Novelist Jen (Mona in the Promised Land) compiles three pieces originally delivered as special lectures in 2012 at Harvard. She compares the Western with the Eastern interdependent self, and in her first essay, uses her father's autobiography to demonstrate this contrast and its implications for self-narrative. To a Westerner, her father's description of his childhood home contains many seemingly trivial details about the structure itself, with scant information about the individuals living there. But for him, Jen notes, the power structure of his world, as defined by the structure of his house, was most important. In her second essay, Jen discusses studies that measured perceptual differences between Easterners and Westerners. The studies found that, when presented with a passage to read or a photo to view, Easterners typically remember things holistically, whereas Westerners tend to focus on distinct aspects. Jen's third essay discusses her own writing and provides a look inside the mind of a writer who must often navigate between Western and Eastern thought. -VERDICT These pieces are as entertaining as they are insightful. Jen's readers will undoubtedly love them, and those new to her work should consider them as well.-Mark Manivong, Lib. of Congress, Washington, DC (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In this thoughtful-and often witty-volume, Jen (Typical American) presents three essays that she originally delivered as lectures at Harvard University in 2012. Jen, whose novels often deal with questions of ethnicity and identity, has created a self-described "mix of memoir, cognitive studies, literary analysis, and reflection" that tackles the interplay of culture, writing, and the tension between the Western concept of the "independent, individualistic self," and the Eastern concept of the "interdependent, collectivist self." In the first essay, Jen uses her father's autobiography (written when he was 85) as a lens through which to compare differences between Western and Eastern narratives of the self. The intriguing second essay more broadly addresses both cultures, and includes a fascinating scientific exploration about how the brain perceives and retains memories of events (the basis of the self-narrative), along with one of the book's more lyrical moments as she discusses the Westchester library of her youth. The third essay focuses on her writing and development as a writer. Meant for an academic audience, there is some thorny jargon, but Jen raises important questions about how we fashion our own stories and how cultural differences influence that process. Jen's humorous interjections throughout the text give a sense of how warm and engaging her lectures must have been. 22 halftones. Agent: Melanie Jackson Agency. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.