a book with the stories they have, and this was no exception.
i felt this book had value to my learning in understanding the model minority myth in america and the way that Asian and Asian-American people fit in american society. i am not american, and could not be further from it, but in australia where I am there is a lesser version of this model minority existing. shih has a heavy literary perspective on this and his experience in teaching shines through in the book. at times it almost scolded readers who did not engage critically with other literature, including scolding himself for his own past in that same area, which created the strong inference that you as the reader needed to be engaging critically with him.
his discussion about his father was my favourite part of the novel. it was so interesting to read how much distance there was and wasn't at times, and how growing up in different countries and ultimately them having the same goal of making a better life for themselves and then their families played out in such different ways.
the only thing about the book that i didn't quite get was what the eight arguments were. i don't think this detracted from my enjoyment of the book, but i struggled to pick out a thesis statement or a question about what each chapter was specifically trying to answer. without the subheading in the title of the book though, i don't think i would have ever thought about trying to pick out arguments without that heading, but also i think maybe i was oversimplifying the broader points about what shih was trying to say.
nonetheless, an interesting read and a compelling debut, simply about the way that racism has infiltrated every level and life in america and how in my opinion everyday people have the strongest perspectives on this era of history.
its a bit strange to be writing a review where there isn't a single other person's review to rely on, but i guess that means that all the thoughts im putting down are truly my own. it took me a while to wade through this book, but i definitely think it was well worth the read. stories about regular people are always more compelling to me in their reminders that everyone around me have complex lives that could fill a book with the stories they have, and this was no exception.
i felt this book had value to my learning in understanding the model minority myth in america and the way that Asian and Asian-American people fit in american society. i am not american, and could not be further from it, but in australia where I am there is a lesser version of this model minority existing. shih has a heavy literary perspective on this and his experience in teaching shines through in the book. at times it almost scolded readers who did not engage critically with other literature, including scolding himself for his own past in that same area, which created the strong inference that you as the reader needed to be engaging critically with him.
his discussion about his father was my favourite part of the novel. it was so interesting to read how much distance there was and wasn't at times, and how growing up in different countries and ultimately them having the same goal of making a better life for themselves and then their families played out in such different ways.
the only thing about the book that i didn't quite get was what the eight arguments were. i don't think this detracted from my enjoyment of the book, but i struggled to pick out a thesis statement or a question about what each chapter was specifically trying to answer. without the subheading in the title of the book though, i don't think i would have ever thought about trying to pick out arguments without that heading, but also i think maybe i was oversimplifying the broader points about what shih was trying to say.
nonetheless, an interesting read and a compelling debut, simply about the way that racism has infiltrated every level and life in america and how in my opinion everyday people have the strongest perspectives on this era of history.
June 14, 2023
This was an incredibly thought provoking read about the Asian American identity and experience. As a fellow Gen Xer, the author encapsulated many identity issues we faced back in the 80s, but didn't quite have the language to articulate what the issues were, just the gut feeling that something wasn't right. And, linking experiences to current times as well as other authors' works, was extremely effective. And younger Asian Americans will get a better understanding as to why older AAs took a bit longer to realizing how they fit in this country. This is why reading critically and seeing yourself in pages is so important. Readers of Cathy Park Hong and Julia Lee should read this book.
I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.
I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.
April 22, 2023
Chinese Prodigal is a memoir in a series of essays by David Shih, an Asian American literature professor at the University of Wisconsin. Shih recounts his childhood growing up in the Dallas suburb to immigrant parents from Hong Kong, and the formative years of his life making sense of his identity as an Asian American in the wake of Vincent Chin’s racially motivated murder.
"To be Asian in this country and learn about Vincent Chin was to find out that you were related to someone you’d never met before. Our kinship didn’t trace back to Asia, to any custom or language we might be assumed to share. It could be born here. What Vincent Chin and I had in common as Asian Americans was our vulnerability in America."
