The Mixed Metaphor in Asian American Fiction

The latest in pop-culture news, recaps, and reviews, plus close reads, profiles, interviews, and more from Vulture.com. [Brand Logo]( at home in asian america [The Mixed Metaphor]( Why does the half-Asian, half-white protagonist make us so anxious? Art: Susan Chen It only takes a few years. An economic catastrophe brings on the partial collapse of American society. As the nation recovers, an ascendant right wing blames the crisis on China. In the years following, the United States is rebuilt as an authoritarian nation under the Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act, colloquially known as PACT, an expansive law that allows the government to ban books, monitor private citizens, and disappear political dissidents, all in the name of preventing the spread of un-American views, a category that grows broader by the month: “Appearing sympathetic to China. Appearing insufficiently anti-China. Having any doubts about anything American; having any ties to China at all — no matter how many generations past.” This is fiction, obviously, even as it clearly brings to mind Japanese incarceration and the rise of McCarthyism as well as the wave of racist attacks on people of Asian ancestry since the pandemic began. The book in question is Our Missing Hearts, the third novel from author Celeste Ng, about a 12-year-old boy named Bird Gardner whose mother, a Chinese American poet, abandoned him and his white father three years before. [Read More]( Devour pop culture with us. [Subscribe now](for unlimited access to Vulture and everything New York. The Latest TV Recaps • 90 Day: The Single Life: [No One Has Boundaries!]( • Below Deck Mediterranean: [It’s Getting Choppy Out Here]( • Kevin Can F**k Himself: [Near-Death Energy]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Stories We Think You’ll Like 1. [Pharoah Sanders Found His Voice in New York City He arrived broke, homeless, and with little more than his saxophone and left the unofficial leader of the spiritual-jazz movement.]( 2. [Life, Death, and Titus Andronicus Front man Patrick Stickles used his band’s new album to process loss. Now he just needs to get the van fixed.]( By Craig Jenkins 3. [10 Unanswered Questions to Worry About After Seeing Don’t Worry Darling What’s up with the dancing ladies? And the plane? What happens in Kiki Layne’s cut scenes? More important, where can I get Alice’s nail polish?]( By Roxana Hadadi 4. [House of the Dragon’s Brutal Birth Obsession Isn’t Realism. It’s Cruelty. In three separate instances, the Game of Thrones prequel reduces a birthing woman to the limits of her body.]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Switched on Pop In part one of the Vergecast “Future of Music” series, Alex Cranz talks with Switched on Pop’s Charlie Harding about the trends in music today that make new songs out of old material and whether it’s foreshadowing the future of pop. [Listen now.]( [Read more from Vulture]( A Saturday newsletter from the people who make New York Magazine. [Sign up]( to get it every week. [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe](param=vulture-daily) | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on email newsletters, please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, 12th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2022, All rights reserved