Reading DISORIENTATION, written by Elaine Hsieh Chou feels like watching an excellent prestige television show. The pace and humor of this novel is intoxicating. You can barely catch your breath from one unexpected pivot, to another. 

If you enjoy shows like FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE, or FLEABAG, or BAD SISTERS, you will love this read.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a tremendous amount of depth in this novel as well. Chou manages to tackle every hot bed topic out there while also keeping you laughing and crying. 

In the novel, Ingrid Yang is struggling to get on track with her doctoral thesis paper on renowned Chinese poet Xiao-Wen Chou. 

What do you believe is the purpose of poetry? … In many ways, poetry serves no purpose. It cannot cure sickness, it cannot end wars, it cannot feed the hungry.

And yet, a society without poetry is not a society at all. We need poetry to make sense of ourselves and the world around us. We need poetry to examine, on a microscopic level, beauty and pain and everything in between, We need poetry as much as we need our own humanity. (Pg. 87)

While procrastinating in extensive research, Ingrid stumbles upon a note that changes the course of her dissertation, and her life. 

In a self imposed investigation into the note, she unveils one surprise after another that provokes campus riots and unearths a string of unexpected truths. 

Chou masterfully satirizes the atmosphere of outrage that surrounds all things political and all things considered politically correct these days. I don’t pretend to understand how she did it, but Chou somehow offers the audience, no matter what their heritage, a chance to really understand the subtle and not so subtle challenges of being Asian in America.

Often it was s joke, or an aside, or a teacher’s comment, or a TV segment, or something during a game (you have to be the yellow power ranger…) …  Sometimes it was as simple as getting ready in a friend’s bathroom, their eyes locking in the mirror for a split second, the visual such a resounding indictment of different, she had to look away for fear of crying. Sometimes it was the unsticking the label from a new pencil box, slapping the MADE IN TAIWAN oval on Ingrid’s arm and howling. (Pg. 110)

This novel is filled with excellent and memorable characters; constant surprises within the plot, and highly satisfying moments of self deprecation followed by a determined growth. 

As she starts to see life for what it really is, as opposed to the fantasy she once clung to, Ingrid pronounces with great accuracy:

When something true is repeated too often, its truth is diluted. (Pg. 111)

In a world saturated with repetition on social media, and the internet at large, Chou cuts to the hard truth that truth is eroding.

The erosion of truth upends Ingrid’s life. Whether you see it as bringing her to a better or to a worse place says more about the reader than it does about Ingrid. 

There was punishment for questioning the world as it was, instead of swallowing it blind like an obedient child taking her medicine. (Pg. 289)

This is a must read. Truly. Not every book is for everyone, but this book is for a lot of someones.