The Sense of Wonder

The Sense of Wonder
Matthew Salesses
RRP:
NZ$ 50.00
Our Price:
NZ$ 40.00
Hardback
h235 x 152mm - 256pg
17 Jan 2023 US
Eta 3-5 days from NZ Market Release
9780316425711
Out Of Stock
- Preorder Title for delivery after release -
From the author of Pen/Faulkner finalist Disappear Doppelganger Disappear and Craft in the Real World comes a searing masterwork on the ways Asian Americans navigate the thorny worlds of sports and entertainment when everything is stacked against them. An Asian American basketball star walks into a gym. No one recognizes him, but everyone stares anyway. It is the start of a joke but who is the punchline? When Won Lee, the first Asian American in the NBA, stuns the world in a seven-game winning streak, the global media audience dubs it The Wonder much to Won s chagrin. Meanwhile, Won struggles to get attention from his coach, his peers, his fans, and most importantly, his hero, Powerball!, who also happens to be Won s teammate and the captain of the team. Covering it all is sportswriter Robert Sung, who writes about Won' s stardom while grappling with his own missed hoops opportunities as well as his own place as an Asian American in media. And to witness it all is Carrie Kang, a big studio producer, who juggles a newfound relationship with Won while attempting to bring KDrama to an industry not known to embrace anything new or different. The Sense of Wonder follows Won and Carrie as they chronicle the human and professional tensions exacerbated by injustices, fighting to be seen and heard on some of the world s largest stages. An incredibly funny and heart rendering dive into race and our collective imagination that lays bare our limitations before blasting joyfully past them. (Catherine Chung) This is the work of a gifted storyteller at the top of his game.
"[Salesses' s] storytelling is crisp while avoiding easy frothiness. A smart, very meta take on love, sports, race, and media. "--Kirkus Reviews "A remarkable novel of love, obstacles, and possibilities. . . The Sense of Wonder explores multiple Korean American experiences through vivid, unforgettable characters. [Readers] will love the depth of the characters' perspectives on being people of color in a white-dominated society. "--Booklist "A brilliant and scathing chronicle of two Asian Americans as they try to find their place in contemporary sports and media. . . Salesses fills the page with all the bold, kinetic confidence of an athlete striding onto the court. "--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Matthew Salesses' s new novel is so freaking good I can' t stand it. Blistering, confident, full of swagger and heart, it is also an exhilaratingly smart treatise on race and our collective imagination that lays bare our limitations before blasting joyfully past them. A must read!"--Catherine Chung, author of The Tenth Muse and Forgotten Country "Sharp, funny, and searingly original, The Sense of Wonder is a tour de force from one of the most inventive writers working today. "--Kirstin Chen, author of Counterfeit "What a pleasure to read work that spits off the page, fiction that vibrates and twitches with life. The Sense of Wonder is exactly that kind of book, one that refuses to let you forget about it, a novel that wants you to remember its story long after the initial read is done. This is a wildly physical book, the beating heart of it smashed up against the ribcage of the binding, thumping hard, demanding attention. I have never read anything like it. Matthew Salesses is a genius and The Sense of Wonder is a genuine marvel. "--Kristen Arnett, bestselling author of With Teeth and Mostly Dead Things "When Won is signed by the New York Knicks, it seems at first that his dreams are coming true, but instead he is drawn into a world rife with high-stakes rivalry, subterfuge, and corrosive racism. The Sense of Wonder is equal parts a love letter to the intricate art form of basketball; a blade-sharp page-turner that delves deep into the rotten heart of America; and an ode to kdrama and the liberating power of love. Matthew Salesses brilliantly upends expectations on every page and, by the end, a powerfully new kind of story surfaces. The Sense of Wonder is revelatory and original and I absolutely loved this novel. "--Laura van den Berg, author of I Hold a Wolf by the Ears
Matthew Salesses is the author of four books, most recently the national bestseller Craft in the Real World and the 2021 PEN/Faulkner finalist Disappear Doppelganger Disappear. Adopted from Korea, he has written about adoption, race, and Asian American masculinity in Best American Essays 2020, NPR' s Code Switch, The New York Times Motherlode blog, and The Guardian, among others. He has taught fiction and Asian American literature and studies at the University of Houston, Coe College, Oklahoma State University, and various community writing centers, as well as at the Tin House, One Story, and Kundiman writing conferences. In 2015, Buzzfeed named him one of 32 Essential Asian American Writers.
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9780316425711
Published: 17 Jan 2023
Published In: United States
Imprint: Little, Brown & Company
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Format: Hardback
Height: 235mm
Width: 152mm
Pages: 256

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