Steering through

Fun but pointed debut about being an Asian-American woman in US academia.

REBECCA ZHONG

DISORIENTATION, by Elaine Hsieh Chou (Picador, $39.99) Campus novels are particularly fertile ground for exploring issues of power dynamics and today’s impassioned identity politics. In Elaine Hsieh Chou’s debut novel, eighth-year Barnes University PhD student Ingrid Yang wrestles with the work of fictional deceased poet Xiao-Wen-Chou, or, as she calls him, “Chinese Robert Frost”. Ingrid is nothing short of a hot mess. She’s months away from the end of her funding, has developed an addiction to antacids, and is procrastinating about finishing her thesis by writing erotica on an ensuing romance between Barnes’ East Asian Studies archivist Margaret and her dazed intern Daryl. Ingrid couldn’t be less interested in Xiao-Wen-Chou. While he is still seen as the crown jewel of Barnes’ former faculty members, his work is quickly gathering dust…

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New Zealand Listener (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 43, 2022

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