In the mid-nineties, Hua Hsu was eighteen years old, designing fanzines, spending his days in record stores, and dressing second-hand. Ken was obsessed with Dave Matthews, Pearl Jam, and Abercrombie & Fitch clothing. One was the son of Taiwanese immigrants. The other's family of Japanese descent had been settled in the United States for generations. The only thing they had in common was that, regardless of how they related to it, American culture didn't seem to have a place for either of them. But, against their prejudices, they create a friendship built on long conversations over cigarettes, car trips to 7-Eleven, trivial moments trapped in analog photos and a constant search for their own identity. And then, just three years after they met, Ken is murdered. Be Yourself is not just a memoir of youth, it is a vital and aesthetic testimony of adolescent angst, the immigrant experience and the human need to belong. Determined to reflect on the splits and patches that are created in our memory, Hua Hsu writes in search of everything that we try to reconcile through literature.
