Bad Asians - by Lillian Li (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

From the acclaimed author of Number One Chinese Restaurant comes an affecting novel about an unforgettable group of friends trying to make their way in the world without losing themselves, or one another.

Diana, Justin, Errol, and Vivian have been told their entire lives that success is guaranteed by following a simple checklist. They worked hard, got good grades, and attended a great university--only to graduate into the Great Recession of 2008. Despite their newly minted degrees, they're unemployed, stuck again under their parents' roofs in a hypercompetitive Chinese American community. So when Grace--once the neighborhood golden child, now a Harvard Law School dropout--asks to make a documentary about the crew, they say yes. It's not like her little movie will ever see the light of day.

But then the video, "Bad Asians," goes viral on an up-and-coming media platform (YouTube, anyone?). Suddenly, two million people know the members of the group as cruel caricatures, each full of pent-up frustrations with the others. And after a desperate attempt at spin control goes off the rails, they are flung even further off course from the lives they'd always imagined. As they grow up and grow apart, the friends desperately try to figure out who they are and what it means to live a successful life in the new millennium.

Li's novel is both an exploration of Asian American identity and a portrait of a generation shaped by the rise of the internet and the end of the American dream. An epic tale of friendship and coming of age, Bad Asians asks: What if the same people who made you who you are end up keeping you from who you're meant to be?

Review Quotes

"Bad Asians is a richly drawn and emotionally honest novel that explores the complex entanglements between friendship and family, ambition and happiness, and childhood and adulthood. Lillian Li's writing is poignant, funny, and filled with keen observations--in short, a perfect read for anyone trying to make sense of our unsettled times. A beautiful novel that made me think, gasp, and laugh."
--Angie Kim, New York Times bestselling author of Miracle Creek and Happiness Falls

"The four friends at the center of Bad Asians are bonded by the brutal pressures of their immigrant parents, racist schoolyard bullies, their crushing expectations of themselves, and their jealousy of local 'it girl' and parent dream-come-true Grace, who seems incapable of doing any wrong. But when a film Grace makes of them goes viral, their collective fame as "bad Asians" threatens to destroy their bonds forever. The ugly underbelly of internet notoriety--and whether or not it's survivable--is the riveting question Bad Asians explores. Lillian Li is an unsparing observer of our unsparing times."
--Susan Choi, National Book Award-winning author of Trust Exercise and Flashlight

"Bad Asians is a sharp, propulsive novel about ambition, identity, and the bonds that shape us--whether we choose them or not. Lillian Li's masterful prose crackles with humor and insight, exploring the language of belonging--between cultures, generations, and the people we call friends. Bad Asians is a novel about the stories we tell ourselves and the ones we can never quite escape."
--Weike Wang, award-winning author of Chemistry and Rental House

"With richly drawn characters and fantastic insights into class, upward mobility, parental expectations, and the false promise of the American dream and the toll it takes on those who pursue it, this is an engaging, darkly comic and thoroughly contemporary page-turner--a remarkable novel!"
--J. Ryan Stradal, author of Kitchens of the Great Midwest and Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club

About the Author