The Night My Mother Met Bruce Lee: Observations on Not Fitting In

Excellent writing craftmanship by Rekdal. Chinese-Norwegian American who finds beauty in searching out her ethnic place in the world and where it only might be provisionally. These essays form a clever book on self discovery via memoir. Fulbright winner, English teacher in Korea, and a smooth stylist which made this a welcome repieve from the last book of essays I read (Perfume Dreams, Andrew Lam). The title doesn't do Rekdal's effort justice and I can't praise her enough. She doesn't rise to the spectacular level of a true female force of insight but she often comes close. Rekdal has no spiritual place to call home (she describes Catholicism well in one chapter, St Agatha) but so she always seems to stop short of using her enormous show more skill to touch on universal themes from that point of view. I'll keep her in mind, eventhough she is a poet by nature having also produced a work in that literary category. show less

The subtitle is exactly appropriate to the content. The author is "mixed" - her father is Scadanavian and her mother Chinese - and these are vignettes and short stories exploring some of the different feelings, inconsistencies, and thoughts that often occur in mixed race Americans. She is someone who "passes" for white, willingly or not, so her viewpoint is mostly interior. Most of the stories are revealing, some have funny places, but they are generally written in a serious tone. Recommended for those interested in race issues in America.

This is a book written by a girl that is half white, half Chinese. This is her story of how she learns about herself as a mixed race individual and where she fits in our world. An added twist is that she looks more "white" than Chinese and is able to "pass" when she does not want to deal with situations. This also bothers her as she tries to figure out her identity.

Solid collection of essays - I'd be interested in reading more of her autobiographical stories.