Triplines - Softcover

Chang, Leonard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1936364093 ISBN 13: 9781936364091

Publisher: Black Heron Press, 2014

Synopsis

Lenny Chang, the young protagonist of this autobiographical novel, is transplanted from New York City to a suburb on Long Island, and navigates his fractured family in this new, hostile environment. His alcoholic father, a Navy veteran struggling with his unhappy life, dominates and terrorizes his mother who valiantly tries to keep their family intact. Lenny's older brother drifts away from the turmoil while his younger sister attaches herself to Lenny for safety. As Lenny adjusts to this chaotic world in which the family spirals more and more out of control, he withdraws into himself and his martial arts movies, searching for some kind of solace. However, it isn't until Lenny befriends the local marijuana grower and dealer, Sal, that he begins to see a world beyond his own. This unusual friendship sets Lenny on a path toward independence, and becomes the bedrock on which this young boy moves into adulthood, finding the tools for self-reliance and fortitude that will sustain him throughout his life.

About this title

From the Author:

Leonard Chang was born in New York and studied philosophy at Dartmouth College and Harvard University. He received his MFA from the University of California at Irvine, and is the author of six previous critically acclaimed novels. His books have been translated into Japanese, French, and Korean, and are taught at universities around the world. His short stories have been published in literary journals such as Prairie Schooner and The Literary Review. He writes for the TV drama, Justified.

Review:

“Triplines is a remarkable journey of a boy’s maturation and winning coming-of-age novel from an author who is best nown for his crime noir stories. The change in genre is a surprising change for Leonard Chang. Triplines is autobiographical, seen through two perspectives: a young Lenny Chang and an older Chang who looks back at how the legacy of his violent father still haunts his life.

“As in his past writings, Chang continues to explore the Korean American experience. He also goes back in time to a different location, the Korean immigrant sections of Long Island. He explores the immigrant experience, the presence of racism in both the white and Korean communities, the experiences in a dysfunctional family, school bullying, and the pursuit of the American dream....

“Usually a loner, Lenny meets Sal, a small-time dealer... Sal offers Lenny money to grow and tend a patch of marijuana. The incentive is a large sum of cash, but Lenny gets intrigued by the care and tending of the illegal plants. As the plants get taller in the summer, they set up homemade triplines to track whether anyone, including the police, come around....

“The book title suggests an actual and psychological ‘trigger effect.’ Remniscent of the triplines Lenny and Sal install in their marijuana field, his father’s unpredictable violence was the emotional tripline the author dealt with every day of his youth. Lenny, as an adult, triggers his own recollection of earlier events, with greater understanding...  “As an autobiographical coming-of-age novel, this is author Chang at his most introspective....”

(Bill Drucker “Fallout from Childhood,” Korean Quarterly, Spring 2014 (Vol. 17, No. 3): pp. 53-54.)

About this edition

• Publisher: Black Heron Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1936364093
• ISBN 13: 9781936364091
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 260