“Brilliant . . . To read this book is to become more
human.”—Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen
In development as
a television series starring and adapted by Greta Lee • One of
Time’s 10 Best Nonfiction Books of the Year • Named One of the
Best Books of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post,
NPR, New Statesman, BuzzFeed, Esquire, The New York Public Library,
and Book Riot
Poet and essayist
Cathy Park Hong fearlessly and provocatively blends memoir, cultural
criticism, and history to expose fresh truths about racialized
consciousness in America. Part memoir and part cultural criticism,
this collection is vulnerable, humorous, and provocative—and its
relentless and riveting pursuit of vital questions around family and
friendship, art and politics, identity and individuality, will change
the way you think about our world.
Binding these essays
together is Hong’s theory of “minor feelings.” As the daughter
of Korean immigrants, Cathy Park Hong grew up steeped in shame,
suspicion, and melancholy. She would later understand that these
“minor feelings” occur when American optimism contradicts your
own reality—when you believe the lies you’re told about your own
racial identity. Minor feelings are not small, they’re
dissonant—and in their tension Hong finds the key to the questions
that haunt her.