"Will there be a future where I, on the page, am simply I, on the page, and not I, proxy for a whole ethnicity, imploring you to believe we are human beings who feel pain?"

Minor Feelings is a collection of essays by Cathy Park Hong which touch on a variety of topics such as race, the model minority theory, depression, mental health, female friendship, art, literature, language and more. I found the essays compelling and readable and whilst some had a little more substance than others the collection makes you think.

As Cathy Park Hong unpacks the Asian-American experience and the topic of race she does so with great nuance. Discussing the difficulties of her own identity as Korean American and the differences between Asian communities.

When she goes on to talk about identity, language and art I found myself scrawling down thoughts and quote after quote as I was struck by the poignancy of her words. It's incredibly clear to me that Cathy Park Hong is a master with words as her essays were evocative and lyrical which isn't generally what I expect from non-fiction. And I almost certainly want to get ahold of some of her poetry work now.

"To other English is to make audible the imperial power sewn into the language, to slit English open so its dark histories slide out."

There are so many elements of this book to draw out and to discuss and to go back to. Her thoughts on Hollywood and literature for one as she spoke about the power of literature/films to fetishize the eras when countries like the UK and US were "violently hostile to anyone different".

Also her discussions about how we have to stop packaging art through the "groups" individuals represent. And she talked about the importance of cultural exchange, innovation and how the arts needs to thrive.

This book is certainly an important read for its discussions surrounding race and the Asian-American experience, however it's much more than that. It's an exploration of language, power, mental health and arts. It's also compulsive and consuming and one everyone should read!