gifted by the publisher

combining memoir and cultural criticism, OD explores Asian American identity at the intersection of gender, class, and immigration. I love the sections about complex mother-daughter relationships, where Cheng contemplates aging as a daughter and mother alongside the women in her family. Her reflection on one's mortality and legacy, as she battles cancer, is another aspect I sincerely appreciate. On the other hand, I find the essays about race a bit surface-level and self-indulgent. At times, I feel Cheng is writing for an audience who's never met an Asian person, and thus relying on the model minority stereotypes to make us more palatable. The subtitle of OD is "How I Stopped Being a Model Minority," and quite frankly, I think the book did the opposite in showing why we need to be a model minority so we can afford million-dollar houses and become tenured professors. Overall, I love the memoir portion of OD, but some racial discussions lack depth