Bad Asians

In the whip-smart latest from Li (Number One Chinese Restaurant), four Chinese American friends are forced to confront the truth of how they view one another and themselves when a documentary about them goes viral. The story begins in 2009 when recent University of Maryland economics grads Diana Zhang, Justin Yu, Errol Chen, and Vivian Wang return home to their North Potomac, Md., neighborhood to weather the rough job market. While growing up together, they were friends with Grace Li, a wunderkind Harvard grad and aspiring documentary filmmaker. Back home, Grace convinces them to appear in her film, Bad Asians. The film is a hit on YouTube, launching Grace’s budding film career but pigeonholing the foursome into stereotypes, from overachiever Diana and basic girl Vivian to egotistical Errol and “hottie with a body” Justin. Li excels in her character work, picking up three years later to show how each of the four finds themselves following the paths they’d hoped to resist, and concluding in 2016 with Grace’s epiphany related to the film (“I saw clearly what it looks like when you live your life for someone else”). Throughout, Li offers piercing social commentary on the expectations placed on her characters and how those pressures were exacerbated by the Great Recession. Readers will tear through this. (Feb.)