Everything Asian

"Everything Asian is a standout. Full of wit, humor, and heart, the book succinctly captures the struggle of an immigrant child trying to fit into American society—and in his own dysfunctional family."—Chicago Sun-Times

"Everything Asian has a tenderness underlying the humor and its characters are complicatedly human."—The Christian Science Monitor

"Loosely woven together from revealing vignettes about the interconnected characters that share 12-year-old protagonist Dae Joon Kim’s world, Sung Woo’s debut novel is a well-measured, carefully laid out storycloth filled with tenderness and great warmth. After five years of separation, Dae Joon (soon to be David), his sister In Sook (soon to be Susan), and their mother arrive from Korea to be reunited with their near-stranger of a father. The family, who together run an Asian import gift shop in a small New Jersey mall, must somehow re-establish their relationships with one another. Alternately painful and funny—and sometimes both—Woo perfectly captures the disorientation of a young boy caught amidst difficult family dynamics, negotiating a strange new world filled with both loss and discovery . . . Highly recommended."—Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program

"Woo has left us a thoughtful work, pleasant to read and one which tells the Asian immigrant story in a unique way."—UPI Asia/Asian Review of Books

"A tender, funny, beautifully written novel-in-stories, each a sparkling step in the coming-of-age journey of a boy straddling two cultures with remarkable humor and grace. First-time author Sung Woo has created both lasting characters and a timeless portrait of a community."—A. Manette Ansay, author of Vinegar Hill and Blue Water

"Everything Asian is a wonderful debut novel about the birth and growing pains of today's new Americans. Woo's marvelous characters embody truth, tenderness, and yearning."—Min Jin Lee, author of Free Food for Millionaires

"In its clear-eyed take on family and community, Everything Asian is Everything American. The proprietors of this roadside New Jersey shopper's village are by turns dreamy and despairing as their fortunes—like the local economy—change. Sung J. Woo has crafted a debut rich in character and event."—Stewart O’Nan, author of Songs for the Missing

"Lovely . . . explores the sweetness and pain of family life, the awkward glory of growing up. Everything Asian glows with delicacy, compassion, and wit."—Brian Morton, author of PEN/Faulkner Award finalist Starting Out in the Evening and Breakable You

"Wise, unsparing, poignant, devastating, funny: a remarkable novel."—Chuck Wachtel, author of PEN/Hemingway Citation winner Joe the Engineer and The Gates

"Funny, smart and affecting . . . takes on the heartbreak of being the less than ideal Korean American immigrant with a laugh. Sung J. Woo shows himself to be an astute satirist."—Alexander Chee, author of Edinburgh

"Sung J. Woo is my Featured Book of Color Pick of the Day. It tells the story of 12-year old David Kim who is a Korean immigrant who steps foot on American soil and instantly has his whole life turned upside down. Not only does he have to deal with his miserable mother and sister, but also his father who he hasn't seen in 5 years. Korean author, Woo offers the world a glimpse of the life of an immigrant through the eyes of multiple characters and should give the reader a real insight into a world they would otherwise not come into contact with."—Jeff Rivera, Galley Cat

 

"Cleverly concatenated stories about the experience of Korean immigrants make up Woo's loosely structured novel. The story initially concerns a brother and sister, Joon-a and In Sook Kim (aka David and Sue), revisiting Peddlers Town, a 'sad-sack of a strip mall' where a quarter of a century before their parents owned an intermittently successful gift store, which has since been torn down to make way for a Home Depot. After this brief opening we're whisked back into the past, to the time when their father set up shop, trying to become successful before sending for his wife back in Korea. David becomes one of the primary narrators, as he recounts with both humor and pathos his growing up and gradual Americanization. Along the way we meet other shop owners in Peddlers Town, including Mr. Hong, the only other Korean, who owns In the Bag, a luggage store, and Dmitri, owner of HiFi FoFum. Everyone's trying to make it, of course, not necessarily to strike it rich but to own a small piece of the elusive American Dream. Woo eventually shifts to a more neutral narrative voice, one that advances our understanding of characters who exist on the periphery of David's world. The Kims decide that to become more authentically American they should speak English, so they enroll in an evening ESL class, where they discover that the usually deferential Mrs. Kim is falling for her American instructor. The bemused tone shifts when an American detective puts out his shingle in Peddlers Town and then follows Mr. Kim, only to discover that on his shopping trips every Monday he's been cheating on his wife. A novel that both delights and instructs."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Newly arrived in the States from Korea in the early 1980s, Dae Joon, 12, does not know his dad and does not want to. Father left five years ago to make a home for his family in New Jersey. Now Dae Joon ('David' in America) and his older sister must adapt to a new world, working after school in Dad’s Asian gift store in the shabby Peddlers Town mall, attending ESL classes with their embarrassing parents, and discovering secrets and betrayal. Told in sharp, immediate vignettes, mostly from the boy’s viewpoint, this debut novel captures the contemporary immigration struggle, but it is also an elemental family drama of fury and tenderness, affecting all the characters. Dae Joon’s mother cannot speak the language and remains angry that her husband left her behind so long. But what about Dae Joon’s loneliness? Woo also shows the ironic satisfactions that come with speaking a second language: the joy of insulting locals to their faces without their understanding. A great addition to the titles listed in Booklist’s 'Core Collection: The New Immigration Story.'"—Hazel Rochman, Booklist

"David Kim, formerly known as Dae Joon, has just turned 12 years old and moved to New Jersey from Korea. After five years of living with his mother and his older, moody sister, he must reconnect with a father he does not remember and get used to his American life, which consists of going to school and working at his parents' shop, East Meets West. In a series of interwoven short stories, Woo captures both the difficulty of transitioning from adolescence into adulthood and the additional challenges of making that transition in a new country. The author presents, through the boy's perspective, a chapter about an American acquaintance who experiments with wearing pantyhose under his clothes. Woo imbues the story, like others in the collection, with David's overall sense of confusion about this man's American ways. With a mix of humor and drama, Everything Asian makes a fine addition to recreational reading lists."—Sarah Krygier, Fairfield Civic Center Library, Fairfield, California, School Library Journal

"In this charming tale of family, community and the struggle for understanding, young Korean immigrant David Kim learns to acculturate to a new American life. After five years on their own in Seoul, 12-year-old David, his big sister and mother reunite with his father in Oakbridge, N.J. Now known as Harry, David's father has a gift shop in a rundown strip mall called Peddlers Town. Though told largely by a grown-up David, some chapters switch to a third-person voice to examine other characters, including members of the Kim family and the other store owners at Peddler's Town (including an American with a cross-dressing son and a down-on-his-luck detective). Woo eschews immigrant clichés to focus on complicated familial relationships and surprising, sympathetic characters; alternating between humor and melancholy, Woo's text strikes a true chord while drawing readers into its strange, strip-mall world."—Publishers Weekly