May-lee Chai
Contact
Latest from May-lee Chai
Review: ‘A Man of Two Faces’ author’s essays are about being an ‘other’
Nonfiction: Viet Thanh Nguyen’s “To Save and to Destroy” grew out of a series of lectures at Harvard.
March 31, 2025
‘Canoes’ may be the best collection of short stories this year
Fiction: Maylis de Kerangal’s eight tales are exquisite.
October 21, 2024
People live communally throughout the world; book wonders why we don’t in the U.S.
NONFICTION: Lola Milholland’s book is part memoir, part collection of “hippie” recipes.
August 7, 2024
Who are the ‘Real Americans’ when the wealthy are treated like superheroes?
FICTION: Rachel Khong’s novel, which dips into science fiction, explores the consequences of inequity.
April 24, 2024
This novel’s heroine enjoys a ‘no-holds-barred’ fling with ‘The Tree Doctor’
FICTION: Pulled in too many directions, she grabs some randy “me time.”
March 12, 2024
Palestinian Americans' stories intertwine in novel 'Behind You Is the Sea'
FICTION: The linked tales explore the immigrant experience in Baltimore.
January 11, 2024
Even unfinished, works in 'Songs on Endless Repeat' are not to be missed
FICTION: Portions of a novel blend with nonfiction in posthumous work from Anthony Veasna So.
December 8, 2023
Curtis Chin realized that 'Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant'
NONFICTION: The memoirist grew up gay and alienated in Detroit but his family's businesses taught him a lot.
October 11, 2023
This novel’s heroine enjoys a ‘no-holds-barred’ fling with ‘The Tree Doctor’
FICTION: Pulled in too many directions, she grabs some randy “me time.”
March 12, 2024
Palestinian Americans' stories intertwine in novel 'Behind You Is the Sea'
FICTION: The linked tales explore the immigrant experience in Baltimore.
January 11, 2024
Even unfinished, works in 'Songs on Endless Repeat' are not to be missed
FICTION: Portions of a novel blend with nonfiction in posthumous work from Anthony Veasna So.
December 8, 2023
Curtis Chin realized that 'Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant'
NONFICTION: The memoirist grew up gay and alienated in Detroit but his family's businesses taught him a lot.
October 11, 2023