Discuss the narrator’s relationship with his parents, who are at times far away. How would you describe the Hsu family dynamic?

Loving but gererational stress (I can't adequatly do it in two sentences)

Hsu's parents play a large role in the book. While they are supporting and loving, there is also an essential divide that separates them and Hsu. Indeed, this is the generational divide that separates all parents and their children. Commonly, this amounts to different taste, different social values, and different relationships to new technology.

At several points in the book, Hsu and his father address the differences between their generations. After Hsu sends his father an article he wrote following Kurt Cobain's death, Hsu's father responds: "Every generation has its own problem. For the young, being idealistic and feeling helpless at the same time is normal and necessary for the society to progress... Every generation has to face the problem and live through and try its best to overcome the frustration" (p. 29).

In this wise response, Hsu's father suggests that while there are many differences between generations, all generations are united in the fact that they each have to face their own problems. While the problems of the 1960s might look very different from problems today, Hsu suggests that there are more commonalities between generations than we might immediately think. Indeed, just as the youth of today are struggling to understand their parents, they will one day become parents themselves, and will, in turn, struggle to understand the problems their children face.