What readers think of King of the Armadillos, plus links to write your own review.

What a fascinating novel about a young man and his struggles with Leprosy, unrequited love, an absent Father and a bigoted brother!!! I loved Victor for all he did to be able to return to normal society. This story has many twists and turns! Well written and great descriptions of the lives of all the characters. I found the Chinese culture very interesting especially from Herb's and Henry's perspective. Set in the 1950's gives us a glimpse of New York City, Louisiana and China after the Japanese invaded China. Wendy Chin-Tanner this is an excellent story, thank you for writing it! Also thanks BookBrowse for this First Impression book.

This is a story of Victor Chin, who as a child in the 1950's, has formed some lesions. The diagnosis turns out to be Hansen's disease, which is known as leprosy.

To receive his treatment he must go to a federal institution known to treat only Hansen's disease. He must leave his family in New York and leave for Louisiana.

This is a story of immigration, racism, fear of disease and the meaning of family.
You could feel all of Victors feelings and as you read, you want to know the choices he will make as he lives in the treatment center. This is a story of friendship, hope and love. At times, I would reread a sentence, several times, because the author has a beautiful way of putting words together.

Victor Chin is a child when his father takes him and his older brother from China to live in the Bronx in the fifties in search of a better life. But the discrimination Victor suffers because of his nationality pales in comparison to the ostracism and stigma he and his father fear when Victor is diagnosed with the little understood Hansen's disease. When Victor is sent as a teenager to the Carville National Leprosarium in Louisiana for treatment, he discovers that Hansen's is no longer a secret to be kept since everyone there has or had the disease. The author goes into great detail about the treatments available at the time and the suffering and setbacks endured by the patients, some of whom are cured, some not.

Although fiction, this coming-of-age novel sheds light on the reality of dealing with a rare, debilitating and feared disease. It is dedicated to the author's father, who was a patient at Carville, where there is today a museum of artifacts on the grounds of the now closed leprosarium near New Orleans. I highly recommend this very well-written story to book clubs as well as YA readers. A worthy nonfiction companion read is the memoir, In the Sanctuary of Outcasts by Neil White (2010).

A masterpiece! Read this novel for its marvelous story as you soak in the beauty of the author's poetic descriptions. The characters are unforgettable -- we learn of their backgrounds and secrets bite by bite. Some embody guilt, shame, fear, discrimination, icy self-control, wisdom, compassion, generosity. The main character, Victor, learns that one can never go back to the way things once were. Although uprooted from his home at fifteen, he is blessed to have Mrs. Thorne, Herb Klein, and Ruth. He finds himself in music and through interaction with his peers, he discovers that he has self-worth. His introspection leads him to the conclusion that secrets are harmful and a positive attitude is crucial in sickness or in health.

I am grateful to Wendy Cin-Tanner for her skill and her thoughtful introduction to a difficult subject. Victor was indeed victorious.

I had a hard time putting this book down. I needed to find out what happened to Victor, his family and his friends in the 1950’s. Chin-Tanner made them real people and I was invested in them from the first pages of this coming-of-age novel. Victor, a 15-year-old Chinese immigrant boy living with his father, brother and his father’s live-in girlfriend in New York City, discovers he has Hanson’s Disease (leprosy, a slur) and must be confined to the National Hospital in Carville, Louisiana until he is cured. At Carville, for the first time, Victor is able to make his own friends and decisions and discovers he has talents and capabilities he was unable to foster in the confines of his brother’s shadow.
As an educator I was able to visit Carville in the late 1960’s. Chin-Tanner got the atmosphere, fear and hope of the place exactly right. She wrote expressively of being a teenager in a state of anxiety and dread with great empathy and reality. The alternate plot of the family left behind in New York was equally fascinating. The oppressive climate of hot, humid Louisiana in the summer was clear.
Altogether this is a great book well worth your time. You will learn a lot about Hanson’s Disease and Carville, teenagers and their path to adulthood. KING OF THE ARMADILLOS is full of love, despair, hope, friendship, betrayal, passion, talent, family, and much more. Book groups will find a plethora of topics to discuss.

I was really excited to read King of the Armadillos. I loved the premise of Victor, a Chinese teen sent to a leprosarium in Louisiana in the 1950s. The book was well researched and I felt I got a real feel for Carville National Leprosarium. But, it was a very low, slow burn of a story. It took me a while to become invested in the characters. The drama focuses on the consequences of multiple bad decisions by all the characters.
Victor’s father came to the US before WWII, served in the army and later brought his two sons over. Their mother stayed behind to care for her mother-in-law. His father has a long standing relationship with Ruth, a Jewish woman who becomes a surrogate mother for Victor. When Victor is sent for treatment, the decision is made not to tell his mother. While there, Victor becomes friends with several other teenagers and develops his first infatuation.
The story is told from multiple POVs, including Victor, his brother and Ruth.
Chin-Tanner does a good job of giving the reader an excellent feel for the leprosarium and what was considered cutting edge treatment for the day. As a closed society, the racism and social stratas of the outside world aren’t in play.
The story goes back and forth between Victor in Carville and his family in NYC. I was very drawn into Ruth’s story and the situation she found herself in. One of the book’s strengths is its look at the Chinese experience in America. I did feel like the story ended abruptly and I would have liked an epilogue to tell us how Victor’s life ultimately turned out.
The story is loosely based on the author’s father, who spent 7 years of his early life at Carville. There’s a fascinating interview between the author and her father at the end of the audiobook.
The book was narrated by Feodor Chin and he did an adequate job.

I had never heard of Hansen’s Disease and had only heard of leprosy in passing; therefore, I had no idea that “leprosy” and “leper” were unacceptable slurs in modern English. When they packed people afflicted into clinics, it reminded you of how people with lesions from AIDS feared public perception. “King of the Armadillos” by Wendy Chin-Tanner tells this story.

Victor Chin tests positive for Hansen’s disease, and they ship him to a community in Louisiana. As a Chinese boy living in America, he fit the stereotype of a spreader. Preconceived notions about immigrants from China have plagued him his whole life, and this place is no different. He meets another afflicted Asian boy and fears the comparisons to him.

We jump back and forth between stories of Victor’s past in the family’s laundromat in New York and the facility in the South. The 1950s in New York were a rough place to be Asian. Victor’s temporary home, Carville, becomes the source of comfort, routine, and Stockholm Syndrome. The procedures walk the line between necessary and racist.

The rest of the book tells of friendship, young love, common bonds, and a love of the arts. If you awaken through music, your body develops abilities that your ailment says you should not have. Above all, Victor is a young man, developing crushes and broken hearts as anyone else would. I identified with him, feeling different and worrying about what others thought.

I enjoyed the stories about Victor’s father, Sam, as he struggles to improve his family's life in America. They help paint a picture of Victor's current state. Like any coming-of-age tale, the emotions fluctuate frequently. A typical 17-year-old, Victor experiences first love hardship and personal victories. The book does the little things right to develop characters you want to meet.

A magnificent debut novel about family, love, and belonging set in 1950s New York City and a historical leprosarium in Louisiana, following one young man's desire to not only survive, but to live a full and colorful life.

Fans of Jacqueline Woodson's Red at the Bone, Netflix's Atypical, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society will enjoy this novel.