China Boy - by Gus Lee (Paperback)

About the Book

Warm, funny, and deeply moving, Gus Lee's semi-autobiographical account of growing up in a conflict-ridden family, unable to fully embrace either American or Chinese culture, is an enthralling story of family relationships, the perils of boyhood, and the difficulty of being Chinese in 1950's San Francisco.

Book Synopsis

"What a knockout. An incredibly rich and new voice for American literature...China Boy grabs the reader's heart and won't let go."--Amy Tan, bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club

"A fascinating, evocative portrait of the Chinese community in California in the 1950s, caught between two complex, demanding cultures."--The New York Times Book Review

Kai Ting is the only American-born son of a Shanghai family that fled China during Mao's revolution. Growing up in a San Francisco multicultural, low-income neighborhood, Kai is caught between two worlds--embracing neither the Chinese nor the American way of life. After his mother's 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.

Review Quotes

Praise for China Boy

"What a knockout. An incredibly rich and new voice or American literature...China Boy grabs the reader's heart and won't let go...A wonder of a story."--Amy Tan, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club

"It would be hard to find a more all-American story than the delightful China Boy. Lee is a natural storyteller."--TIME

"Marvelous...one small boy's adjustment to Western culture...a pure delight."--The Washington Post Book World

"A robust, startling book...hilariously poignant...a fascinating, evocative portrait of the Chinese community in California in the 1950s, caught between two complex, demanding cultures."--The New York Times Book Review

About the Author

Gus Lee is an author, courage trainer and former Army officer, paratrooper, deputy district attorney, acting deputy attorney general, government senior executive, corporate COO and West Point's first Chair of Character Development. He and Diane have children and many grandchildren.