When a Chinese American man marries a white American woman in 1950′s California, no one thinks twice.  Move them to New Jersey, surrounded by a  multitude of races and nearby New York culture, add the turbulent ’60s and fights for equal rights, and you may have some uncomfortable bumps while America stretches and groans to contain a birthing revolution.  Move this family to a small South Dakota farming community, however, one that has no tolerance for change and revolution, and you’ve got yourself a problem.

May-Lee Chai’s memoir Hapa Girl: A Memoir is honest, humorous, and painfully straightforward.  Reading now what were the facts of their lives 40 years ago leaves the reader in wonderment over the ways of human nature and its oftentimes adverse reactions to anything different.

May-Lee’s family was caught completely off guard when their new South Dakota town didn’t accept them, treating them less than human.  As the pressures of a lack of acceptance and downright hatred bear down on them, the family begins to splinter apart.  Written with a transitioning America as the backdrop, Hapa Girl is not only a study of racism and bigotry, but a study on the well-written memoir.  Chai’s style is sincere, often sarcastic, always brutally truthful.  Its consistency of voice and effortless flow make Hapa Girl: A Memoir a must-read for the lover of memoir.