Call number
Genres
Publication
New York : Thomas Dunne Books, 2009.
Pages
viii; 328
Description
You're twelve years old. A month has passed since your Korean Air flight landed at lovely Newark Airport. Your fifteen-year-old sister is miserable. Your mother isn't exactly happy, either. You're seeing your father for the first time in five years, and although he's nice enough, he might be, well--how can you put this delicately?--a loser. You can't speak English, but that doesn't stop you from working at East Meets West, your father's gift shop in a strip mall, where everything is new. Welcome to the wonderful world of David Kim.
Awards
Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature (Winner — Youth Literature — 2010)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2009
Physical description
viii, 328 p.; 8.7 inches
ISBN
9780312538859
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User reviews
LibraryThing member MarthaHuntley
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. In the first place, I like immigrant stories very much, and have ever since I read The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N as a child. Full disclosure: my husband I lived and worked in South Korea for 20 years, and we raised our four children there. So I was
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predisposed to like a book about a family of Korean immigrants. The family -- earnest father, yearning mother, maturing 16 year old Susan and often at-a-loss 12 year old David -- are certainly true to life to the Koreans I have known. Their interactions with others in the rather tacky NJ strip mall, Peddlers Town, where their "Everything Asian" store is located, and their awkward interactions with each other after a five year separation makes up the basic plot and structure of the novel. I loved the tenderly wry tone of the book that never sank into sentimentality. The novel's gentle humor, and humanity, is very winsome; it was a relaxing, happy read, especially in comparison to the harrowing and violent (though excellent) novel I had just finished, Child 44. Show Less
LibraryThing member JGoto
Sung J. Woo's Everything Asian is a perceptive Coming of Age Story. Twelve year old David Kim, his mother and sister come to the United States from Korea to join his father, who had emigrated five years earlier. They all work at the family gift shop which sells Asian items in a seedy New Jersy
" 'Do you like it here?' she asked, and I didn't know if she meant this store or this country or this planet. I was going to ask for clarification, then I stopped myself when I realized my answer would have been the same.
'Could be worse,' I said."
Alternately funny and poignant, the book explores the hopes and fears of David's imperfect family through difficult times. Several chapters are devoted to other shopowners working at the strip mall, and through them the reader comes to understand the Kim family better. Although the switch back and forth between first and third person narrative is a bit disconcerting, Everything Asian is a very enjoyable read and one I would recommend.
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strip mall. I loved David's endearing personality, which comes shining through with understated simplicity." 'Do you like it here?' she asked, and I didn't know if she meant this store or this country or this planet. I was going to ask for clarification, then I stopped myself when I realized my answer would have been the same.
'Could be worse,' I said."
Alternately funny and poignant, the book explores the hopes and fears of David's imperfect family through difficult times. Several chapters are devoted to other shopowners working at the strip mall, and through them the reader comes to understand the Kim family better. Although the switch back and forth between first and third person narrative is a bit disconcerting, Everything Asian is a very enjoyable read and one I would recommend.
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LibraryThing member CEP
A Korean family is reunited in New Jersey when mother, son and daughter join the father who has opened a store in a strip mall. The author glosses issues of assimilation/accommodation to their new language and culture and the internal struggles of the family. The father's affair with another woman
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and the mother's brief flirtation are not fully drawn. A few sections are a bit confusing due to time shifts that do not appear intentional. We never really get to know what is in the characters' heads--and as a doorway to Korean immigrant culture, the book does not offer very much. Overall, an okay read. Show Less
LibraryThing member frisbeesage
Everything Asian is the story of a Korean familiy's first year in America. The story is told in short chapters narrated by many different characters, but is mostly about the young son David. I enjoyed the many perspectives and felt it added depth and interest. David and his older sister are
Everything Asian lacks a little of the polish and completeness that would have made it a more engrossing book. Woo touches on some very interesting topics, in particular the problems in family dynamics caused by the father going to America 5 years before his family. nfortunately the topics aren't developed far enough to give any clear insight. Still, the book was pleasant and easy to read and I have high hopes for his next novel.
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complex, likeable characters and the novel has a nice flow that is easy to follow.Everything Asian lacks a little of the polish and completeness that would have made it a more engrossing book. Woo touches on some very interesting topics, in particular the problems in family dynamics caused by the father going to America 5 years before his family. nfortunately the topics aren't developed far enough to give any clear insight. Still, the book was pleasant and easy to read and I have high hopes for his next novel.
