Stay True by Hua Hsu

I read this book solely based on the hoopla around it, that it was one of the five best non-fiction books of 2022 according to the New York Times. I did not know what the memoir was about, and if you want the same experience, to be surprised, then stop reading now. When a meandering story about a first generation immigrant whose parents are toying with the idea of going back to Taiwan veers suddenly into senseless violence I was taken by surprise. The murder of a college friend lies at the heart of this story. The friend, Ken, was shot dead at 20 years old in Vallejo, Calif., early one Sunday morning in July 1998, after a party in Berkeley. In the lead up to this tragic event we get to know Ken and see why he was so important to the author on many levels. The murder itself was an inept robbery that devolved into violence, and Ken’s assailants were quickly apprehended and jailed. The book describes both the buildup and the aftermath with devastating emotional precision, questioning the possibility of meaning in tragedy and the value of the stories we tell while attempting to find it. It is a thoughtful, affecting book--I was thinking not at the tippy top of the 2022 heap, but it has left me thinking about it, so maybe I am wrong about that.