Last week, while staying at my son's place, I read Days of Distraction: A Novel (2020) by Alexandra Chang, a young Chinese American writer from San Francisco who earned her MFA in 2018. The novel reads like a fictionalized autobiography of her young life.
The story follows a young Chinese American woman, the narrator, meeting the emotional and psychological challenges of her relationship with a white man. It delves into timeless themes such as family immigration history, identity, racial and gender stereotypes, interracial relationships, and cultural differences.
As a tech journalist covering Silicon Valley, the narrator feels dissatisfied with her job and stagnant in her career. She decides to accompany her boyfriend to New York, where he will pursue graduate school. Amidst this move, she finds herself away from her family, friends, and familiar surroundings, just two of them, an Asian girl and a white man, keenly aware of the differences in their life experiences and racial and cultural backgrounds.
The novel's fractured structure, with its narrative jumping between past and present, research and reflection, alternating between narrative and silent introspection, adds a dramatic layer to the storytelling. This technique perhaps mirrors the author's intent to evoke the complexities of her personal reflection and fictional exploration of her own life experiences.
As the narrator struggles with the tensions between her Chinese American heritage past and her present romance with a white boyfriend, Chang experiments freely with new creative format and invites readers to appreciate her creation and contemplate the universal themes of belonging, identity, personal growth, cultural and racial differences.
To me, the best part of the book is the sense that Chang is experimenting with the book's structure and form without any restrictions, creating a unique reading experience.
Finally, while the novel receives high ratings from some, it may not resonate with every reader. Our reading experience is highly subjective, influenced by our preferences, expectations, and background. It is perfectly valid if, like me, you find the book didn't meet your expectations.