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LibraryThing member Heatherlee1229
This novel revolves around the Kim family, recent immigrants from South Korea. The father has been in the United States for five years, working in his small shop during that time, saving money in order to bring the rest of the family over. When David, the narrator and the only character we ever
Everything Asian really surprised me. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting, but I certainly didn’t expect what I got. I was hoping to like the book, but based on the description (and, not gonna lie, the cover didn’t do much for me either) I thought it would be okay at best. I was pleasantly surprised when I ended up connecting with the Kim family and voraciously reading about them in just a few short sittings. This book is incredibly charming – David is just so sweet, so naive in an adorable way, that you can’t help but feel for him and root for him to adjust quickly and be happy in the United States. All of the characters really endeared themselves to me and snuck into my heart – I couldn’t help but want things to go well for them. I really felt for the Kim family, I can’t imagine what it must be like to come to a strange country without knowledge of the langugage, start your own business, and create your own future. The idea itself sounds impossible to me. But I know that millions of people do it, both here in the U.S. and in other countries too, and that’s part of why I enjoyed the story so much. It’s fiction, but there are families living a very similar life all over the place.
The book is best described as a novel in stories. It is definitely a concrete novel, it follows a mostly linear timeline and there’s a clear beginning, middle, and end to it. But each chapter is absolutely a short story in and of itself. You could read any one of the chapters, and even though you may not be intimately acquainted with the characters, you would get enough of a sense of them to fully understand and appreciate what that chapter offers. This is not the case with most novels, and it’s clear that Woo has experience with short stories because each chapter is it’s own little gem. Really, I truly appreciated the crafty storytelling that went into writing the book in this way. I’m not a huge short story person, but this novel really worked for me. Perhaps because the short stories were part of an overall novel, I don’t know, but it was just wonderful.
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hear from in the first person, finally arrives to America he speaks almost zero English and doesn’t remember his own father. The book is the story of the Kims’ adjustment to living in America, as well as how they interact with those around them in the mall where their shop, East Meets West, is stationed.Everything Asian really surprised me. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting, but I certainly didn’t expect what I got. I was hoping to like the book, but based on the description (and, not gonna lie, the cover didn’t do much for me either) I thought it would be okay at best. I was pleasantly surprised when I ended up connecting with the Kim family and voraciously reading about them in just a few short sittings. This book is incredibly charming – David is just so sweet, so naive in an adorable way, that you can’t help but feel for him and root for him to adjust quickly and be happy in the United States. All of the characters really endeared themselves to me and snuck into my heart – I couldn’t help but want things to go well for them. I really felt for the Kim family, I can’t imagine what it must be like to come to a strange country without knowledge of the langugage, start your own business, and create your own future. The idea itself sounds impossible to me. But I know that millions of people do it, both here in the U.S. and in other countries too, and that’s part of why I enjoyed the story so much. It’s fiction, but there are families living a very similar life all over the place.
The book is best described as a novel in stories. It is definitely a concrete novel, it follows a mostly linear timeline and there’s a clear beginning, middle, and end to it. But each chapter is absolutely a short story in and of itself. You could read any one of the chapters, and even though you may not be intimately acquainted with the characters, you would get enough of a sense of them to fully understand and appreciate what that chapter offers. This is not the case with most novels, and it’s clear that Woo has experience with short stories because each chapter is it’s own little gem. Really, I truly appreciated the crafty storytelling that went into writing the book in this way. I’m not a huge short story person, but this novel really worked for me. Perhaps because the short stories were part of an overall novel, I don’t know, but it was just wonderful.
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LibraryThing member lkbside
I almost always enjoy novels and stories about the experience of assimilating into American culture. Everything Asian is a charming addition to this theme in literary fiction. Although at first I found the shifts in narration confusing (from the first person narration of David, the 12 year old son,
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to the third person narration of the other family members, friends and neighboring shopkeepers), I think the author paints a much broader picture of the family's experiences by utilizing this narrative technique. Show Less
LibraryThing member PeskyLibrary
David Kim, a recent Korean immigrant, learns what it means to come of age in an American immigrant community. Humorous stories of two cultures revolve around his nuclear family and the broader family he encounters in the strip mall where his family runs the "East Meets West" import store. Touching
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and extremely believable, this book will make you wonder if it's really fiction. - CKL Show Less
LibraryThing member kakadoo202
I wished the writing style would be more advanced that it is. It almost reads like Britney Spears or Miley Cyrus would have written. I always try to find books that teach me and bring me to a higher level. This book sadly fail to do this. The jumping from the view of the buy ( I) and then just a
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third person telling the story when it was about the sister confused me a lot. I really wanted to like it, but could not get attached. Show Less
LibraryThing member Salsabrarian
The focus of this 1980s era story is David Kim's Korean immigrant family who own an Asian imports store in Pedders Town, a downscale mall in New Jersey. In short stories, readers follow the family's ups and downs as well as those of their neighboring store owners. Every character has a compelling
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background and personality that draw you into the life of this mall community. Poignant, bitter, funny and hopeful. Show Less