Ratings34
Average rating4.1
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. In the eyes of 18-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, a first-generation Taiwanese American who has a 'zine 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 best friends, a friendship built of late-night conversations over cigarettes, long drives along the California coast, and the textbook 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 his best friend--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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Reminded me of When Breath Becomes Air. With it's Asian-American premise, and inquisitive look into identity - I wish I read this ten years ago upon entering college.
Six days ago, listening to Hua Hsu speaking at the Santa Fe International Literary Festival, I found myself thinking: what a beautiful human being. An hour after that I got to watch him in the hallway, interacting with fans and other invited writers, demonstrating patience and kindness and grace; initial impression confirmed. Of all the books I bought that weekend, his was the first I launched into. In hindsight it was a poor decision: the better decision would've been to read <i>Stay True</i> when it first came to my attention a year and a half ago.
This is a book about friendship and loss and wisdom, and it will only really make sense to anyone over forty. Even then, probably only a certain subset of that cohort: the quieter, nerdier, introspective ones. Hsu writes with gentleness and humility toward his teenage self, reminding us of some of the absolute certainties we held at that age; of the ease with which we came up with opinions and how ill-informed those were. The details of his youth made no impression on me—I still have no idea what a zine is nor do I know any of Nirvana's music—but the soul is completely recognizable.