This novel of a young Samoan-American's search for authenticity is "a rollercoaster ride inside the haunted house of American multi-cultural sin and shame" (Sherman Alexie).
The twenty-eight-year-old mixed-race son of a Samoan immigrant, Paul Tusifale is desperate to find his place in an American culture that barely acknowledges his existence. Within the Silicon Valley landscape of grass-roots activists and dotcom headquarters, where the plight of migrant workers is ever-present, Paul drifts on and off the radar.
An unemployed drifter who defiantly-even violently-defends those in need, Paul soon discovers that life as an urban Robin Hood will never provide the answers he seeks. So he decides to try the straight-and-narrow: getting a job, obeying the law, and reconnecting with his family. Along the way, Paul moves through the lives of sinister old friends, suburban cranksters, and septuagenarian swingers.
A dynamic addition to America's diverse literature of the outsider, What We Are brings to life the pull of a departed father's homeland, the anger of class divisions, the noise of the evening news, and the pathos of the disengaged.
"Peter Nathaniel Malae is the real deal. He's like a young Nelson Algren or Richard Wright, one of those writers who can hit with both hands." -Russell Banks

Peter Nathaniel Malae is also the author of the story collection, Teach the Free Man, a finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award and a notable book selection by the Story Prize.