David Tung Can't Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781885030627)

"A beautifully observed, hilariously truthful, uplifting coming-of-age story that captures the heart and humanity of a Chinese American male teenager." -David Henry Hwang

Shortlisted for CLMP Firecracker Award in Fiction, 2021

"You're not allowed to have a girlfriend until college," my mother warned. "And you'd better get into an Ivy League school!"

In David Tung Can't Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College, novelist Ed Lin conjures up "a fast-paced, acid-tongued, hilarious teen drama for our age," says Marie Myung-Ok Lee, acclaimed author of Somebody's Daughter and Finding My Voice. Both playful and wryly observant, Ed Lin's YA-debut explores coming-of-age in the Asian diaspora while navigating relationships through race, class, and young love. David Tung, our nerd-hero, is a Chinese American high-school student who works in his family's restaurant, competes for top grades at his regular high school located in an upscale, Asian-majority New Jersey suburb, and attends weekend Chinese school in NYC's working-class Chinatown. While David faces parental pressures to get As and conform to cultural norms and expectations, he's caught up in the complicated world of high school love triangles--and amid these external pressures is the fear he will die alone, whether he gets into Harvard or not!

Author: Ed Lin
ISBN-10: 1885030622
ISBN-13: 9781885030627
Publisher: Kaya Press
Language: English
Published: 10/28/2020
Pages: 150
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 7.20h x 4.70w x 1.20d

Review Citation(s):
School Library Journal 09/01/2020 pg. 87
Booklist 09/01/2020 pg. 120