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New Books for You to Read

Bolo! Bolo!: A Collection of Writings by Second Generation South Asians Living in North America

Edited by the Kitchen Table Collective (South Asian Professional’s Network Association)

This homespun anthology brings together voices from all over North America, with spoken word verse mingling with four-line poems next to academic pieces on “the construction of the South Asian woman.” The 84 pieces in Bolo! Bolo!, a Hindi colloquialism that translates to ‘tell me,’ range from stories on arranged marriage rebellions to Vanita Goela’s “Unexplained South Asian Phenomenon” which takes The X-Files to Bollywood: “Imagine a South Asian woman running through the woods, under the rain, but she is not wearing a sari. She has a gun in her pants, not money in her choli. This is Special Agent Junglee (investigating the Channel V-files.)” This dope collection inspires you to get together your own collective, drink some chai and write down your own stories.

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Da Word

Lee A. Tonouchi (Bamboo Ridge Press)

Tonouchi, a.k.a. Da Pidgin Guerilla, has become Hawaii’s most outspoken supporter of what was once known as Hawai’i Creole English. In Da Word, Tonouchi collects his award winning stories and essays, written entirely in Pidgin. In the title story, the narrator makes a bet on whether or not the word “bumbye” is in the dictionary. “Bumbye. Simple word too. Hakum Laurie dunno em’? Bumbye gotta be one word, I heard my Grandma use em’ sooo many times. ‘Grandma, wen you going take me Disneyland?’ ‘Bumbye.’ So bumbye can mean later, on, indefinte kine, possible nevah.” With stylized grace and an incredible sense of humor, Tonouchi proves that creativity has nothing to do with following the rules.

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Our Twisted Hero

Yi Munyol (Hyperion East)

This harsh, unsparing look into the world of bullies and victims is the very first translation of a contemporary Korean novel to be published by a commercial house in America. Yi Munyol is one of Korea’s most celebrated and prolific writers, with sixteen novels and fifty-two novellas in print. Our Twisted Hero was first published in Korea in 1987 when the nation was still dealing with the chokehold of dictatorship. Han Pyongt’ae, the twelve year old narrator, moves from Seoul to a small provincial town, thinking that he will be a natural leader with his big-city ways. Instead, he falls victim to the corrupt yet charismatic class monitor who uses fear and violence to keep the other students under his power. The book is written in Munyol’s classically unadorned style which makes the allegorical tale about power-lust and the need for acceptance even more chilling.