Keynote
"Potential Weapons is an enlivening and vibrant book."—Charles Baxter
Book Title
Potential Weapons
Subtitle
A Novella and Stories
Cover Image
- “Detailed, elegant stories.”—Harvard Review
Body
First to fade were the names, then the faces, until she
couldn't be sure the people once called family ever really
existed. Sometimes, when she wandered through Chinatown, she wondered whether this middle-aged man or that young mother with the sullen girl was related to her. Relatives. Strangers. There was no way to know.
In this vivid, elegantly written debut, Jocelyn Lieu explores the risks of self-discovery. The characters in Potential Weapons lead bi-cultural lives, their ethnicity not obvious at first glance. What are you anyway? someone asks. But it is only when cultures clash, when memory is forced into the present moment, that this question can begin to be answered.
In the title story, Abi, a young Chinese American woman,
attends a Klan rally, in protest, with her white mother. Once there, they are stripped of all "potential weapons," including her mother's cane. Diana visits the home of her lover's parents, Holocaust survivors: the mystery of cultural difference and the haunting music of Gulf War TV coverage permeate the encounter. Through a chance meeting in New York's Chinatown, Mar discovers her estranged Aunt Pearl, who turns out to be the family's most intriguing secret, a link to a past colored by the struggle to survive.
couldn't be sure the people once called family ever really
existed. Sometimes, when she wandered through Chinatown, she wondered whether this middle-aged man or that young mother with the sullen girl was related to her. Relatives. Strangers. There was no way to know.
In this vivid, elegantly written debut, Jocelyn Lieu explores the risks of self-discovery. The characters in Potential Weapons lead bi-cultural lives, their ethnicity not obvious at first glance. What are you anyway? someone asks. But it is only when cultures clash, when memory is forced into the present moment, that this question can begin to be answered.
In the title story, Abi, a young Chinese American woman,
attends a Klan rally, in protest, with her white mother. Once there, they are stripped of all "potential weapons," including her mother's cane. Diana visits the home of her lover's parents, Holocaust survivors: the mystery of cultural difference and the haunting music of Gulf War TV coverage permeate the encounter. Through a chance meeting in New York's Chinatown, Mar discovers her estranged Aunt Pearl, who turns out to be the family's most intriguing secret, a link to a past colored by the struggle to survive.
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About the Author
Credit: Clara Shin
Praise
- “Lieu can take us somewhere and give us something lasting.”—New Mexico Magazine
- “In an era of rampant identity politics, when people are judged by appearance…Lieu gracefully peels off labels to reveal the complex inner worlds of characters.”—Santa Fe New Mexican
- “This is a beautiful book—poetic and candid. I’m putting it into heavy rotation, and I’ll read it once a year for the next 20 years.”—Sherman Alexie
