- Paperback: 220 pages
- Published: 6/1/04
- IBSN: 9781888451566
- Genre: Fiction
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Las Cucarachas
Award-winning author Yongsoo Park presents a powerful coming-of-age story of a young boy on the edges of New York City.
What people are saying…
“In his second novel, Park . . . paint[s] a painfully honest and often wickedly funny portrait of a young boy growing up in a crumbling, multi-ethnic New York City housing project in the 1980s.”
—Publisher’s Weekly
Praise for Boy Genius:
“Park has created an Asian Candide, satirizing political and national fanaticism.”
—Ten Magazine
“Boy Genius is a modern-day Candide . . . Yongsoo Park’s combination of popular culture, high ideals, comedy, and serious intent makes for a joyride of a read.”
—Education Digest
“Superb writing!”
—Clamor Magazine
Description
Life isn’t easy for 12-year-old Peter Kim. The super and other thugs in his neighborhood are out to get him. His best friend suddenly hates his guts. And he’s stuck wasting his summer babysitting his weirdo little brother. But things hit absolute rock bottom when his family’s apartment gets burglarized and he loses his most-prized possession.
Undaunted, Peter tries his best to forget about the burglary and move on. But his misfit friends, all members of the Warriors, just won’t let him. Spurred on by his friends’ teasing and the desire simply to shut them up, he reluctantly sets out to find out who ripped him off.
Set in the bowels of the 1980s, Las Cucarachas is a coming-of-age story that documents the most important 48 hours of a boy’s life.
- Subjects: Literary Fiction, Middle East & Asian Interest
- Tags: Yongsoo Park
Extras
Book Details
Author
YONGSOO PARK is a novelist, filmmaker, and playwright. His debut novel Boy Genius was recognized as a Notable Title for the 2002 Kiriyama Book Prize and as a finalist for the 2003 Asian American Literary Awards. A former Van Lier Fellowship winner at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Park was born in South Korea and now lives in Harlem with his wife. Las Cucarachas is his latest novel.