Publishers Weekly
★ 08/29/2022
Artist and critic Wong debuts with a profound and nuanced bildungsroman of a young Asian American man and his evolution as a political activist during a visit to his hometown of Los Angeles. Reed, 21, a student and organizer, is home to see his ailing Korean grandmother. There, he informs his parents, whom he views as conformists, that he’s dropping out of college and dedicating himself instead to grassroots organizing after an unarmed Black man is shot and killed by an Asian police officer. Though he dismisses his parents’ pleas for him to finish his degree, Reed is adamant about learning everything he can about his Korean mother’s involvement in a Black-Korean coalition in the 1980s, so that he may use it to impress his other activist friends and fuel their current work. But the stories recounted by his mother and the discussions they engender—all carefully laid out in electric, and occasionally heartrending, dialogue between mother and son—start to affect Reed’s clear-cut views, revealing to him the many difficulties of organizing across cultures, and hinting at the importance of empathy and humanity in the effort to fully understand one’s community. From the first page, Wong sets the tone with Reed’s youthful irreverence, which unfailingly gets at the truth of the matter: “Mom had finally broken her lifelong boycott against the Japanese colonizers because, she explained, the mileage was unbeatable, and anyway, we had to let go of that ancestral shit sooner or later.” This daring and generous work is sure to spark difficult but necessary conversations. Agent: Julia Masnik, Watkins/Loomis. (Oct.)
From the Publisher
Finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel
Named a Best Book by NPR, Bustle, Debutiful, and more
Library Journal, A Most Anticipated Fall Debut
The Millions, A Most Anticipated Book of the Year
"Wong’s main characters are wonderfully crafted and deeply human in their fallibility . . . Wong blends the backdrop of L.A. artfully and meaningfully into the novel . . . At its best, which it frequently is, Which Side Are You On bears the distinction of telling a story for and of our times, asking difficult, but necessary, questions of its narrator and readers alongside him." —Jung Yun, The Washington Post
"A thought-provoking and poignant coming-of-age story." —Time
"Ryan Lee Wong has taken on the challenge of writing a self-aware, critical version of the protest novel with his debut Which Side Are You On—a slim work that is literally about protests and activism, that manages to interrogate both the rigidity of movements and the complacency that can find its way into them . . . Which Side Are You On takes racial justice and the need for activism seriously [and] charts how the real work of activism comes not from merely announcing what you stand for and against, but from empathy grounded in understanding how much you still have to learn." —Kristen Martin, The New Republic
"A sharply observed story of an earnest Asian American activist considering dropping out of college to dedicate himself to organizing . . . the story, both moving and funny, is sure to speak powerfully to the many who struggle to find hope and joy in an unjust world." —Lisa Wong Macabasco, Vogue
"A blistering send-up of youthful pretension and pseudo-activism . . . Wong’s pace is quick and dialogue driven and actually in the service of a moving coming-of-age tale . . . An assured debut novel that gets at the heart of why saying the right thing—hell, even doing the right thing—isn’t always enough." —J. Howard Rosier, Vulture
“This book! In Ryan Lee Wong's hard-hitting and witty novel, two generations of Asian American political activists negotiate their relationships with movements, history, L.A., and one another. Wong handles his narrator's earnestness with understated brilliance—especially when he skewers that very same sincerity. Sure to spark conversations.” —YZ Chin, Entertainment Weekly
"Told with the witty brio of our narrator’s youth, Which Side Are You On marks the arrival of an electric new voice." —Adrienne Westenfeld, Esquire
"Wong handles the characterization of Reed perfectly to make the novel fun to read. He puts Reed's social justice jargon-laden thoughts in dialogue, never in narration. Other characters challenge Reed's ideas and make fun of his vocabulary. This introduces playfulness to a story with heavy themes, and allows Reed to grow toward an authentic moment of transformation as he realizes there usually isn't just one right side to be on." —Jenny Shank, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
"Which Side Are You On is a swift, funny, polemical primer on Los Angeles, Asian American history, and cross-racial organizing." —Esther Kim, The Nation
"Extremely important . . . A great novel about what it means to be an activist, what it means to be a son, what it means to be an American . . . This is the beginning of a stellar career." —WAMC The Roundtable
"It’s heartbreaking, but at times hilarious. The book knocks down stereotypes given to a community by the media and invites readers in with open arms. It’s a book America has needed for a very long time." —Debutiful
"Using electric dialogue, Wong gives the narrative its forward momentum, and expands its scope across time and generations by raising questions of morality and social responsibility in the face of injustice and privilege and by examining historical moments that speak to the importance of cross-racial solidarity." —Bareerah Ghani, Electric Literature
"What does it look like to devote your life to activism? How can you be a good, authentic ally to others? How can you lead a happy life when your life’s work is so wrapped up in trauma and systemic oppression? These are some of the big and timely questions that carry us through Ryan Lee Wong’s debut . . .You’ll feel like you’re right there in Los Angeles, a fly on the wall of these important conversations. But this is not a strictly somber novel by any means! It’s a wonderful balancing act, tackling serious topics with humor and heart." —Katie Yee, A Literary Hub Most Anticipated Book of the Year
