Matt McAvoy Book Review

Sharply scripted and hugely entertaining, with a bittersweet and very important message at its core, Only Half a Person is a biting indictment of society’s approach to otherness and racial difference.  But the real star of this book is how Rowland Grover goes about delivering the allegory, in multiple styles; he is excellent.  The book is a collection of essays, memoirs, short stories, fables and parables – with outright as well as more subtle themes, some of which were perhaps never intended for the public eye – compiled perfectly into this pleasing volume, which intensifies in its cynicism the more you read.  From this patchwork of articles, Rowland explains in increasing depth life as an American of half Thai descent, and the prejudice he faced not just from “full” Americans growing up in Idaho, but also from Thai people on his mission there.  The misunderstandings and racial jibing which he had no choice but to take in good humour as a youngster never went away; the questions people feel entitled to ask just seemed to get more politely acceptable in adult society.  As the reader, you grasp fully the frustration Rowland must have felt, and his greater understanding of the subliminal impact on him as he grew older, particularly when learning about his own mother’s experience. 

It appears, and you do like to think, that Rowland accepts and embraces his identity more now he’s older, with a family of his own.  The fact is we are all from a melting pot of migration, certainly in his native United States; some are just more physically noticeable than others, with narrower eyes or dark skin.  Running throughout the book is Rowland’s question of his faith (Rowland and his family are Mormons), which adds an additional, perhaps metaphorical layer to the “difference” alluded to, which has had a subtle yet collectively profound effect on his life.

This is not an explicit race-baiting, angry rant against the evils of the white man; it is a very cleverly and clinically curated number of the author’s personal creative work, forming a memoir of sorts, in a suggestive way.  They are fun and entertaining, and incredibly well written; the fact is, you could read the tales and enjoy them with or without the racial undertone.  But it’s always there, just like it appears to have been throughout Rowland’s life, and he has no shame in presenting it directly to the reader in the closing articles, set in a hypothetical future.  Most of all, though, it is a very good book of multiple styles, and great fun to read, with some cracking humour, some self-deprecating and some not.  Sure, it’s got an important message, but read it even if social allegory and faith books are not your bag.  You’ll enjoy it very much, I’m sure.  Highly recommended.