Exploring China¡ªin America

[lostinblue]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405...2997926720.html

 

The 12 stories in "A Good Fall," range from a piece about a distressed monk's suicidal thoughts to a story about a composer's tender relationship with his girlfriend's parakeet. Many of the plots hinge on language barriers. In "Children as Enemies," a grandfather whose grandchildren want to Americanize their Chinese names becomes irate, and moves out of the house. In another story, a China-born professor at an American college panics over a mangled English phrase on his tenure application. In the title story, a young monk who hasn't been paid his salary by a Buddhist temple feels he can't sue or find other work because he doesn't speak English.

 

Mr. Jin says the story collection started taking shape in 2005, when he was invited to a conference in Queens held by a Chinese-language newspaper. He discovered a flourishing immigrant community in Flushing, and began visiting regularly to gather material for a short story collection. Mr. Jin, who lives in Foxborough, Mass., made 20 trips to the neighborhood, visiting food stalls, bath houses, super markets and tea shops. For one story, he spent a couple of nights in a boarding house for recent arrivals that charges $15 a night.

[knloregon]

LIB ~ Thanks for posting this----this is interesting...