Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Pg. 69: Krys Lee's "Drifting House"

Today's feature at the Page 69 Test: Drifting House by Krys Lee.

About the book, from the publisher:
An unflinching portrayal of the Korean immigrant experience from an extraordinary new talent in fiction.

Ranging from Korea to the United States, from the postwar era to contemporary times, Krys Lee's stunning fiction debut, Drifting House, illuminates a people torn between the traumas of their collective past and the indignities and sorrows of their present.

In the title story, children escaping famine in North Korea are forced to make unthinkable sacrifices to survive. The tales set in America reveal the immigrants' unmoored existence, playing out in cramped apartments and Koreatown strip malls. A makeshift family is fractured when a shaman from the old country moves in next door. An abandoned wife enters into a fake marriage in order to find her kidnapped daughter.

In the tradition of Chang-rae Lee's Native Speaker and Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies, Drifting House is an unforgettable work by a gifted new writer.
Learn more about the book and author at Krys Lee's website.

The Page 69 Test: Drifting House.

--Marshal Zeringue