SOURCE: Beauregard, Guy. “Myths of History.” Canadian Literature, no. 154 (autumn 1997): 162-64.

In the following review, Beauregard discusses several works of fiction by Asian North American authors that address themes of history, memory, and multicultural identity. Beauregard observes that Typical American challenges the reader to rethink what it means to strive for the American dream.

Near the end of his memoir, David Mura asks a series of remarkable questions about identity and culture: “Does culture ordinarily form a net of remembrance, a safety guard against forgetting? Does it provide the individual with at least some clues, some vague outlines, from which to discern his family history? All I have are these doubts and feelings of loss, these questions which pull me on, step after step, a dance of folly. Over and over, knowing it is futile, I try to create my own myth of history.” An engagement with these...