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Vivian, Diana, Errol, and Justin grew up together in a very competitive Chinese community. Their parents pushed them all to be successful. They went to private school together for years and brought out the best in each other. But after college, they all struggled to find jobs in light of the economic downturn of 2008 and had to move back home. They didn’t think much about it when their friend Grace, a Harvard law dropout, asked to film them. But when she edited that footage into a short movie called Bad Asians and released it on a new streaming platform, where millions of people see it.
The four friends are immediately recognizable to the people who have seen their video, so the four friends find themselves being judged by total strangers. To try to improve how strangers perceive them on the internet, they take an aspiring filmmaker up on her offer to make a video with her. But when she plies them with alcohol and drugs to make an even more provocative video, the four friends go their own ways.
They all deal with that differently. Justin becomes a gym rat and falls in love. Errol and Vivian take their relationship to the next level. Vivian goes back to school. As the years go by, the stupid mistakes they made when they were younger seem further away. Their parents struggle. They face addiction, heartbreak, and setbacks. They find themselves moving on but never quite putting Bad Asians behind them. And when the filmmaker who made the second video comes under scrutiny for some scandalous methods, the four friends find that they might be able to fix all the damage those internet videos did to their lives and relationships.
Bad Asians is a powerful story of growing up in a Chinese community with high expectations. It’s about four kids who have to face a lot of challenges, both in their homes and in the world at large, while learning how to face backlash over an internet that they barely understand. These characters each have their own journeys, their own struggles, and watching how they face their futures makes for an emotional read.
I listened to Bad Asians on audio, narrated beautifully by Katharine Chin. There were a lot of characters to keep straight, and Chin did a pretty good job of handling them all throughout the novel. I got sucked into this novel early on and didn’t want to set it aside. It’s layered with pain and fear, and it brought back a lot of memories of stupid things I did when I was younger.
I loved this story. I thought it was a lovely story of friendship and redemption, and I was so happy that I got to know these characters. I am not Asian myself, so reading a story about growing up Chinese was really interesting to me. I love learning more about other cultures, to see the differences and the similarities to my culture. And reading about the early days of internet video streaming services was fascinating. But mostly, I was here for the friendships, the ups and downs, the falling apart and coming together, and Bad Asians brought that.
Egalleys for Bad Asians were provided by Henry Holt and Co., and a copy of the audiobook was provided by Macmillan Audio, both through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.
