Literati Cultura Book Club: Hua Hsu's Stay True

124 East Washington Street,Ann Arbor MI 48104

25 October, 2022

Description

PLEASE NOTE: FOR THE SAFETY OF ALL IN ATTENDANCE, MASKS WILL BE REQUIRED DURING THE EVENT, REGARDLESS OF STOREWIDE MASK RECOMMENDATIONS. Join us for an in-person discussion of September’s Literati Cultura pick, Stay True by Hua Hsu. This event is intended for adults and is free and open to the public. You do not need to be a Literati Cultura subscriber to attend, but if you are interested in joining Cultura, feel free to ask a Literati staff member or email [email protected] for more information. Space is limited. About Stay True: From the New Yorker staff writer Hua Hsu, a gripping memoir on friendship, grief, the search for self, and the solace that can be found through art. "This book is exquisite and excruciating and I will be thinking about it for years and years to come." --Rachel Kushner, two-time National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author of The Flamethrowers and The Mars Room In 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.