The Collective: A Novel - Hardcover

Lee, Don

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393083217 ISBN 13: 9780393083217

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012

Synopsis

A sparkling bildungsroman about friendship and betrayal, art and race.

In 1988, Eric Cho, an aspiring writer, arrives at Macalester College. On his first day he meets a beautiful fledgling painter, Jessica Tsai, and another would-be novelist, the larger-than-life Joshua Yoon. Brilliant, bawdy, generous, and manipulative, Joshua alters the course of their lives, rallying them together when they face an adolescent act of racism. As adults in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the three friends reunite as the 3AC, the Asian American Artists Collective―together negotiating the demands of art, love, commerce, and idealism until another racially tinged controversy hits the headlines, this time with far greater consequences. Long after the 3AC has disbanded, Eric reflects on these events as he tries to make sense of Joshua’s recent suicide.

With wit, humor, and compassion, The Collective explores the dream of becoming an artist, and questions whether the reality is worth the sacrifice.

About this title

About the Author

Don Lee is also the author of the novels Wrack and Ruin and Country of Origin and the story collection Yellow. He has received an American Book Award, the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction, the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, an O. Henry Award, a Pushcart Prize, and the Fred R. Brown Literary Award. His stories have appeared in The Kenyon Review, GQ, The Southern Review, American Short Fiction, The Gettysburg Review, and elsewhere. He is currently the director of the MFA program in creative writing at Temple University.

Review

Lee comes with an agenda -- an important one -- about ethnicity and art, but he also delivers a heartbreaking, sexy, and frequently funny story about fractured friendships. EW's Grade: A-  --Stephan Lee, Entertainment Weekly

Offering strong characterizations and thought-provoking prose, Lee addresses the Asian American experience from various vantage points...His novel has enough depth to spark uninhibited discussion in any book group and, given its time frame, will have special meaning for Gen X readers. --Shirley N. Quan, Library Journal

Lee smashes Asian stereotypes to pieces to present a provocative look at what it truly means to have one's identity tied to not just oneself but also an entire race. -- Carolyn Kubisz, Booklist

"The Collective" brilliantly sorts through issues of friendship, intimacy, idealism, art...Don Lee is a phenomenal writer that you absolutely should know, and "The Collective" is a book you absolutely should read. Get two pages in and you'll know I'm right. --Rachel Meier, Christian Science Monitor

A hilarious and winning story...this book's plangent, and also celebratory undercurrent, flows on, whispering to the reader that the other collective it speaks of -- friendship in youth -- is equally unstable, and prone to collapse. The best parts of this keenly felt novel will remind you why. --John Freeman, The Boston Globe

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0393083217
• ISBN 13: 9780393083217
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320