How to Write an Autobiographical Novel
by Alexander Chee
Buy on AmazonHow to Write an Autobiographical Novel is not so much a writing primer as a deeply considered memoir; half-European-American and half-Korean-American, Chee writes about coming to terms with his ethnic identity and his painful teens, during which his father died of complications from a car accident. He interrogates a history of childhood sexual abuse, embraces his homosexuality, becomes an activist during the tragic early years of the AIDS epidemic and learns to thrive as a writer and a man. Chee’s language is lyrical and accessible, whimsical and sad, often all at the same time.
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"How to Write an Autobiographical Novel is not so much a writing primer as a deeply considered memoir; half-European-American and half-Korean-American, Chee writes about coming to terms with his ethnic identity and his painful teens, during which his father died of complications from a car accident. He interrogates a history of childhood sexual abuse, embraces his homosexuality, becomes an activist during the tragic early years of the AIDS epidemic and learns to thrive as a writer and a man. Chee’s language is lyrical and accessible, whimsical and sad, often all at the same time."
NPR Books We Love — 2018 · apps.npr.org
Publishers Weekly's Best Books — 2018 · publishersweekly.com
"Alexander Chee's "How to Write an Autobiographical Novel" is probably the most recently published thing in the stack, and it's wonderful."
By the Book: Rebecca Solnit · nytimes.com