In Ryan Lee Wong's dynamite debut novel, Which Side Are You On, set in Los Angeles, with its history of race riots, an Asian American college student committed to social justice rethinks how best to live out his ideals in the real world.
Reed and his Brooklyn friends are staunch Black Lives Matters activists. Their latest cause is protesting the killing of a Black man by an Asian American police officer (the actual 2016 killing of Akai Gurley by Peter Liang). Reed has devoted so much energy to following the subsequent trial that he's now on academic probation. In fact, he intends to drop out of Columbia University to take up full-time activism. That is, until he goes home to Los Angeles for a few days.
The occasion for this visit is unfortunate: Reed's grandmother has had a stroke and isn't expected to live much longer. When his brassy mother picks him up from LAX, they head straight to the care home to visit her mother. Right away, it's clear this is a family with unresolved issues. Although his mother is reluctant to discuss her childhood in South Korea, Reed manages to coax her into divulging her story of domestic violence and abandonment.
Meanwhile, she pokes holes in her son's self-righteous attitude. She cofounded a Black-Korean Coalition in the 1980s, and knows firsthand that nothing is ever simple; situations that appear clear-cut are more complicated when you get to know people and understand their motivations. Reed's father, a Chinese American employed by a union, shares her history of community organizing. They don't want their son repeating their mistakes.
Wong probes this generational gap through snappy dialogue and enjoyable scenes that constitute an incidental tour of multi-ethnic L.A. (for instance, Reed's mother takes him for a haircut in Koreatown, but also indulges in chicken and waffles). This exchange, over a family meal at a K-Town barbecue restaurant, exemplifies the novel's satirical sense of humor:
"[Reed:] 'I just think we have to be aware of each interaction, or else we're blindly upholding the white supremacist heteropatriarchy.'
'That's a mouthful,' said Dad.
'How else would you say it?'
'Back then,' said Mom, 'we said, "The Man." ' "
Full of vibrant characters, this punchy story, a perfect companion to Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha, 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. --Rebecca Foster, freelance reviewer, proofreader and blogger at Bookish Beck
Shelf Talker: 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.