Disorientation
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references (pages [397]-401)

PhD student Ingrid Yang is desperate to finish her dissertation on the late canonical poet Xiao-Wen Chou and never read about "Chinese-y" things again. After years of grueling research, she accidentally stumbles upon a curious note in the Chou archives and convinces herself it's her ticket out of academic hell. Her clumsy exploits to unravel the note's message lead to an explosive discovery. When her fiancé, Stephen Greene, embarks on a book tour with the super kawaii Japanese author he's translated, Ingrid will have to confront her sticky relationship to white men and white institutions-- and, most of all, herself.

"A Taiwanese American woman’s coming-of-consciousness ignites eye-opening revelations and chaos on a college campus in this outrageously hilarious and startingly tender debut novel. Twenty-nine-year-old PhD student Ingrid Yang is desperate to finish her dissertation on the late canonical poet Xiao-Wen Chou and never read about 'Chinese-y' things again. But after years of grueling research, all she has to show for her efforts are a junk food addiction and stomach pain. When she accidentally stumbles upon a curious note in the Chou archives one afternoon, it looks like her ticket out of academic hell. But Ingrid’s in much deeper than she thinks. Her clumsy exploits to unravel the note’s message lead to an explosive discovery, upending her entire life and the lives of those around her. What follows is a roller coaster of mishaps and misadventures, from book burnings and OTC drug hallucinations, to hot-button protests and Yellow Peril 2.0 propaganda. As the events Ingrid instigated keep spiraling, she’ll have to confront her sticky relationship to white men and white institutions—and, most of all, herself. A blistering send-up of privilege and power, and a profound reckoning of individual complicity and unspoken rage, in Disorientation Elaine Hsieh Chou asks who gets to tell our stories—and how the story changes when we finally tell it ourselves." --,description from publisher's website.,https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/671562/disorientation-by-elaine-hsieh-chou/#:~:text=BUZZFEED%20AND%20MORE-,A%20Taiwanese%20American%20woman's%20coming%2Dof%2Dconsciousness%20ignites%20eye%2D,and%20startlingly%20tender%20debut%20novel.