Every immigrant parent has their own way of shielding their children from their own fear of being an outsider. Shih’s father, Shih later learned only after his death, decided not to teach Shih and his sister Chinese because “[his father] hoped to spare him the same fear he had speaking English, to smash that fear…leaving not a single trace of the country in our syntax or idioms.”
A cultural and historical discussion of what it means to be Asian American, Shih’s memoir complicates the often binary discussion on race and racial identities. Along with his own exploration of his identity as a son and a father in a country that does not make enough space for people like him, Shih’s writing is reflective with a subtle heaviness and sadness to it. Reading his memoir has been a rare literary treat and has given me a lot to think about. He is a literature professor, after all.
Thank you, NetGalley and GroveAtlantic, for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
"To be Asian in this country and learn about Vincent Chin was to find out that you were related to someone you’d never met before. Our kinship didn’t trace back to Asia, to any custom or language we might be assumed to share. It could be born here. What Vincent Chin and I had in common as Asian Americans was our vulnerability in America."
Every immigrant parent has their own way of shielding their children from their own fear of being an outsider. Shih’s father, Shih later learned only after his death, decided not to teach Shih and his sister Chinese because “[his father] hoped to spare him the same fear he had speaking English, to smash that fear…leaving not a single trace of the country in our syntax or idioms.”
A cultural and historical discussion of what it means to be Asian American, Shih’s memoir complicates the often binary discussion on race and racial identities. Along with his own exploration of his identity as a son and a father in a country that does not make enough space for people like him, Shih’s writing is reflective with a subtle heaviness and sadness to it. Reading his memoir has been a rare literary treat and has given me a lot to think about. He is a literature professor, after all.
Thank you, NetGalley and GroveAtlantic, for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
August 16, 2023
"We imagine ourselves into Asian Americans by reading and writing the best words and the worst” (11)
Chinese Prodigal is a well-structured memoir that blends autobiography, cultural criticism, and history to examine eight distinct issues that are fundamental to the Asian American existence. The ideas Shih puts forward aren't necessarily revolutionary for anybody who has engaged with Asian American studies, but it's a solid, accessible entry point for those who haven't. Even if you are familiar with these concepts, Shih is able to breathe new life into them through drawing from his own unique life experiences.
I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to speak with author David Shih about Chinese Prodigal and the process of writing his memoir. You can read our conversation on AsAmNews . Thank you to Grove Atlantic for an advanced copy of the book.
October 25, 2023
I received a copy of this book for free in a Goodreads giveaway.
This is an interesting hybrid of a memoir and an academic examination of various aspects of Asian-American identity, perhaps a bit heavy on the scholarly side. The author, a professor of English, starts this book talking about his father's death in 2019. He then explores various aspects of Asian-American life in eight essays, where he touches on so many things, including where the term Asian-American even started, the model minority myth, the perpetual foreigner stereotype, affirmative action and how it affects Asian-Americans, and so much more. He talks about these various topics while also talking about his own story, including his relationship with his parents, his educational path to become a professor, his interracial marriage, and more. As a casual reader and not someone with an educational background to really appreciate all of the sociological and historical topics discussed here, I'm never going to be able to do this book justice in any kind of review, but I was really impressed at the breadth of topics covered in a fairly short book, and it really goes deep into the unique and complicated place Asians occupy in America. It's one of those books where I could have taken a bunch of notes while reading (but I didn't), and in the future it seems like it would be a great reference book to refer to (but I probably won't). It is pretty heavy on the academic side of things, though that's understandable with the author being a professor of English. For a book subtitled "A Memoir in Eight Arguments," though, it wasn't really clear what the "arguments" were, and the subtitle made it sound like these were all building to some central thesis that I'm not sure I got. There's no conclusion after the eight arguments, which made it feel like an abrupt end. The last paragraph of the last essay feels like a conclusion to the whole book, but it seems like it deserved expansion into a short standalone conclusion. But I enjoyed the book overall and its effective blending of memoir and academic treatment of the Asian-American experience.
