"I read your book." | Sung J. Woo

In 2007, my wife and I spent our honeymoon in Paris (with a brief stint in London as well).  I’m not much for traveling, but I loved just about everything about Paris: the Seine, the food, the museums, the people.  I didn’t think we’d be going back for years, but as it turned out, in eight days, we’ll be back in the City of Lights, because right now, we’re in Rome (and loving it!).

In any case, ever since I left Paris two years ago, I tried to write a story that took place there.  After two stalled attempts, this one just sort of happened, in almost a single sitting.  Which is always a good thing, because it doesn’t happen often for me.

So far, I’ve received three reviews — Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Booklist.  And I’m happy (relieved?) to say that I’m batting a thousand — in non-baseball terms, all three of them are positive (Kirkus most of all, as it is a starred review).

Kirkus Reviews: “Cleverly concatenated stories about the experience of Korean immigrants make up Woo’s loosely structured novel…that both delights and instructs.”

Booklist: “Told in sharp, immediate vignettes, mostly from the boy’s viewpoint, this debut novel captures the contemporary immigration struggle, but it is also an elemental family drama of fury and tenderness, affecting all the characters.”

Publisher’s Weekly: “Woo eschews immigrant clichés to focus on complicated familial relationships and surprising, sympathetic characters; alternating between humor and melancholy, Woo’s text strikes a true chord while drawing readers into its strange, strip-mall world.”

You can read the full text of these reviews here.