Mongrel: Essays, Diatribes, + Pranks by Justin Chin

From the Publisher

In a time when memoirs are often less than they claim to be and essays do not say enough, Justin Chin breaks onto the scene with a collection that is a combination of confession, tirade, journalism, and practical joke.

Mongrel is a cross-section of Chin's imagination and experiences that calls into question what it means to be an Asian-American in San Francisco, the effect your family will always have on you, and the role sexuality plays in your life. Whether it be Internet pornography or family history, Chin manages to dig deep and uncover not only the truths of everyday life, but also the absurdities that surround them.

Mongrel is an exploration and distillation of the experiences and imagination of a gay Asian-American whose sensibilities were formed by the maelstrom of '80s American pop culture. A unique collection from a brash, funny new voice.

What People Are Saying

Felice Picano
Justin Chin is so terrific in live performances that I was afraid his prose couldn't live up to my expectations. I was wrong. Mongrel is ferocious, challenging, funny, deadpan, moving, and yes, it opened up a new reality to me. Chin is the Gonzo-Montaigne of our post-Foucault, post-Brady Bunch generation.
—Felice Picano, author of Like People in History

Tim Miller
Justin Chin joyously picks at the scab of these times to peek at what our flesh really looks like underneath. In this juicy collection, Mongrel, no subject is off-limits as Chin humorously explores the hot buttons of sex, class, race, and even proctology!
—Tim Miller, author of Shirts & Skins

Product Details

• Table of Contents
• Read a Sample Chapter

Table of Contents

Read a Sample Chapter

CHAIN LETTER

Dear Friend of Literature:

Enclosed is a very good book. In fact, it is more than supergood. Itis fucking brilliant. Please take the time out to read the book andrecommend it to eight others. If you do not wish to read the book orfind that you cannot finish it for whatever reason (book too long, tooverbose, failing eyesight, leprosy, etc.), please give the book to someoneelse who will appreciate it and also recommend it to eightothers. PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE THIS LETTER. Aloysious Wong, ofHoboken, heeded it and now his first novel, I Don't Know WhatRace I Am (I'm So Confused), is currently being shopped aroundat A MAJOR NEW YORK PUBLISHER with film rights in theworks. On the other hand, Geri-Ann Shimizu, of Honolulu, choseto ignore this letter and, to date, her only publishing credit is herpoem "Flip Flops at Sandy Beach," published in the spring 1998issue of Bamboo Canyon. It was on the left side of a Juli-AnnaShibata Lee-Nelson poem and so only four people read it. The fifthreader, Geri-Ann's babe, Scott Nishimoto-Newman, only made ithalfway through because he couldn't understand it. CatherinaSung, of White Christmas Valley Canyon, received this chain andchose to ignore it and her second book, Memories of Sewing andCooking with My Mother, went unnoticed. She later rememberedthe chain and passed it on and her third book, A Sewing andCooking Girlhood, is currently #11 at the Waimea Barnes andNoble bestest-seller list. Her neighbor also carried on the chain andher dog had beautiful puppies. M Prince, of Twenty NinePalms,California, broke the chain and he developed several canker soreswhile reading the new John Grisham best-seller and could notenjoy the book. You get the picture. Please do not break the chain.We want only good things to happen to you. THIS IS NOT AJOKE. Do it now and good things will befall you.

Thank you.

---

Excerpted from MONGREL by Justin Chin. Copyright © 1999 by Justin Chin. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

---