This is an interesting hybrid of a memoir and an academic examination of various aspects of Asian-American identity, perhaps a bit heavy on the scholarly side. The author, a professor of English, starts this book talking about his father's death in 2019. He then explores various aspects of Asian-American life in eight essays, where he touches on so many things, including where the term Asian-American even started, the model minority myth, the perpetual foreigner stereotype, affirmative action and how it affects Asian-Americans, and so much more. He talks about these various topics while also talking about his own story, including his relationship with his parents, his educational path to become a professor, his interracial marriage, and more. As a casual reader and not someone with an educational background to really appreciate all of the sociological and historical topics discussed here, I'm never going to be able to do this book justice in any kind of review, but I was really impressed at the breadth of topics covered in a fairly short book, and it really goes deep into the unique and complicated place Asians occupy in America. It's one of those books where I could have taken a bunch of notes while reading (but I didn't), and in the future it seems like it would be a great reference book to refer to (but I probably won't). It is pretty heavy on the academic side of things, though that's understandable with the author being a professor of English. For a book subtitled "A Memoir in Eight Arguments," though, it wasn't really clear what the "arguments" were, and the subtitle made it sound like these were all building to some central thesis that I'm not sure I got. There's no conclusion after the eight arguments, which made it feel like an abrupt end. The last paragraph of the last essay feels like a conclusion to the whole book, but it seems like it deserved expansion into a short standalone conclusion. But I enjoyed the book overall and its effective blending of memoir and academic treatment of the Asian-American experience.
November 14, 2023
6 stars, rounded down to conform with the GR ratings scale.
* Beautifully, brilliantly, and elegantly written.
* Deeply personal, achingly relatable, entirely universal.
* Unflinching, painful, revelatory, and liberating.
* Not an easy read, but an essential one for any/every American who professes to know, love, and believe in their country and the stories that it tells about itself.
* This book is one of the most important of those stories, and true patriots will welcome it with an open mind, open eyes, and an open heart.
* It is the story of a person waiting and hoping and dreaming to be loved *back* by a country that claims a legacy of freedom without sharing it and promises a society of opportunities while reserving them for a select few only.
* It is a journey that has been traveled by every person in this life, though it may be a shorter or simpler path for some, and a longer and even more arduous path for others. In this way, it is a journey that belongs to America, the world, and all of humanity.
* This book stands with the best memoirs, the best collections of essays, and the best stories of a person looking for a home in their country.
(Personal note: whether I am reading fiction or non-fiction, I like to transcribe passages of writing that I find exceptionally articulate, witty, insightful, meaningful, or eloquent. It was not possible with this book, because I soon realized that I would be copying one or more sentences from almost every paragraph, and it would take forever to get through it.)
* Beautifully, brilliantly, and elegantly written.
* Deeply personal, achingly relatable, entirely universal.
* Unflinching, painful, revelatory, and liberating.
* Not an easy read, but an essential one for any/every American who professes to know, love, and believe in their country and the stories that it tells about itself.
* This book is one of the most important of those stories, and true patriots will welcome it with an open mind, open eyes, and an open heart.
* It is the story of a person waiting and hoping and dreaming to be loved *back* by a country that claims a legacy of freedom without sharing it and promises a society of opportunities while reserving them for a select few only.
* It is a journey that has been traveled by every person in this life, though it may be a shorter or simpler path for some, and a longer and even more arduous path for others. In this way, it is a journey that belongs to America, the world, and all of humanity.
* This book stands with the best memoirs, the best collections of essays, and the best stories of a person looking for a home in their country.
(Personal note: whether I am reading fiction or non-fiction, I like to transcribe passages of writing that I find exceptionally articulate, witty, insightful, meaningful, or eloquent. It was not possible with this book, because I soon realized that I would be copying one or more sentences from almost every paragraph, and it would take forever to get through it.)
