Mental Health Book By Asian Authors
Have you read these mental health titles before? Reading novels about characters who go through mental health conditions, be it the struggles or the journey to mental wellness and recovery can be helpful for readers to identify the symptoms and ways to achieve a positive life, even moreso if they’re written within a cultural context that addresses how nuanced these challenges can be. These books, written by Asian authors, specifically address mental health in the context of different Asian cultures, where often health is neglected to achieve high standards of education and work quality. If you identify with that, or have been looking for mental health stories that you resonate with culturally, here are some brilliantly crafted stories that are unforgettable.
1. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
It might sound like a dream for some to live abroad in another country, find a job you like and have new and amazing encounters. But this novel shows how being forced to move to a different country and struggle to earn a living in a foreign place can have long-term repercussions in the form of intergenerational trauma.
Pachinko is a Korean historical novel that will break your heart with how much hardships, discrimination and racism that a Korean immigrant family across four generations had to face moving to Japan. “Pachinko” is a Japanese word which means a slot machine arcade game, and the book revolves around the family who eventually works in the pachinko parlour.
A well-loved book all around the world, this also has a drama adaptation that’ll make you cry buckets of tears. Pachinko is inspired by the historical real-life stories about Korean immigrants and this novel focuses on an immigrant family trying to survive under the wartimes in 1911.
2. If You Still Recognise Me by Cynthia So
Looking for a queer mental health book that feels like a warm hug? If You Still Recognise Me is one of my favourites for its diverse representations, with protagonists Elsie and Joan as childhood friends that were born in Hong Kong. This novel touches your heart with how much time can change someone and finding oneself, after all the struggles, rejections and fear. It also explores gender and cultural identity, and how you don’t have to fit in a box regarding the way you dress, or whether you are feminine or masculine. You can be who you want to be.
The way Elsie loves someone is so beautiful, how dedicated and a down-to-earth character that makes you adore her. Her apparent struggles with her gender identity was one of the more prominent aspects that I enjoyed seeing growth towards the end of the story and also how she walked out from an emotionally abusive relationship that scarred her deeply. Joan is a brave character I relate to so much in her queer journey and the sacrifices she had to make from leaving the toxic environment she was living in.
One of the highlights in this book was Elsie trying to reunite two long-lost elderly soulmates and best friends together, through their handwritten letters and how she learns about herself through this journey. If You Still Recognise Me is a novel about self-discovery, love and growth.
3. The Silence that Binds Us by Joanna Ho
A raw and emotional read about the life of Maybelline Chen, a Taiwanese-American girl that has her life changed forever and her world shattered after losing her brother to suicide from depression. May’s parents face insults and racist comments about how they were the root cause of Danny’s tragic decision. This novel speaks loudly about how May fights back time and time again through her writing, despite being forced to keep herself silent.
The story explores the character growth in May and her resilience that brings a united and powerful community that breaks through stereotypes and injustice, by taking back the narrative they deserve, resounding their voices for all to know that change has to be made towards racism and elitism.
This is a heavy yet important book that everyone has to read about mental health and injustice in the system. Reading about May’s memories with Danny was the hardest and most emotional moment in the story that I had to stop and breathe for a moment.
I’ve listened to The Silence That Binds Us through an audiobook, and the narrators were extremely good at the different accented voices which really shone through during the most heart-breaking moments in the story. I would definitely recommend giving it a listen, which brings out an unexpected experience and impactful read.
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I hope you’ll find these mental health book recommendations by Asian authors relatable and enjoyable as you discover about yourselves and heal with a hopeful heart.
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