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NPR summer book recommendation (first in recording)
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Memorious
interview with Rob Arnold
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Minnesota Public Radio interview
— MN
Artists profile by Shannon Gibney
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Kartika Review
interview with Denis Wong
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AsianWeek Q&A
Booklist
The author of Yellow (2001) and Country of Origin (2004)
delivers another warmly humorous take on identity in this entertaining novel
featuring Lyndon Song, a sculptor turned brussels-sprouts farmer. In his
youth, Lyndon made it to the top of the cutthroat art world in New York City
but soon tired of the egos, politicking, and harsh criticism. He gave it all
up to settle in Rosarita Bay, California, a sleepy, foggy town ideal for
organic farming. But his low-key lifestyle is threatened when a developer
decides to build a golf course and needs Lyndon’s land to complete his deal.
Lyndon’s long-estranged brother, Woody, a disgraced financier turned movie
producer, makes a secret deal with the developer to work on Lyndon, but their
wild Labor Day weekend visit changes both of them in unforeseen ways. An
eccentric cast of secondary characters, including a fading Hong Kong kung-fu
star and a perpetually stoned surfer, adds to the merriment in a highly
appealing novel that swerves ever so gracefully from rollicking humor to
poignant moments of reflection.
— Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All
rights reserved.
Publishers Weekly
The trick to reading Don Lee's wonderfully silly second novel (after
Country of Origin and a story collection, Yellow) is to take
nothing seriously, even when you should. The book concerns the eccentric
sculptor-turned-brussels sprout farmer, Lyndon Song, and his estranged
brother, Woody, an uptight Hollywood producer. Lyndon's refusal to sell his
farmland to a golf course developer results in an unwelcome visit from his
brother, who has been secretly hired by the developer. The author has
corralled an array of misfits and minor characters—Lyndon's friend Juju, a
philosophizing surfer with a prosthetic limb, and Yi Ling Ling, a has-been
kung fu film star—to season the backdrop of the brothers' misadventures and
muster up some drama and didactic spiritualism. The novel's best sections are
lighthearted in their delivery, but hint at deeper substance and
self-reflection. At times the author starts pulling too adamantly at readers'
heartstrings, but before long he's back to slathering on the sarcasm. This
novel thrives on unlikely unions, unseemly humor and happy endings while
maintaining a constant examination of family and identity, in keeping with the
themes of the author's previous book. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of
Reed Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
A Bookseller
Lyndon Song is a Korean-Chinese farmer under siege by developers in a slowly
gentrifying (from hippie to yuppie) Northern California town. He’s on the run
from his fame as a sculptor, but what most people think is that he’s on the
run from failure. In steps his brother Woody, who most definitely is on the
run from failure, with an over-the-hill kung fu actress in tow, with whom he
hopes to remake a classic Chinese action flick. But it turns out everyone in
the story is either on the quest for fame and fortune or running from their
efforts, failed or otherwise. And on top of that, Lee eloquently and humorous
puts this achievement identity in the context of cultural identity and family
identity. Here’s the bottom line—I laughed out loud at some points and
started tearing up at others. Lee made me think, and this wonderful novel is
done, and I’m still thinking. Honestly, what more can you want in a book?
—Daniel Goldin, Buyer and Manager,
Harry W. Schwartz
Bookshops, Milwaukee