August 12, 2023
I like this book because it went into history. And how explained how his family came from Hong Kong? And l hard they had to work. I'm trying to work very hard to make the american dream. The author was really interesting because he talked history together with his experience and how he viewed things for the American eyes.. He was a very smart child, and he everybody thought he was gonna be an engineer, but he wasn't very happy with that, so he went into a writing are. But he pursued a writing career and how this made him really happy. He had a lot of experiences with this because his friends didn't really understand him, and he also talked about the black experience because it was like kind of parallel to each other.. He seemed to make a really good life for himself and got married and had children, and he looked at his father perspectively through the ages. I liked especially the scene where they all gathered for Thanksgiving. They did not understand what it meant to be at this holiday.. You just got up and left, but the americans wife just sat there and started chatting away with other people. The title was really interesting because it suggested. He was gonna be an engineer, but he chose another career in writing. He also talked about the house he bought in Wisconsin. And that was really interesting too. Because he was like the only like Asian Americans there. And he was trying There is a son in both cultures. Very great book
October 9, 2023
This memoir is a combination of the author's own personal experiences with being Asian-American as well as a discourse on the meaning of this identity in the United States. He expertly weaves in stories about growing up in a predominantly White community and the bigger picture those situations represent, bringing in meticulously researched facts and monumental events in history. Shih addresses important topics such as interracial marriage, the role of affirmative action in college acceptance and employment, and
His background in English is evident in his writing - his ability to write intellectually but still very accessibly. He is not afraid to talk about his own shortcomings, and he addresses many difficult topics that have impacted his interactions with his own family. Shih makes many astute points about the progression of Asian American identity in the US, but the text does tend to get bogged down by exposition. I wish the balance of the book leaned more toward memoir and intimate stories with a modicum of discussion about race relations.
Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for my ARC.
His background in English is evident in his writing - his ability to write intellectually but still very accessibly. He is not afraid to talk about his own shortcomings, and he addresses many difficult topics that have impacted his interactions with his own family. Shih makes many astute points about the progression of Asian American identity in the US, but the text does tend to get bogged down by exposition. I wish the balance of the book leaned more toward memoir and intimate stories with a modicum of discussion about race relations.
Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for my ARC.
August 16, 2023
When you read this book, make sure you have a pen and highlighter with you. There will be quotes you want to remember and comments that you will want to write about. He does a great job balancing deep academic thoughts with realistic personal stories. He also balances stories specific to immigrants as well as stories that everyone has experienced. There are things I learned as well as things I remembered from my life. My only tiny issue that at times the shifting back and forth wasn’t as smooth as I would have liked. Great book with something for everyone.
August 22, 2023
I received this via the Goodreads Giveaway program. Wonderful memoir about identity and coming to terms with your place in society. Fascinating story about a man who is Asian American yet isn't sure what that means. Growing up he never experienced the problems that some experience, and his understanding came at a later time. Recommend for those interested in memoir, Asian American identity, and sociology.
August 27, 2023
David Shih's eight arguments are not new to me. I appreciate the author's work piecing everything together and making be think about each issue. Vincent Chin is the reason the term "Asian American" is relevant. Racism is at the heart of the problems. Personal experience; I got two traffic tickets in my youth. The first time I was labeled "colored", the second "white". So it was in a binary world.
June 20, 2024
This is the best nonfiction I've read all year - David Shih does so much in this book - I need to write more later but it's outstanding - and as someone who has lived with, read about, and thought about race for most of my life - I still learned and that was wonderful. It gave me aquite a lot to think about and I will read anything else he puts out there whether it's about race or not. He's exactly the kind of thinker I'd love to have reason to converse with!
August 2, 2023
This book was a lot; a lot of history, a lot of thought provoking ideas, and a lot of little things that made me say me too. Overall I enjoyed this book, but perhaps because it’s an advanced copy, paragraphs tended to run overly long for me. At times, it felt a little too scholarly, but I’m glad I read this.
December 30, 2023
Such an important book. I will definitely come back to this book again for a second read. Grateful to have been able to read it as a part of a book group at work! There was so much to unpack and consider.
February 21, 2023
Thank you for providing me the opportunity to review “Chinese Prodigal” prior to publication. I am appreciative and leave my sincerity review voluntarily.
June 2, 2024
felt slow at times, but a very educational read!
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews