Which Side Are You On

A Novel

By: Ryan Lee Wong

Narrated by: Scott Takeda

How can we live with integrity and pleasure in this world of police brutality and racism? An Asian American activist is challenged by his mother to face this question in this powerful—and funny—debut novel of generational change, a mother’s secret, and an activist’s coming-of-age

Twenty-one-year-old Reed is fed up. Angry about the killing of a Black man by an Asian American NYPD officer, he wants to drop out of college and devote himself to the Black Lives Matter movement. But would that truly bring him closer to the moral life he seeks?

In a series of intimate, charged conversations, his mother—once the leader of a Korean-Black coalition—demands that he rethink his outrage, and along with it, what it means to be an organizer, a student, an ally, an American, and a son. As Reed zips around his hometown of Los Angeles with his mother, searching and questioning, he faces a revelation that will change everything.

Inspired by his family’s roots in activism, Ryan Lee Wong offers an extraordinary debut novel for fans of Anthony Veasna So, Rachel Kushner, and Michelle Zauner: a book that is as humorous as it is profound, a celebration of seeking a life that is both virtuous and fun, an ode to mothering and being mothered.

©2022 Ryan Lee Wong (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

Critic reviews

Millions.com Pick

Literary Hub Pick

Enjoy this a lot!

Scott Takeda has an ambiguously jocular voice that is perfect for the book’s dead serious and hilarious tone. Dialogues are well-written and Takeda performs them well and I was also clear on who is speaking what. The story takes place within a span of week when Reed, our Ivy League-attending protagonist, returns home to Koreatown of Los Angeles to visit his dying grandmother, meanwhile inquiring about his parents’ revolutionary past. The story arc is a predictable yet no less satisfying ones, and Wong can really craft vivid and memorable scenes. The story is full of drama, wit and playfulness on a serious topic. Enjoyed this a lot.

Pleasant surprise

I enjoyed this. I think it took a very nice look into some hard truths about advocacy and the toll it takes on a life. The main character did grow throughout, maybe not as much as I liked. But very worth the experience.

hilarious, dead serious, and insightful

This first novel is a funny and insightful take a heavy topic: police brutality and Black Asian community relations. Wong recounts real world events to weave a narrative that draws attention to racial injustice while also contextualizing and complicating our understanding of the issues that are tearing at us today. The book is also a coming of age story of a young man trying to make sense of the world that appears neither logical nor fair. Reed, the protagonist, draws on his sharp and witty mother and his kindly and wise father for intergenerational lessons that challenge his woke language, yet keep him true to his quest for a more humane and socially just world. It’s a important and delightful read.