Biting the Hand

Growing Up Asian in Black and White America

By: Julia Lee

Narrated by: Julia Lee

Long-listed, New Yorker Best Books of the Year, 2023

Long-listed, NYPL Best Books of the Year, 2023

Long-listed, Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year, 2023

"Lee's narration of her brilliant memoir is penetrating with insight, raw with confessions, radiant with fury. Her meticulous writing is already stupendous, but the unguarded emotions that flow through her candid voice are a remarkable enhancement. Her tears of frustration and gratitude will surely prove contagious."—Booklist (starred review)

"Lee's narration is powerful. She communicates all of her anger and frustration at the racism she experiences and sees around her. She shatters the idea that Asian Americans are the 'model minority', clearly laying out her points while also imbuing her performance with intense emotions that come from living in America's racist society."—AudioFile Magazine

This program is read by the author.

In the vein of Eloquent Rage and Minor Feelings—a passionate, no-holds-barred memoir about the Asian American experience in a nation defined by racial stratification

When Julia Lee was fifteen, her hometown went up in smoke during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The daughter of Korean immigrant store owners in a predominantly Black neighborhood, Julia was taught to be grateful for the privilege afforded to her. However, the acquittal of four white police officers in the beating of Rodney King, following the murder of Latasha Harlins by a Korean shopkeeper, forced Julia to question her racial identity and complicity. She was neither Black nor white. So who was she?

This question would follow Julia for years to come, resurfacing as she traded in her tumultuous childhood for the white upper echelon of elite academia. It was only when she began a PhD in English that she found answers—not in the Brontës or Austen, as Julia had planned, but rather in the brilliant prose of writers like James Baldwin and Toni Morrison. Their works gave Julia the vocabulary and, more important, the permission to critically examine her own tortured position as an Asian American, setting off a powerful journey of racial reckoning, atonement, and self-discovery that has shaped her adult life.

With prose by turns scathing and heart-wrenching, Julia Lee lays bare the complex disorientation and shame that stems from this country’s imposed racial hierarchy to argue that Asian Americans must leverage their liminality for lasting social change alongside Black and brown communities.

A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt & Company.

©2023 Julia Lee (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“Biting the Hand—vivid, powerful, and empathetic—grapples with the story of how ‘America’ got made, is made, and will be made. The harshness of this story is often forgotten or misused. This book reminds us of some of its complicated truth.”—Jamaica Kincaid, author of A Small Place

“An awe-inspiring memoir that traces Julia Lee’s search for her place in America. Lee sheds light on nuances of the Asian American experience that will ring familiar to anyone who has ever struggled to know where they stand. This book is a must-read for anyone looking to gain a deeper understanding of Korean Han, the Asian American experience, and the power of resilience.”—David Chang, founder of Momofuku

“Biting the Hand messed me up, and I love it. The book was able to circle and ultimately pounce on something I’ve been afraid to write through for years. Julia Lee has really written a lush treatise on the politics of expectation. It’s phenomenal.”—Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy

Whiteness has been dealt another blow

May this book be another ingredient in the search for an antidote to whiteness!! I could care less what part of the world it originates!!!!

A triumph

This should be required reading for every American. What might seem a tangential accounting of the immigrant experience is actually a heartfelt and hopeful treatise of racism in America, replete with wit, humility, and an unapologetically strong voice.

She has something to say!

Interesting, engaging and funny at times. Gives you an inside look into a hardworking Asian family and the effect that had on a daughter with her own independent mind. Such an wonderful immigrant story that’s relatable to every immigrant in America.

Loved it.

This was a refreshingly honest look at the different but interconnected/overlapping experiences of racial minorites in the US, as well as a deeply humanizing work that does not shy away from difficult, sometimes conflicting, emotional realities that spring from those experiences. While the author uses autobiography as a hub and through-line for a lot of the presentation and discussion, the area she surveys is much broader than merely the experiences of Asians or immigrants or any single group. It was compelling enough that I listened to the entire thing over the course of a single day. Highly recommended.

I would love to wine with Julia

Julia's book "Biting the Hand" says everything I ever wanted to say. At first, I was thrown off by her angry, snarky tone since most Asians still fall into the model minority role of staying complacent and docile to American white supremacy while pretending to be radical like Ali Wong. I couldn't get past the first chapter but Julia is fearless in calling out how life is for Asian immigrants under the constant thumb of white supremacy and for those of us that do not come from privilege. Julia is also a Gen X and not a millennial like most Asian autobiography writers who have only started getting published in the last 5 years. As a Gen X, I could relate to Julia's experiences and views more closely than the millennial writers who frankly, have more privilege and are closer to gentrification into whiteness. A must-read. I can't wait for her other publications regarding this subject.

As an Asian American, I felt so seen

Never have I read an account of being Asian American that I have identified with so well. Julia put so many of my thoughts and feelings into words, and her experiences have been so similar to my own that it brought me to tears on numerous occasions. I cannot recommend this book enough.

A Beautifully Written & Performed Book

I loved every minute of this book. Julia Lee is not only intelligent but extremely understanding. Very honored to have been able to read this.

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Highly recommend the audiobook - powerful and emotional. I’ve recommended it to all my friends and family.

I LOVED everything!!

Thank you Ms. Lee for sharing your story, for being a friend, and teacher through your words. I am an immigrant, a political refugee who found your words to inspire, to heal, and to educate. ¡Gracias amiga!

The best book I didn't know I needed to read!

Well written and so very thought provoking. A brave deep dive and an often brutally honest look inside at the author's journey to understand herself and also her parent's experience as immigrants in search of the american dream. I heard the author interviewed on NPR and thought I'm an Asian American this sounds interesting. I laughed, cried, and nodded in agreement and yelling outloud hell yes.. a lot! I didn't realize how much I needed to hear this book. And I learned so much about what I didn't know in regard to indigenous peoples history all across this country. Thank you for your wonderful perspective Julia Lee.