Manifesto: On Never Giving Up by Bernardine Evaristo Hsu captures the past by conveying both its mood and specificity … This is a memoir that gathers power through accretion-all those moments and gestures that constitute experience, the bits and pieces that coalesce into a life … Hsu is a subtle writer, not a showy one the joy of Stay True sneaks up on you, and the wry jokes are threaded seamlessly throughout.”ĥ.

“… quietly wrenching … To say that this book is about grief or coming-of-age doesn’t quite do it justice nor is it mainly about being Asian American, even though there are glimmers of that too. It really does deserve to win all the prizes.” What a difficult, gorgeous and abidingly humane book. Life is complex, she tell us, quietly, and we are all in it together each one of us is only trying to survive.

But the human terrain, in her hands, is never only black and white … And it’s this that gives her story not only its richness and depth, but also its astonishing grace. There are some gorgeous drawings in Ducksof the snow and the starry sky at night. Her story, which runs to more than 400 pages, encompasses not only such thorny matters as social class and environmental destruction it may be the best book I have ever read about sexual harassment …

But its mood overall is deeply melancholic. “It could hardly be more different in tone from popular larky strip Hark! A Vagrant … Yes, it’s funny at moments Beaton’s low-key wryness is present and correct, and her drawings of people are as charming and as expressive as ever.

Memoir vs biography