Hello Kitty Must Die

By Angela S Choi

On the outside, twenty-eight-year-old Fiona Yu appears to be just another Hello Kitty--an educated, well-mannered Asian American woman. Secretly, she feels torn between the traditional Chinese values of her family and the social mores of being an American girl.

To escape the burden of carrying her family's honor, Fiona decides to take her own virginity. In the process, she makes a surprising discovery that reunites her with a long-lost friend, Sean Killroy. Sean introduces her to a dark world of excitement, danger, cunning, and cruelty, pushing her to the limits of her own morality. But Fiona's father throws her new life into disarray when he dupes her into an overnight trip that results in a hasty engagement to Don Koo, the spoiled son of a wealthy chef.

Determined to thwart her parents' plans to marry her off into Asian suburbia, Fiona seeks her freedom at any price. How far will she go to bury the Hello Kitty stereotype forever? Fiona's journey of self-discovery is biting and clever as she embraces her true nature and creates her own version of the American Dream, eliminating--without fear or remorse--anyone who stands in her way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gallery Books
• Release date: Apr 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781440530807

Angela S Choi

Angela S. Choi is the author of Hello Kitty Must Die. Born in Hong Kong, she is proficient in the art of profanity in both Cantonese and English. She lives in San Francisco. 

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Reviews for Hello Kitty Must Die

[ericnguyen09_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"Everyone has to die," is the mantra of this debut concerning culture, Kurt Cobain, missing hymens, and multiple murders. Tagged as Fight Club meets The Joy Luck Club, this is perhaps the most refreshing book you'll read all year, and the first of its kind in Asian American lit: a transgressive, satrical meditation on femininity and culture.28 year-old Fiona Yu, hates Hello Kitties, Asian girls who fall into stereotypes of both their culture and the American culture. To prove it, she attempts to take her own virginity, thereby sticking it to her traditional parents, while at the same time, proving that she is her own woman: she needs no man. Indeed, Fiona proves to be an asexual character (an amoeba is what she is called); she is an outsider in a world of matchmakers, where she wants nothing do with other people. Enter Sean Killroy, an old friend who after years in juvenile hall for burning a girl's hair, reunites with his best friend in the doctor's office (his doctor's office) and together they make the perfect match: two misanthrope and a world full of people, and there's a lot of God's work to do.What follows is a hilarious killing spree that at the same time satirizes Asian culture, American culture, people culture, femininity, and norms of every type. It becomes absurd and unbelievable at times, but like Palahniuk, one of her influences, Choi makes sure to makes the type of left field absurd that is the cornerstone of transgressive lit: by picturing stuff that can't possibly happen, Choi points to the stuff that is happening: the power of norms, the absurdity of excess, love as culturally invented and constructed. While not all feminists will agree with Choi (some see her as classist a la Candace Bushnell), as a writer Choi is funny and pitch perfect, writing the type of debut you stay up all night to read.

[wellredhead · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Imagine the un-named narrator of Fight Club was not only seperate from Tyler Durden but was a female, Chinese-American lawyer being pressured to find a husband by her traditional parents. Did I mention the lawyer is missing her hymen, which totally ruins the fact she's saved her virginity for her family's honor until the age of 28? You might have some rage issues too!

[lindasuebrown · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Ok, so the opening sentence has great shock value. But move beyond that, and you get into more clever, fresh, biting (and no, no vampires in this one) humor. Aisan-American Fiona Yu takes on her family and Chinese culture to become a self-sufficient, unmarried, child-free career woman. Let the bodies fall where they may. Fiona Yu does the things some of us may occasionally fantasize about. And she gets away with it.

[kkisser_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The best serial killer story for people not interested in reading about serial killers told through the eyes of Chinese-American lawyer fighting against her cultural traditions and a family dead set on getting her married to a nice Chinese boy. The story is laugh-out-loud funny in it's description of Fiona's family and herself.

[pghdragonman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you love that ubiquitous little Japanese icon of kitsch . . . this book is NOT for you. If you are a fan of Chuck Palahniuk' s work, however, this might be for you. It is sort of a Asian Girl's Guide How Not To Date. To say any more would be to give too much away except that this is not an Amy Tan novel either.Angelina Choi takes us across may cultural taboos concerning dating and family honor and it is not too much of a stretch to say that this plot line could easily be adapted to any ethnicity, it just happens to be Chinese in this case.Very dark, but very humorous in a twisted sort of way that fans of the surreal will enjoy. Not your typical summer reading fare, but hard to put down. Four stars for me on this as it is just short of groundbreaking!

[megwesley · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well, I just finished the book. It was much more interesting than I thought it would be. Actually, it was nothing like I thought it would be. **Warning: Possible Spoilers Ahead**It starts out about a Chinese-American woman who is having issues with her family. Mainly, she doesn't want to get married and her dad keeps setting her up with other Chinese guys. It starts off as a very feminist book. After all, she wants to take her own virginity because she doesn't want to give it up to a guy. But then her friend Sean is introduced and things start turning darker.Lots of black humor. There were parts of it that had me laughing out loud. There were parts of it that made me wonder why I was reading this. But, at the end, the term Hello Kitty really stands for something. A female that does whatever her family says and who doesn't do anything to stand up for herself. It is interesting. I would willingly read another book by this author.

[librookian · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Imagine the un-named narrator of Fight Club was not only seperate from Tyler Durden but was a female, Chinese-American lawyer being pressured to find a husband by her traditional parents. Did I mention the lawyer is missing her hymen, which totally ruins the fact she's saved her virginity for her family's honor until the age of 28? You might have some rage issues too!