Monday, July 29, 2013

On my nightstand: The Collective


Started this and now I can't put it down.

I heard this great interview on NPR with author Don Lee and immediately had to pick up his book, The Collective. In the interview with "Here & Now" host Robin Young, Lee discusses the young Asian American experience-- both his characters' and his own-- and of course my ears perked up.

"Eric is third generation Korean American. He grew up in Mission Viejo and thinks of himself as American," Young says at the beginning of the interview. Wait, what? Mission Viejo? One of the characters is from Orange County?

Now I really have to read this, I thought.

So that afternoon, I called my local library and reserved my copy of The Collective. I'm on chapter eight and totally engrossed with Eric, Joshua and Jessica -- the threesome who create The 3AC (Asian American Artists Collective). 

As an Orange County girl and second generation Korean American, I feel like I know these characters because in a way, I am these characters.

Love, friendship and, I am told, betrayal ensue. I can't wait to read how the story ends...