Kinda Korean: Stories from an American Life

Cultural competency trainer Sung’s memoir is organized as a series of vignettes that cohesively explore her life as a first-generation Asian American woman. There’s palpable anger, self-loathing, and shame in these pages, which come from a confused personal identity, a home environment full of conflict, and multiple sexual assaults. Sung’s anger is mostly directed toward her mother, but the men who attack and disparage her receive nearly as much rage. Since her origin story didn’t match the economic success of her peers, she buried her expectations in years of excessive drinking, bad relationships, and unmanaged depression. As she grappled with Asian fetishization, the bamboo ceiling, and what a healthy romantic relationship looks like, the COVID pandemic generated a new level of anti-Asian hate in the U.S. for Sung to navigate. It is only after she became a mother, and college and the military were behind her, that she embraced her heritage and emotions and designed a wholistic identity for herself.