{"product_id":"take-my-name-but-say-thomas-dai-9781324066378","title":"Take My Name But Say It Slow: Essays","description":"\u003cp\u003eThomas Dai has never gone by his Chinese name, Nuocheng, fashioned from the Knoxville (Chinese: Nuokeshiweier) of his childhood and the Chengdu his mother called home. Seen another way, Nuocheng also contains the cheng of Chenggong: success. In one breath, his name speaks of a hometown, a geography, a half-baked promise to succeed. For Dai, every name is like a map, and every map can define identity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eTake My Name but Say It Slow\u003c\/em\u003e, Dai writes of a river that runs only in the mind and a queer map housed on the internet; of love carved on the rocks of Taipei and Arizona; of pounding the racetrack in Wenzhou, watching his grandfather fade from the world. He recounts a relationship that would literally go the distance from the American Southwest to China and back again, and a road trip chasing the memory of Nabokov, the writer and lepidopterist. As he reflects on the paths his parents took to build a life in America, he also asks what it means to \"return\" to a place he never felt he could claim as his own.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIncisive and gorgeously written, \u003cem\u003eTake My Name but Say It Slow\u003c\/em\u003e offers a fresh perspective on placelessness, yearning, and belonging, and introduces a sparkling new literary talent.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Thomas Dai\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1324066377\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781324066378\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e W. W. Norton \u0026amp; Company\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/21\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 288\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover","brand":"Thomas Dai","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46311361642751,"sku":"9781324066378","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_01901a3f-0c33-4b7b-bc5c-d36b84cf4f5d.jpg?v=1730889379","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/take-my-name-but-say-thomas-dai-9781324066378","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}