Fiction. Asian &amp; Asian American Studies. Semi-Finalist, Thurber Prize for American Humor. Marty Wu, compulsive reader of advice manuals, would love to come across as a poised young advertising professional. Instead she trips over her own feet and blurts out inappropriate comments. The bulk of her brain matter, she decides, consists of gerbils "spinning madly in alternating directions." Marty hopes to someday open a boutique costume shop, but it's hard to keep focused on her dream. First comes a spectacular career meltdown that sends her ricocheting between the stress of New York and the warmth of supportive relatives in Taiwan. Then she faces one domestic drama after another, with a formidable mother who's impossible to please, an annoyingly successful and well- adjusted brother, and surprising family secrets that pop up just when she doesn't want to deal with them. Mining the comedic potential of the 1.5-generation American experience, NOT A SELF-HELP BOOK is an insightful and witty portrait of a young woman scrambling to balance familial expectations and her own creative dreams. "A breezy and charming tale ... Anyone who's grown up immersed in a profoundly rich old-world culture and feels its constant pull will commiserate—and be entertained."—Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, author of A Tiger in the Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family "Marty is a wonderful character who learns to stand up for herself and discovers what she really wants in life."—Booklist "An expert combination of humor and deep feeling... Digs deep into the particular challenges of defining and asserting an artistic identity in the world."—PANK Magazine "Ceaselessly surprising and entertaining... Lai's debut is an unexpectedly radical book on our deeply complicated relations with parents."—Hyphen Magazine: Asian America Unabridged

Not a Self-Help Book: The Misadventures of Marty Wu

Literature & Fiction

Lai, Yi Shun

United States

Shade Mountain Press

A teen's fight for suffrage turns into one of survival when her crew's Antarctic expedition ship gets stuck in the ice in this historical novel told in journal entries perfect for fans of Gary Paulsen and The Downstairs Girl. November 1914. Clara Ketterling-Dunbar is one of twenty-eight crew members of The Resolute--a ship meant for an Antarctic expedition now marooned on ice one hundred miles from the shore of the continent. An eighteen-year-old American, Clara has told the crew she's a twenty-one-year-old Canadian. Since the war broke out, sentiment toward Americans has not been the most favorable, and Clara will be underestimated enough simply for being a woman without also giving away just how young she is. Two members of the crew know her nationality, but no one knows the truth of her activities in England before The Resolute set sail. She and her suffragist sisters in the Women's Social & Political Union were waging war of a different kind in London. They taught Clara to fight. And now, even marooned on the ice, she won't stop fighting for women's rights...or for survival. In the wilderness of Antarctica, Clara is determined to demonstrate what a woman is truly capable of--if the crew will let her.

A Suffragist's Guide to the Antarctic

Children's Books

Atheneum Books for Young Readers

When Yi Shun Lai was old enough, her mother bought her a subscription to 'Teen magazine, in the hopes that she'd shed her tomboy skin to reveal a polished young lady. But Lai cut out all the wrong articles--girls on BMX bikes, girls on the gridiron, girls on the ski slopes and in the ocean--and these women became her role models. Pin Ups is the story of Lai's quest to join these women in their ranks.

Pin Ups (Little Bound Books Essay Series)

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Little Bound Books

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Books by Lai, Yi Shun