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It's Crazy to Stay Chinese in Minnesota
By Eleanor Wong Telemaque |
ORDER -- Item #3218, Price $20.99
Ching sees a way out. Bingo Tang, son of the powerful president of a local tong, is spending the summer with the Wings, and Ching thinks that maybe she can seduce him. If he has to marry her, shell be able to escape, wont she? But Bingo has other plans for his life, and as the summer wears on, troubles pile up for Ching and her hard-pressed family. Mr. Wing, a pushover for every free-loading bum in town, is about to lose his lease. Mrs. Wing, who has devoted her life to bringing her nephew to America, finds her hopes abruptly blasted. Auntie Tong plagues them to find a rich husband for Ching.
Meanwhile, Ching is learning a few facts about her people, especially about her shy, upright, softhearted father. And when the chips are down, she finds that her otherworldly mother knows a thing or two as well. For Ching it is a growing-up summer.
Based on the authors own memories of her Middle West girlhood, this glimpse into the all too-scrutable life of a Chinese-American family is both lighthearted and touching. Readers will sympathize with the Wings painful ties to an ancient culture and be entranced with their solutions of what to do when Far East and Middle West meet.
Book Description From the Front Cover Flap
Based on the author's memories of her Middle West girlhood, her
coming of age, wanting to be "white" and hoping that by seducing a
newcomer in town, Bingo Tang, she can find her knight in shining
armor and live happily ever after. Unfortunately, Bingo has other
plans for his life.
Publisher's Description
The Wings own the Canton, the only Chinese restaurant in a small Minnesota town, which sells milk-fed turkey and pork-tenderloin sandwiches along with the wonton soup and chow mein. Ching Wing, as an only daughter, waits on tables, takes cash, and moons over movie magazines. Ching wants to be Americanwholly Americanbut if her father cant afford to send her to the university in the fall, she may have to spend her life in the restaurant.
Comment
"We can both look at the same material, and you can laugh.."
- Author, Maxine Hong Kingston, to Eleanor Wong Telemaque on reading
the manuscript of "It's Crazy.."
About the Author
Eleanor Wong Telemaque went to the University of Chicago at the age
of fifteen. She worked as a reporter for the Albert Lea Tribune,
CARE, INC; the Community Relations Service of the U.S. Dept. of
Justice, and the New York City Commission on Human Rights. She has
an award for her service to the Chinese-American community in New
York City from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and
shares a first Manhattan Borough President's Award for literature
with Jessice Hagedorn.
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Copyright © 2004 by AACP, Inc.
Most recent revision May 6, 2004