Everything Asian Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, 100 Years of Korean Immigration and our BookBrowse Review of Everything Asian.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. In the prologue we see our narrator, David Kim, reminiscing about the recently demolished Peddlers Town. His sister, Sue, joins him at the site for a kind of impromptu commemoration. At the end of the section, David says, "I sit back, close my eyes, and remember." Though we never return to this present-tense present, how does the retrospective frame enrich the novel?
2. In Sook to Noona to Susan to Sue. Across the book, each member of the Kim family changes. How does the new culture they have to navigate accelerate their transformations? Who changes the most? The Kims take on American attributes, but don’t leave their Korean culture behind entirely. Which changes does the author portray as losses, and which as gains?
3. All comedy is observational. Part of the fun of Everything Asian is how bizarre the Kims find their new world, New Jersey, and how they attempt to make sense of it. Where and how does the author take advantage of these opportunities for satire?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of St. Martin's Griffin. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.