image of person or book cover 7698661160296158851.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon Funny Ethnics single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 2023... 2023 Funny Ethnics
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'I looked at the streets of Yagoona through eyes stinging with melted Maybelline liquid liner. Yagoona looked back at me, the wannabe hipster who dreamed of moving to a share house in the inner west, and cackled.

'Funny Ethnics catapults readers into the sprawling city-within-a-city that is Western Sydney and the world of Sylvia Nguyen: only child of Vietnamese refugee parents, unexceptional student, exceptional self-doubter. It’s a place where migrants from across the world converge, and identity is a slippery, ever-shifting beast.

'Jumping through snapshots of Sylvia’s life – from childhood to something resembling adulthood – this novel is about square pegs and round holes, those who belong and those on the fringes. It’s a funhouse mirror held up to modern Australia revealing suburban fortune tellers, train-carriage preachers, crumbling friendships and bad stand-up comedy.

'In Funny Ethnics, Shirley Le uses a coming-of-age tale to reveal a side of Australia so ordinary that it’s entirely bizarre.' (Publication summary)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • South Melbourne, South Melbourne - Port Melbourne area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria,: Affirm Press , 2023 .
      image of person or book cover 7698661160296158851.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 288p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 28 February 2023
      ISBN: 9781922863737

Other Formats

  • Large print.
  • Dyslexic edition.
  • Braille.

Works about this Work

Book Review : Funny Ethnics, Shirley Le Thuy On , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: ArtsHub , March 2023;

— Review of Funny Ethnics Shirley Le , 2023 single work novel

'A debut novel that tracks the life of a young Vietnamese-Australian caught between two worlds.'

[Review] Funny Ethnics Hoa Pham , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: Kalliope X , Summer no. 5 2023;

— Review of Funny Ethnics Shirley Le , 2023 single work novel

'We start at the beginning with the title. “Funny  Ethnics” is a self reflexive nod to the non-Asian audience about to read the book with a promise to be amusing with cross cultural humour. Le lives up to this promise and more, with her insightful voice through Sylvia her protagonist. Non Asians may laugh at some of the foibles Le illustrates but Asians would too but also have ‘a ha’ moments of recognition.' (Introduction)          

Books Roundup Smashing Serendipity, Funny Ethnics, Birnam Wood Rosie Ofori Ward , Whitney Chen , Lucinda Bain , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , March 2023;

— Review of Smashing Serendipity : The Story of One Moorditj Yorga Louise K Hansen , 2023 single work autobiography ; Funny Ethnics Shirley Le , 2023 single work novel
Funny Ethnics by Shirley Le Review : A Second-generation Migrant Wrestles with Longing and Belonging Sarah Ayoub , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 3 March 2023;

— Review of Funny Ethnics Shirley Le , 2023 single work novel
Funny Ethnics by Shirley Le Review : A Second-generation Migrant Wrestles with Longing and Belonging Sarah Ayoub , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 3 March 2023;

— Review of Funny Ethnics Shirley Le , 2023 single work novel
Books Roundup Smashing Serendipity, Funny Ethnics, Birnam Wood Rosie Ofori Ward , Whitney Chen , Lucinda Bain , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , March 2023;

— Review of Smashing Serendipity : The Story of One Moorditj Yorga Louise K Hansen , 2023 single work autobiography ; Funny Ethnics Shirley Le , 2023 single work novel
[Review] Funny Ethnics Hoa Pham , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: Kalliope X , Summer no. 5 2023;

— Review of Funny Ethnics Shirley Le , 2023 single work novel

'We start at the beginning with the title. “Funny  Ethnics” is a self reflexive nod to the non-Asian audience about to read the book with a promise to be amusing with cross cultural humour. Le lives up to this promise and more, with her insightful voice through Sylvia her protagonist. Non Asians may laugh at some of the foibles Le illustrates but Asians would too but also have ‘a ha’ moments of recognition.' (Introduction)          

Book Review : Funny Ethnics, Shirley Le Thuy On , 2023 single work review
— Appears in: ArtsHub , March 2023;

— Review of Funny Ethnics Shirley Le , 2023 single work novel

'A debut novel that tracks the life of a young Vietnamese-Australian caught between two worlds.'

Last amended 6 Apr 2023 12:31:27
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