Triplines

May 26, 2014
Touted as an "autobiographical novel," this first-rate coming-of-age story is the seventh novel from Chang (Crossings). Eleven-year-old Lenny lives with his dysfunctional Korean family in the rail commuter town of Merrick on Long Island. Lenny's "alcoholic" and "wife-beater" father, Yul, is a former member of the South Korean Navy and now a computer programmer who teaches Lenny judo moves when they're not quarreling and fighting. Lenny's religious mother, Umee, runs an unprofitable candy store when she isn't trying to shield Lenny along with his older brother, Ed, and younger sister, Mira from Yul's drunken physical abuses. Lenny excels in the martial arts well enough to defend Mira and himself from the neighborhood bully Frankie. Umee has a thyroid operation, and the financially-strapped Changs shut down the candy store before Yul buys a junker Cadillac as a prestige symbol. Lenny's growing up takes a large step forward when he befriends an older kid named Sal who secretly raises marijuana plants. He brings Lenny into the lucrative pot dealing business and teaches him how to set a "trip line" to guard his money crop. The Changs' domestic situation worsens after Umee invites her mother, Uhma, to come from South Korea and help Umee run the household. In Chang's sensitive narrative, Umee finds the fortitude to take the necessary steps to save her family during what the author views as the pivotal year of his life.

Starred review from June 15, 2014

Lenny Chang's life is on the brink of major changes. In the fall, he will enter junior high, and his older brother Ed is graduating from high school and plans to go to California for the summer before college, effectively leaving home. This puts Lenny in the spotlight of his violently alcoholic father's attention. Aside from his little sister Mira, whom he tries to protect, Lenny doesn't have many friends, spending his free time watching kung fu movies and teaching himself tae kwon do. But when he takes up with an older boy in the neighborhood, helping him grow marijuana, Lenny's world begins to expand. At the same time, his mother has finally had enough of his abusive father and files for divorce. VERDICT For his seventh novel, Chang (Fade to Clear) draws on his childhood (the author calls this work an "autobiographical novel"). It is an unflinching and finely rendered portrait of a second-generation Korean American boy's life. Recommended particularly for readers interested in the Asian immigrant experience and anyone who loves crisp writing and a compelling coming-of-age story.--Nancy H. Fontaine, Norwich P.L., VT

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2014

Gr 8 Up-A thought-provoking story of a Korean American boy growing up in Long Island with an abusive, alcoholic father. Though slow to start-the novel at first focuses too much on 11-year-old Lenny Chang's bad-tempered father and overly meek mother-the pace soon accelerates. Lenny observes his parents' marital troubles and financial stresses, tries to avoid his father's rages, and sympathizes with his hard-working mother. Though his father has few redeeming qualities, young Lenny does try to understand the source of the violence and drinking-perhaps it was his father's difficult childhood, or brutal experiences in the South Korean Navy. Readers will root for the precocious protagonist. He's teased at school by racist bullies, but because he doesn't speak Korean, he also has trouble fitting in with his mother's church group and communicating with his grandmother. The story really takes off when Lenny gets involved with an older pot-dealing teen. Sal offers to pay Lenny to guard a patch of marijuana hidden in a swamp, and then help harvest it. The protagonist soon discovers library research as a means to learn about everything, from cultivating marijuana to descrambling cable TV signals. The ending is harsh but satisfying. Though the novel has some flaws, such as the occasionally awkward third-person narration, this is a welcome addition to a multicultural library collection. Teens will relate to Lenny's desperate wish to understand his father, and his eventual realization that some things will never change.-Miranda Doyle, Lake Oswego School District, OR

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.