Cliterature, the Vagina Museum's book club, offers you a generous and satisfying fingering through the feminist pages. We’ll include a mixture of fiction, non-fiction, essays and poetry. Everyone is welcome. Our book club is led by former trustee, Niharika Jain.
About the book
For fans of Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang, Disorientation is an uproarious and big-hearted satire – alive with sharp edges, immense warmth, and a cast of unforgettable characters – that asks: who gets to tell our stories?
Ingrid Yang is desperate to finish her PhD dissertation on the much-lauded poet Xiao-Wen Chou and never read about ‘Chinese-y’ things again, when she accidentally stumbles upon a strange note in the Chou archives that she thinks may be her ticket out of academic hell.
But Ingrid has no idea that the note will lead to an explosive secret, upending her entire life and the lives of those around her. Her clumsy exploits to discover the truth set off a rollercoaster of mishaps and misadventures, from campus protests and over-the-counter drug hallucinations, to book burnings and a movement that stinks of Yellow Peril propaganda. In the aftermath, she’ll have to question everything, from her relationship with her fiancé to the kind of person she dares to be.
'The funniest novel I’ve read all year' - Aravind Adiga, author of The White Tiger
'Fearless' - Observer
'Elaine Hsieh Chou's pen is a scalpel' - Raven Leilani, author of Luster
About the author
Elaine Hsieh Chou is a Taiwanese American author and screenwriter from California. Her debut novel DISORIENTATION (Penguin Press / Picador) was a New York Times Editors' Choice Book, an NPR Best Book of 2022 and an NYPL Young Lions Finalist. The novel was optioned by AppleTV+ the same month it was released.
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Useful information: If you can, try to get your hands on a copy via your local independent bookshop or library as a physical book, e-book or audiobook.
As this is a participatory event by nature, not a performance, anyone who doesn't engage - which can via audio, text, or any method accessible to you - will be automatically removed to ensure safety of all participants. Don’t worry if you’ve not finished the book in time for the session, having read some or most of it will help you take part in our discussion.
Live transcription will be enabled on Zoom for all our events. If you need a transcript after the event, please email us at info@vaginamuseum.co.uk to get a copy.