Stay True
Books | Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs
4.3
Hua Hsu
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A gripping memoir on friendship, grief, the search for self, and the solace that can be found through art, by the New Yorker staff writer Hua Hsu“This book is exquisite and excruciating and I will be thinking about it for years and years to come.”—Rachel Kushner, New York Times bestselling author of The Flamethrowers and The Mars RoomOne of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st CenturyIn the eyes of eighteen-year-old Hua Hsu, the problem with Ken—with his passion for Dave Matthews, Abercrombie & Fitch, and his fraternity—is that he is exactly like everyone else. Ken, whose Japanese American family has been in the United States for generations, is mainstream; for Hua, the son of Taiwanese immigrants, who makes ’zines and haunts Bay Area record shops, Ken represents all that he defines himself in opposition to. The only thing Hua and Ken have in common is that, however they engage with it, American culture doesn’t seem to have a place for either of them.But despite his first impressions, Hua and Ken become friends, a friendship built on late-night conversations over cigarettes, long drives along the California coast, and the successes and humiliations of everyday college life. And then violently, senselessly, Ken is gone, killed in a carjacking, not even three years after the day they first meet.Determined to hold on to all that was left of one of his closest friends—his memories—Hua turned to writing. Stay True is the book he’s been working on ever since. A coming-of-age story that details both the ordinary and extraordinary, Stay True is a bracing memoir about growing up, and about moving through the world in search of meaning and belonging.
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More Details:
Author
Hua Hsu
Pages
208
Publisher
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published Date
2022-09-27
ISBN
0385547781 9780385547789
Community ReviewsSee all
"A beautiful and brilliantly composed book on friendship and belonging. The balance of research and life experiences creates a complete picture of Hua’s memories and how he has been able to process his grief. This book will make you want to hug your friends and family and to make every moment count, both for them and for yourself. "
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Mike Byers
"Incredibly sweet and heartwarming. A tale of true and strong friendship; a relationship that was secret and personal. It detailed the very minute aspects of a close bond, but a bond only known between two. It was beautifully devastating, but it also left me feeling very full. I’ll be looking to remember all of the details of the friendships I have in my own life. This book has inspired me to take better care of my friendships and cherish them wholeheartedly. It was an incredible read on its own, not just from an Asian American lens. I found it deeply relatable, touching on references and parts of history that matter to me, but also a perfect capsule of one man’s experience."
""Friendship is about the willingness to know, rather than be known.”<br/><br/>Good Lord, this knocked me out. Some of the most beautiful writing and explanation of emotion I have ever laid my eyes on. Hua Hsu is a once in a lifetime talent and I need about 100 more books from him. How is it even possible to do such beautiful things with so little plot? I was captivated. <br/><br/>Thank you NetGalley & publisher for the free review eARC.<br/><br/>Post: https://www.instagram.com/p/CmE1X9rLFvK/"