I'm so thankful to have received this wonderful audiobook copy of Biting the Hand: Growing Up Asian in Black and White America from Macmillan Audio, Julia Lee, NetGalley, and Henry Holt Books. I'm always down for consuming a wonderfully-formatted memoir that details the tricky horrors of growing up in the states as a non-white person who's used to the privileges that are allocated to this country's "ideal" citizen. Biting the Hand is set to publish on April 18, 2023, and I can't wait for more readers to get their hands on this beauty.

In America, we tend to think about racism in binary terms of black and white. Julia Lee does an excellent job of speaking out for Korean Americans, as well as other marginalized people groups. and how they do not necessarily fit in either of these binary categories. They are often "other" or "invisible".

Julie Lee grew up in LA as a second generation Korean American. She was a teenager during the Los Angeles Riots in 1992, worrying about her parents shop during the looting. Her parents worked hard to send her to an exclusive private school. She attended Princeton University and, later, Harvard. She talks with passion about finding her place in America in various spaces, especially those that are usually primarily white. She is candid and powerful in her discussion of how she felt coming of age with Korean influences, wealthy white influences and, as she gets older, more diverse and inclusive influences. She rages against the power of white supremacy and how it pulls everything toward it; however, she attends a conference that lets her see a broader view of how the world is not so binary but more complex with all sides seeing what they have been raised to see. She ends with inspiring others to make our country a better place for all.

I was very educated and moved by this book. I am always looking for resources on how people, who are different than me, feel and see the world around them. I think we see the world from our perspectives but when we read books like Julie Lee's, we see a different side and we grow and become more empathetic, knowledgable and understanding. I would recommend Biting the Hand to anyone who wants to hear another side to the American story and who wants to help create a space where everyone feels seen and has a place at the table.