âWhat a knockout. An incredibly rich and new voice for American literatureâĻChina Boy grabs the readerâs heart and wonât let go.ââAmy Tan, bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club
âA fascinating, evocative portrait of the Chinese community in California in the 1950s, caught between two complex, demanding cultures.ââThe New York Times Book Review
Kai Ting is the only American-born son of a Shanghai family that fled China during Maoâs revolution. Growing up in a San Francisco multicultural, low-income neighborhood, Kai is caught between two worldsâembracing neither the Chinese nor the American way of life. After his motherâs death, Kai is suddenly plunged into American culture by his stepmother, who tries to erase every vestige of China from the household.
Warm, funny and deeply moving, China Boy is a brilliantly rendered novel of family relationships, culture shock, and the perils of growing up in an America of sharp differences and shared humanity.