Book Review: Crossings, by Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye

Necessary disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

There’s a grand tradition of Mormon (and ex-Mormon) women writing memoirs, from polygamy and temple tell-alls to coming-of-age stories to narratives of faithfully enduring the tragic to tales of everyday life and motherhood. Crossings: A Bald Asian American Latter-day Saint Woman Scholar’s Ventures Through Life, Death, Cancer & Motherhood is Melissa Wei-Tsing’s entry into the genre, and the title right away tells you that the author is not your average everyday Latter-day Saint woman. (Is there even such a thing? A topic for another essay.) Hers is a unique life, and, with a slightly more academic audience, Crossings could have easily been called Intersections, as the work touches on what it’s like to wear multiple identifies, as Inouye slips between fitting in and standing out and always works to ground herself in what matters to her.

More than many other works in the genre, this is a book not so much about a theme (“How I Overcame”) as about a life. There’s no thesis statement here, and no tidy conclusion to the story–as, thankfully, the author is still alive–but just a weaving together of bits and pieces about Inouye’s experiences. Like a necklace made of beads of different shapes, colors, and sizes, Inouye strings together mission journals, letters to her children, lectures to her students of Chinese history, Christmas letters to friends and family, doodles, and essays published elsewhere. The work gives a sense of Inouye as a whole person, not just a character on stage, and the whole person is marvelous; Inouye’s writing reveals her as wise, compassionate, funny, intelligent, and reading the book is like getting the best possible visit from a ministering sister.

Like the ministering program, though, the book combines the personal with the formal, and the two purposes are occasionally at odds with each other: some chapters are intensely personal, written for her children during and after her cancer diagnosis, while others are more intellectual, such as her closing lectures to her Chinese history students or her essays about religion. Both are excellent independently, but, as a reader, I wanted more glue between them: Inouye’s intelligence shines through the prose so strongly that I wanted more reflection and analysis from her, more commentary connecting her family life with her spiritual life with her intellectual life, instead of the presentation of all three as beads on a necklace.

Still, though, I’m delighted this was published, and by Deseret Book no less. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone hungry for authentic conversation about life, the universe, and everything. I’d especially recommend it to younger LDS women setting out on their own life paths; Inouye’s life isn’t a template for others (is there such a thing? Another topic for another essay), but her unique and intersectional perspective will proactively challenge stereotypes, build comfort with contradictions, and widen readers’ views.

 

Note: Melissa’s cancer recurred recently, which is deeply unfair. Should you feel so inclined, some family members launched a fundraiser to help with expenses here.