Radical: A Life of My Own
By Xiaolu Guo
()
About this ebook
Xiaolu Guo has been lauded as a “voice . . . speaking with full freedom” (Wall Street Journal), which has made her one of the most acclaimed Chinese-born writers of her generation. She is the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author of Nine Continents and a Granta Best Young British Novelist. Her new memoir, Radical, is an exploration of a city, an electrically honest rendering of what it means to be an outsider, and the sojourn that upended her sense of self as a woman, partner, mother, and artist.
The world can seem strange and lonely when you step away from your family and everything you have built for yourself. Yet beauty may also appear. In the autumn of 2019, Guo traveled to New York to take up her position as a visiting professor for a year, leaving her child and partner behind in London. What she experienced, however, amidst excursions throughout the city and time spent on her own, was solitude and a destabilizing of self. Her encounter with American culture and people threatened her sense of identity and threw her into a crisis—of meaning, desire, obligation, and selfhood.
Radicals, or bushous, are the building blocks of Chinese characters; they are the “root” from which all words get their meaning. In this feminist lexicon, as she threads together her search for creative and personal freedom, Guo illuminates the integral role language plays in forming our sense of self.
Radical is an individual and etymological journey, and an ardent love letter. It is an expression of one artist’s fascination with Western culture and her nostalgia for Eastern landscapes, and an attempt to describe the space in between.
Read more from Xiaolu Guo
Nine Continents: A Memoir In and Out of China Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Lover's Discourse: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to Radical
Related ebooks
Wandering through Life: A Memoir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFall to Pieces: A Memoir of Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll, and Mental Illness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brown Boy: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters: The Tragic and Glamorous Lives of Jackie and Lee Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reckoning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing Is Missing: A Memoir of Living Boldly Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCondi: The Life of a Steel Magnolia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChinese Prodigal: A Memoir in Eight Arguments Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLetters from Attica: 50th Anniversary Annotated Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Sarah Krasnostein's The Trauma Cleaner Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hard Parts: A Memoir of Courage and Triumph Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Forever Mame: The Life of Rosalind Russell Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCacophony of Bone Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlood Brother: The Gene that Rocked my Family Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSearching for Savanna: The Murder of One Native American Woman and the Violence Against the Many Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Little League Confidential: One Coach's Completely Unauthorized Tale of Survival Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death Be Not Proud Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bare Bones: I'm Not Lonely If You're Reading This Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Sons of Omaha: Two Young Men in an American Tragedy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brutal: The Untold Story of My Life Inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Jennifer Dulos Biography Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKindness and Wonder: Why Mister Rogers Matters Now More Than Ever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sushi Tuesdays: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Resilience Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOrphan Bachelors: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twelve Years a Slave, a True Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dorothy Dandridge: A Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5There She Was: The Secret History of Miss America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Women We Buried, Women We Burned: a memoir Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Renegade: Teen Sex Trade Part Two Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnbroken: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Personal Memoirs For You
Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Solutions and Other Problems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Stolen Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Be Alone: If You Want To, and Even If You Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: the heartfelt, funny memoir by a New York Times bestselling therapist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yes Please Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Sister Wives: The Story of an Unconventional Marriage Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Stash: My Life in Hiding Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Writing into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mommie Dearest Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Choice: Embrace the Possible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pity the Reader: On Writing with Style Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whiskey in a Teacup: What Growing Up in the South Taught Me About Life, Love, and Baking Biscuits Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Radical
0 ratings0 reviews