How can we live with integrity and pleasure in this world of police brutality and racism? An Asian American activist and his mother face this question in this powerful—and funny—novel of idealism and coming of age, solidarity and disunity, a son’s aspirations and a mother’s lived experience
Finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel
Praise for Which Side Are You On
“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
“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
“Which Side Are You On is a sharp and refreshing debut that tenderly plumbs the depths and angst of coming-of-age. In Reed, we find a narrator seeking meaning in radical politics, and finding more about his family and himself in the search than he knew was possible.”
— Naomi Jackson, author of The Star Side of Bird Hill
"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
Press
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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.
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This daring and generous work is sure to spark difficult but necessary conversations.
Publishers Weekly Starred Review
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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.
Most Anticipated Books of 2022, YZ Chin, Entertainment Weekly
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An astounding novel that brings forth a tumultuous time between Asian and Black communities and the tensions between the two.
Thu Doan, East Bay Booksellers, Indie Next List
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Told with the witty brio of our narrator’s youth, Which Side Are You On marks the arrival of an electric new voice.
The Best Books of Fall 2022, Esquire
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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.
Most Anticipated Books of 2022, Lit Hub
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A thought-provoking and poignant coming-of-age story.
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New 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. List Item