Which Side Are You On

Wong’s debut novel (a PEN/Hemingway Award finalist) follows 21-year-old college student Reed, who is considering dropping out of school to devote himself full-time to Black Lives Matter activism. While visiting his parents in Los Angeles, an intensive discussion on race relations and activism ensues. Reed’s parents—his Korean American mother, who once led a Korean-Black activist coalition, and his Chinese American father, a labor organizer—were heavily involved in healing divides between Asian Americans and Black Americans in L.A. in the 1990s. Thirty years later, the same problems still exist, and Reed, a newly minted activist, confronts his parents about what he considers their less-than-liberal actions. His parents, in turn, teach him about the complexities of these issues and challenge his ideas of what is right and wrong. Narrator Scott Takeda fully inhabits Reed and his parents, providing satisfying characterizations for each.