Ed Lin’s Super Awesome Reading
Ed Lin came through from New York to East Meets West Bookstore on Friday night to read from his new novel, This is a Bust, published by Kaya press in December of 2007.
This is a Bust centers around a Chinese American cop in 1970’s Chinatown. He read three brief sections painting a vivid picture of Robert Chow, the novel’s protagonist, including his introduction in a Chinese barbershop. The other sections took place at a restaurant workers protest and an exhibition hockey game between the police and fire department, where a provoked Chow righteously kicks some ass, impressing a young Chinese thug.
Despite the brevity of the scenes, the audience got a good feel for Chow, a tough Vietnam vet straddling the racism from his white coworkers and the imposed cultural obligation to his beat in Chinatown.
After the reading, Ed took questions from the audience. One woman asked if the sex-obsessed protagonist in Waylaid was based on himself. Ed hesitated a little. Ed’s first book, Waylaid, centers on a young boy’s immodest quest to lose his virginity while slaving away at his immigrant parents’ small business in New Jersey. Waylaid was the basis for Michael Kang’s feature “The Motel.” (You can check Ed and Michael in BPR’s Shuffled! series).
Ed was very gracious and stayed to chat with folks despite having to rush back to New York that evening. Many thanks again to Ed for coming through! Don’t forget to roll through the store to pick up This is a Bust and Waylaid, and check it out for yourself.
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