Review
Min's thematically rich debut set in an indeterminate
point sometime in the late '60s or early '70s explores coming of age,
definitions of beauty, and the trials of growing up between two cultures.
Isa's story opens with her as a patient in the pediatric burns unit of Albany
hospital, New York following a fire that killed her parents and destroyed their
house. How she got there comprises the rest of the story, which consists
of a swirl of adolescent angst, failures of communication between parents and
child, racial prejudice and a rather too graphic affair with another "outsider"
- an albino boy by the name of Hero.
Like a teenager's emotions, the plot
is a little erratic at times. Nevertheless, Min ably explores and expresses the dilemma
faced by many second-generation children, particularly of Asian origin, whose
parents came to America in search...
Beyond the Book
Katherine Min was born in
Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and
graduated from Amherst College and the
Columbia School of Journalism. She
currently teaches at Plymouth State
University and the Iowa Summer Writing
Festival.
Her short stories have appeared in many
publications and have been anthologized,
most recently in The Pushcart Book of
Stories: The Best Short Stories from a
Quarter-Century of The Pushcart Prize.
"Eyelids" was listed as one of 100
distinguished stories in The Best
American Short Stories of 1997. "The
Brick" was read on National Public
Radio's Selected Shorts...
