A MacDowell Colony and Hawthornden Castle Fellow, Leland Cheuk is the author of the story collection Letters From Dinosaurs (2016) and the novel The Misadventures of Sulliver Pong (2015), which was also published in translation in China (2018).His newest novel is No Good Very Bad Asian.
Cheuk lives in Brooklyn and teaches at the Sarah Lawrence College Writing Institute.
At Electric Lit he tagged seven standup comedy memoirs that will make you laugh and cry. including:
The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany HaddishRead about another entry on the list.
“I became an ‘energy producer’ at Bar Mitzvahs. Energy producer is what white suburban people call a ‘hype man.’ I was basically the Flava Flav of Bar Mitzvahs.”
If I had to choose one book to read before going to my grave, I would choose The Last Black Unicorn over just about any work of literary fiction. The book alternates between serious chapters that detail her relationships with abusive, possessive men as well as her violent, brain-injured mother and hilarious chapters about Haddish’s romance with a disabled co-worker and her quirky friendship with Jada Pinkett and Will Smith. Haddish’s inspirational life story is one of overcoming filial abandonment and poverty. It’s legit one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
