Homebase [Paperback]

Shawn Wong (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2008

"Homebase" is the coming of age story of Rainsford Chan in 1950s and 60s California. Rainsford is a fourth-generation Chinese American named after the town where his great grandfather worked during the gold rush. Orphaned at fifteen, he attempts to claim America as his homebase, and his personal history is interwoven with dreams, stories, and letters of his family's life in America. Moving through time and place, the story allows the reader to discover the past as Rainsford does, to see the world through his eyes, and to learn the truth about the Chinese American experience. Shawn Wong is the author of the novel "American Knees" and an editor of several anthologies of Asian American literature, including "Aiiieeeee!" and "The Big Aiiieeeee!". His work has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts creative writing fellowship and numerous other prizes. He is professor of English at the University of Washington, Seattle. "Homebase" was originally published in 1979.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Although the book abounds in fascinating historical detail, it is most remarkable for the beauty of its prose, its dream passages, and its sophisticated, unpretentious shifts in narrative perspective from first to third person and from one narrator to another." -- Seattle Times

"A poetically rendered tour de force." -- Amerasia Journal

"Evocative, sensuous." -- San Francisco Chronicle

"Shawn Wong's finely woven story is a poetic evocation of a great-grandfather's life as a newly arrived laborer in 1850s Northern California." -- Essence

"Speaks out so eloquently . . . Moves through the dreams and visions and the bitter reality of his forebears' lives." -- Kay Boyle, Rolling Stone

About the Author

Shawn Wong is the author of the novel American Knees and an editor of several anthologies of Asian American literature, including Aiiieeeee! and The Big Aiiieeeee! His work has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts creative writing fellowship and numerous other prizes. He is professor of English at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Product Details

• Paperback: 102 pages
• Publisher: University of Washington Press; 1st University of Washington Press Ed edition (May 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0295988169
• ISBN-13: 978-0295988160
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #631,301 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars such an important book to read....., June 10, 2004

By 

D. Pawl "Dani" (Seattle) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Home Base: A Novel (Plume Contemporary Fiction) (Paperback)

I was assigned to read HOMEBASE by Rainsford Chan in a American Ethnic Studies comparative literature course and I was so glad that I did! The author, Professor Wong, who was the head of the English department at the University of Washington, gives the Chinese Exclusion Act and the generations who followed it a face, a name and a story. Rainsford Chan, the main character, bridges three generations as he takes a look back at his identity as a Chinese-American in an adverse culture that will not accept him as truly "American" because of his Eastern features, the color of his skin and his last name. Though, his great-grandfather literally helped to build America, while constructing the Trans-Pacific railroad, Chan still feels he has no real place amongst the Whites who continue to question his authenticity.

Wong's style is intense, poetic and frank. This novel also brings up very important and timely points about cultural and social identity, and the connection between men, their fathers and the legacy they carry on even three generations down the line. Rainsford excels in American sports, earns a letterman jacket and must become the "man" in the family after his father dies, and also helps his mother in her flower shop. The duties of manhood and caring for his family are part of his identity that he must live up to, as well as the pressure of justifying his "American-ness" to everyone who insists he must be from Hong Kong. Even though he comes from the "home where the buffalos roam." Such an important book for anyone interested in cultural identity in the United States, and for those who are still struggling for fair treatment in a White world.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Rainsford Chan: A Man of Myth, September 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Home Base: A Novel (Plume Contemporary Fiction) (Paperback)

I think that this book is an extremely introspective piece about a young Chinese American boy who is discovering the balance between the Chinese heritage he has denied his entire life, as well as the American that he could never be. Wong's poetic nature surfaces in this prose through his lilting descriptions that disclose the connection Rainsford seeks to find between his heritage and this country who was so unaccepting of Chinese immigrants, and how possibly the nature of society has never really changed no matter how hard he tries just as his ancestors did.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Touching Story Not Often Heard, April 26, 2000

By 

Jason Luis (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Home Base: A Novel (Plume Contemporary Fiction) (Paperback)

Shawn Wong's homebase deals with a topic not widely discussed in literature. The author's early work (before American Knees) delves into his relationship between his father and heritage. the lesson I walked away was that by looking back at your heritage, you always can find a place you can call home. Whether it is in your family or friends, there is a special place you can go when you are seeking solace from the outside world. The language is magnificent and he has a strong writting style which draws you into his stories.