Book Review- Hua Hsu's Stay True

Thank you to NetGalley and Libro FM for providing me with both physical and audio copies of Hua Hsu’s memoir, Stay True.

A recent winner of the Pulitzer Prize for memoir, Hsu recounts his childhood and college years, including the murder of a close friend.

I’m the same age as Hsu and what struck me most about Stay True was how Hsu so vividly captured young adulthood in the late 90’s. I felt transported back to that time in a way that I have not felt from any other writing set in that decade. It was a remarkable experience. Further more, having also lived in the Bay Area during college, I went to Mills and the author attended Berkeley, I connected with the setting, in addition to the era.

Prior to the death of his friend, one of Hsu’s primary concerns was establishing his identity. Visiting record stores and curating his music tastes is an important aspect of this. I remember doing the same in the late 90’s, prior to mp3 players or streaming, when figuring out your tastes and identity took quite a bit of effort and perhaps, even seemed more meaningful.

Hsu creates zines to reflect his thoughts and tastes. Zines are still around of course, but with blogging and social media, a zine feels like a relic of the past. Compared with modern sensibilities, a rapid-fire consumer culture and short attention spans, a zine is positively slow and permanent. It’s akin to a piece of art. All this to say, I had forgotten how we existed in the 90’s and the things that seemed so important when coming of age. Through Hsu’s writing, I felt nostalgic for those early internet days, before social media and before it was common to capture every moment with our phones. How do we know what is special, if we always aim to capture everything?

In addition to pop culture, Hsu’s identity is shaped by his family and the death of his friend. Hsu is a Taiwanese-American and an only child. I am also an only child and I can verify that this signifier has an enormous impact on developing identity. During high school. Hsu’s father moved to Taiwan for work. It’s hard to believe it now, but back during the 80’s and 90’s it was enormously expensive to make phone calls. I think of how lucky we are now, especially as my step kid’s live in Sweden and we can inexpensively speak with them whenever we want. But back then, even the shortest of calls, even calls to a nearby city, were prohibitively expensive. As a work around, Hsu would connect with his father via sending faxes, including getting help on homework this way.

Hsu’s friend Ken was murdered during their time at Berkley. Ken and Hsu had very different personalities. While Hsu sought out obscure bands and thrift store clothes, Ken was less alternative, blending in, rather than stand out. However, this isn’t to say that Ken was actively seeking to mesh. Ken was authentically himself or at least appears to be. Ken’s death during a robbery, shook up Hsu and their extended friend group, the first peer lost. I didn’t experience the loss of a peer until I was in my mid-twenties. It is of course shocking and upsetting to lose a friend, but there is the other level of the death of a person your own age. A confrontation with mortality when you feel invincible.

I was engrossed in Stay True from page one and felt emotionally connected until the last page. A fantastic memoir, one that I have been recommending to everyone. I’m sure with the Pulitzer win that it will get a big, much deserved boost.

Oh, and nothing to do with the book, but one more little side note. I discovered that Hsu is a professor at Bard College in New York, which is where I spent the fall semester of 1995, prior to having to leave due to a family illness.

Book Review - Michelle McNamara's I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer

Between the mid 70’s and mid 80’s, California was terrorized by a serial killer and rapist who operated up and down the golden state. In I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, writer and true crime enthusiast Michelle McNamara shares her obsession with the case.

McNamara died prior to finishing I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, and at the time of publication, the killer had not been caught. However, McNamara’s persistence and obsession with the case, helped it stay on the police’s radar and shortly after the original book was published, Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested. McNamara is even credited with coming up with the label, “Golden State Killer.”

Part cold case analysis and part memoir, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, is a fascinating look at one woman’s obsession. Her obsession was so deep, that McNamara’s husband, comedian Patton Oswald, even themed presents to his wife’s work. It also revealed the importance of the crime junkie community in keeping a case alive.

I have a pretty strong stomach for gore and this book has plenty of disturbing details, however, I found the way in which the victims were stalked, to be more than my vivid imagination could handle. I took months to read this book, not because it wasn’t compelling or well-written, but simply because I could not read it when my husband was traveling and I was home alone. Which is odd, because many of the victims were attacked as couples, so it’s not like being home alone was a main factor to his victim choice! In any case, this book made me feel very vulnerable and nervous about personal security.

If you enjoy true crime, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark is a must read. McNamara was a gifted writer and the point where she passes during the book, the shift to the people who finished her work is done in a delicate and meaningful way. Almost more intriguing than the actual case, was McNamara’s dedication to solving it.