"Full of vibrant characters, this punchy story [...] offers no simple answers to ongoing racial conflicts. The portrait of a sanctimonious young man who wakes up to the reality of generational trauma and well-meaning failure is spot-on. Truly, a book for the contemporary moment. Ryan Lee Wong's dynamite debut novel weaves timely issues of racism and protest—and much nuance—into a pacy, funny story of generational differences and idealism versus cynicism." —Shelf Awareness
"A profound and nuanced bildungsroman . . . This daring and generous work is sure to spark difficult but necessary conversations." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The novel feels like an updated, more socially aware Less Than Zero . . . A promising coming-of-(political)-age debut." —Kirkus Reviews
"Ryan Lee Wong has managed to write a superb, beautifully crafted political novel free of didacticism and full of humor, pathos, and insight. The first half had me laughing out loud; the second half left me terrified, discomfited, and self-reflective. In his quest to find a golden age of interracial solidarity, Reed, the main protagonist, discovers through his parents’ surprising history and wisdom, valuable political lessons about choices, sacrifice, friendship, family, and the enormous challenge of building genuine alliances. And for anyone who still believes identities are discrete, fixed, one-dimensional, and easily legible, this book is the cure." —Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination
"Blasting easily woke platitudes, this honest, hilarious, and deeply healing novel gets at the heartbreaking core of building connections between families and friends, and solidarities within and between racial communities. For years I've been waiting for a novel like Ryan Lee Wong's Which Side Are You On, and I urge everyone to read it. It is an astonishing debut." —Cathy Park Hong, author of Minor Feelings
"Sharp, fast-moving, and often hilarious, Which Side Are You On is a must-read: a story of Asian American relationships—familial, intergenerational, and otherwise—through the lens of Black-Asian histories, community organizing, and radical politics." —Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers
"Salty, funny, angry, and heartbreaking, Which Side Are You On synthesizes the struggles of a family that has been working and hoping for a better world for two, maybe three, generations, and in the process, renews our sense of the histories involved—American history, Korean American history, Black history, Los Angeles history. This is a stunning debut, but also a novel I didn't know I was waiting for." —Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel
Library Journal
05/01/2022
When a Black man is killed by a Chinese American NYPD officer, Chinese Korean American Reed is ready to storm out of his Columbia classes and dedicate himself to Black Lives Matter. But he reconsiders the best way forward after discussing what makes for effective politics and a meaningful life in an unjust world with his father and mother—once a labor organizer and leader of a Korean-Black activist coalition, respectively. A debut inspired by the 2014 Akai Gurley/Peter Liang case in Brooklyn, NY.
NOVEMBER 2022 - AudioFile
Scott Takeda dazzles in his narration of this thought-provoking novel. After a Black man is killed at the hands of an Asian American police officer, Reed decides he’s going to drop out of college and devote himself to activist work full time. But both his parents used to do activist work, and in a series of conversations with them and their former comrades, Reed begins to rethink his future. Takeda takes on this novel of ideas, embodying each character’s unique dialogue. While many narrators might have been tripped up by having to continually deliver deep conversations about philosophical ideas, Takeda’s narration keeps listeners engaged with the story. K.D.W. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2022-07-08
A young Asian American aspiring radical returns home to Los Angeles for a few history lessons.
Reed, the hero of Wong’s debut, is the child of activists. His Chinese father is a labor organizer, while his Korean mother worked to unify LA’s Black and Korean communities in the 1980s. Returning home from a semester at Columbia, he wants to do his bit as well: Inspired by a case involving a Chinese NYPD officer, Reed is preparing to quit school and become a full-time activist. His experiences in LA, from a Brentwood yoga studio to a Koreatown dance club to a South Central chicken-and-waffles joint and a climactic downtown street protest, serve as a challenge to his easy Twitter-born outrage and idealism; determined to learn more about his mother’s Black-Korean coalition and apply its lessons to his own work, he mostly runs into dead ends. Wong does a nice job of framing Reed’s experience around some compelling characters: Reed’s witty and brash mother; his sage dad; and his best friend, CJ, who’s eager to pour some cold water on Reed’s idealism. (A fine set piece in the Koreatown dance club leavens the story while underscoring the persistent racism in the community.) But Reed, for his part, is something of an empty vessel, buffeted by the rhetoric of his leftist organizer friends at Columbia and his progressive but more earthbound parents. (“All I’m saying, my son, is to not take your precious theories so seriously,” Reed’s mom tells him, one of a number of similarly patronizing lectures.) Indeed, between Reed’s blankness and the brief, brisk story, the novel feels like an updated, more socially aware Less Than Zero. The tale of Reed's reckoning is compelling, and Wong thoughtfully questions various activist practices without rejecting them. But a stronger novel might better weave in the characters along with the back-and-forths on social justice.
A promising coming-of-(political)-age debut.
