{"product_id":"stay-true-memoir-by-hua-hsu","title":"Stay True: A Memoir | Hua Hsu","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e staff writer Hua Hsu, a gripping memoir on friendship, grief, the search for self, and the solace that can be found through art.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“This book is exquisite and excruciating and I will be thinking about it for years and years to come.”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003eRachel Kushner, two-time National Book Award finalist and \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Flamethrowers\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Mars Room\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the eyes of eighteen-year-old\u003cstrong\u003e Hua Hsu\u003c\/strong\u003e, the problem with Ken—with his passion for Dave Matthews, Abercrombie \u0026amp; Fitch, and his fraternity—is that he is \u003ci\u003eexactly \u003c\/i\u003elike everyone else. Ken, whose Japanese American family has been in the United States for generations, is mainstream; for Hua, the son of Taiwanese immigrants, who makes ’zines and haunts Bay Area record shops, Ken represents all that he defines himself in opposition to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe only thing Hua and Ken have in common is that, however they engage with it, American culture doesn’t seem to have a place for either of them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut despite his first impressions, Hua and Ken become friends, a friendship built on late-night conversations over cigarettes, long drives along the California coast, and the successes and humiliations of everyday college life. And then violently, senselessly, Ken is gone, killed in a carjacking, not even three years after the day they first meet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDetermined to hold on to all that was left of one of his closest friends—his memories—Hua turned to writing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eStay True\u003c\/i\u003e is the book he’s been working on ever since. A coming-of-age story that details both the ordinary and extraordinary, \u003ci\u003eStay True\u003c\/i\u003e is a bracing memoir about growing up, and about moving through the world in search of meaning and belonging.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bust-Down Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51512062968123,"sku":"0385547773","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0855\/2077\/7531\/files\/9780385547772.jpg?v=1787456202","url":"https:\/\/bustdownbooks.com\/products\/stay-true-memoir-by-hua-hsu","provider":"Bust-Down Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}