Waking Up American: Coming of Age Biculturally

Waking Up American includes original work by women who are either American-born of at least one foreign-born parent or who immigrated to the United States during childhood. The writers explore what it means to feel caught between two worlds, neither wholly American nor wholly a part of another heritage.

Cultures represented include the Philippines, Germany, India, Mexico, China, Iran, Nicaragua, Japan, Russia, and Panama, among others, and are often juxtaposed with a bicultural reality, having been raised by parents who simultaneously embrace and question American values. Essays trace themes of rebellion and conformity, pride and uncertainty, sexuality and sense of self, and a heightened awareness of what it means to be “other.”

These narratives examine the part cultural identity plays in creating strong, independent, hyphenated American women whose experiences are part of what makes the United States the intriguing cultural amalgamation that so many diverse peoples are proud to call home.

Booklist Review

In one of the best of the recent anthologies by new immigrants, young women writers answer that question with immediacy and wit, displaying honesty about the pain, anger, and prejudice at home and outside. But they are also very funny when they talk about personal conflicts (“She’d eat the chip off her shoulder if only she weren’t on a diet”). These testimonials reveal none of the rambling style so typical in oral history narratives. These women are writers and readers, and whether they have roots in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, or Europe, they know America’s long tradition of diversity and they enrich it, even while they reveal how hard it can be to fit in. Tina Lee says her life “is so The Joy Luck Club meets Jerry Springer on acid.” Two Haitian American lesbians speak about how different they are from each other and also about the universals of feeling connected to family and needing to leave home. Add this outstanding anthology to the titles listed in our “Core Collection: The New Immigration Story” [BKL Ag 05]. – Hazel Rochman
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