BOOK REVIEW On boxes and coming out of them
Slant, the debut novel of MIT graduate Timothy Wang, tells the story of James, a gay Asian MIT undergrad. Immediately our minds start to categorize: He is gay and he is Asian, a double minority. Of course, there is more to a person than his sexuality and his race, yet somehow in the world we live in, we often find ourselves boxed along these broad lines. Add age and beauty (the skin-deep kind), and the world’s judgment on the person is very nearly delivered. This is what Slant deals with. It is not so much a story of coming out, or coming of age, or simply coming (ahem!) as it is a story of coming to terms.
A Boston holiday
I spent my holidays this year at a place few people on campus saw during break. Some people went home, others went on vacation. I stayed in Cambridge and Boston.