Product Description

Superb, unpredictable stories capturing Asian American lives with mordant wit and unsentimental sympathy. A literary descendant of Dubliners and Winesburg, Ohio, Don Lee's Yellow is set in the fictional California coastal town of Rosarita Bay, whose inhabitants face not only fears of being ethnically "yellow" but also the universal terrors of love, failure, and abandonment. Warmly praised by Ann Beattie, Charles Baxter, Robert Boswell, and Stuart Dybek, these stories are evocative, slyly humorous, and novelistic in scope, featuring such memorable characters as Annie Yun, whose aching heart and passion for country music has her longing for a cowboy; ex-fisherman Alan Fujitani, marooned in romantic widowerhood; and the wildly competitive "Oriental Hair Poets," Marcella Ahn and Caroline Yip, in a battle of wits for the attention of Dean Kaneshiro, whose handcrafted chairs are museum pieces. The title novella, a finalist for a National Magazine Award, follows Danny Kim from his disastrous foray into boxing as a teenager to his ascent into Boston society as a management consultant—his life both driven and poisoned by his paranoid fear of racism.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1992673 in Books
• Published on: 2001-03-30
• Released on: 2001-04-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Set mostly in Rosarita Bay, a fictional coastal town near San Francisco, this debut collection from the editor of the literary journal Ploughshares traces the lives (usually the romantic lives) of a motley assortment of male protagonists. Lee examines the circumstances of Asians living in white society, as well as the differences and occasional tensions, mostly unnoticed by Anglos between persons of various Asian descents. "The Price of Eggs in China" finds gifted furniture designer Dean Kaneshiro caught in the middle of a feud between his girlfriend, Caroline Yip, and Marcella Ahn (aka the Oriental Hair Poets). Caroline is convinced that the more successful Marcella exists only to torment her, and Dean hatches a dubious plan to end their years-old rivalry. In "Voir Dire," public defender Hank Low Kwon grapples with his representation of a cocaine addict accused of beating his girlfriend's infant son to death. Hank's anxiety over the case and his occupation in general is exacerbated by the pregnancy of his own girlfriend, Molly, a blonde diving coach. And Korean-American oncologist Eugene Kim contemplates the peculiarities of mixed-race romances in "Domo Arigato," recalling an ill-fated weekend spent in Japan 20 years ago with a white girlfriend and her parents. Eugene wonders if "you couldn't overcome the hatreds of countries or race, any more than you could forgive someone for breaking your heart." Hatred and heartbreak, though, are mitigated by Lee's cool yet sympathetic eye and frequently dark sense of humor, as when, in the title story, young Danny Kim watches in horror as a drunk kisses his father on the mouth and proclaims, "I forgive you for Pearl Harbor." Agent, Maria Massie. (Apr.)Forecast: This appealing collection shouldn't be relegated to Asian Studies shelves. The fact that Norton is the publisher, coupled with word-of-mouth interest among the literary set, may boost crossover appeal.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Just imagine Annie Yung. She's 38, with a good software job in Silicon Valley, but now she's listening to Patsy Cline, wearing tight jeans, cowboy boots, and a "bleached-blonde hairdo that looked for all the world like a plastic stalagmite." She's looking for love in a cowboy bar in Rosarita Bay (aka Half Moon Bay, California). It's no surprise that the guy she meets turns out to have as many complications as she does. And Annie is typical of the Asian American characters you'll meet in these lyrical and intriguing short stories. There's surfer Duncan Roh, whose search for a woman to marry is getting nowhere. One of his lovers is a reference librarian whom he met at a meditation class where she was seeking relief from the great stress in her life caused by people asking stupid questions. She dumps Duncan for his lack of self-awareness. Each of Lee's achingly vulnerable characters deals with totally believable fears, plus an added layer of racial awareness. The final story, "Yellow," sums it all up in the struggles of handsome Danny Kim, whose perspective is continually skewed by his fear of racism. The Rosarita Bay setting provides connection, but the characters also mingle, adding texture to a compelling, beautifully written collection. Peggy Barber
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Ann Beattie, author of Perfect Recall
I loved this book. [Lee's] prose is sure, his eye keen, and his stories are involving, unexpected, and provocative.