Real Karaoke People (Many Voices Project) (Paperback)

by Ed Bok Lee (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Lee’s riffing mastery of form and imagery is nothing short of breath-taking--he weaves together hip-hop, prose poem...prayer, lyricism" -- Minnesota Literature, October 2005

"This is poetry at its richest…perceptive and haunting, [Lee’s] stories are heartfelt [and] make your soul sing…" -- ImaginAsian TV – iaLink (New York)

"[A] beautifully complex, contradictory, and insistently compelling world...this is a book that opens up new possibilities for American poetry." -- Jim Moore, author of Lightning at Dinner

"[Lee's] voice contains outrage...tenderness...searing honesty...vital to the American landscape. The vitality of the country…is nowhere clearer" -- San Francisco Chronicle, December 4, 2005

"[Lee] shines a spotlight on…immigrants…adolescents, an ex-porn star--outcasts, dreamers, pretenders…longing to take on a new identity" -- St. Paul Pioneer Press, October 13, 2005

"A potent voice...Lee['s]...galloping imagination...describes what it's like to be part of a global generation. His experiments...are bold and unself-conscious..." -- Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 31, 2006

"Lee's riffing mastery of form and imagery is nothing short of breath-taking--he weaves together hip-hop, prose poem...prayer, lyricism" -- Minnesota Literature, October 2005

"Prose and poems of our global and transitory America." -- Providence Journal (Reviewers' List: TOP FIVE BOOKS OF 2005), January 1, 2006

"[Lee's] debut volume...is not unlike walking into a strange new neighborhood...Lyric...wry...these [poems] make a strong impression then reward with rereading..." -- Salt Lake City Weekly, John Freeman, President of the National Book Critics Circle, April 6, 2006

"[Lee's] voice contains outrage...tenderness...searing honesty...vital to the American landscape. The vitality of the country...is nowhere clearer..." -- San Francisco Chronicle, December 4, 2005

Product Description
A dramatic literary debut, REAL KARAOKE PEOPLE juxtaposes tradition, politics and pop culture to bridge generations and continents in a way both heart-rending and real. From a Buddhist temple on a Korean mountain top, to Sex World in downtown Minneapolis, to the smoldering L.A. Riots, far beyond to a tornado touching down on a reservation in Northern Minnesota, Ed Bok Lee's PEN award-winning poems and stories usher the reader through a cultural kaleidoscope of karaoke rooms, churches, dog fights, movie houses, Asian night clubs, immigrant kitchens and small-time Midwestern wrestling rings, all the while scrutinizing conceptions of race, class and history. At once nostalgic, critical and revelatory, REAL KARAOKE PEOPLE offers a provocative portrayal of an America at war with change and loss, hope and the living colors of desire.

ED BOK LEE's first book, REAL KARAOKE PEOPLE, won the PEN/Beyond Margins Award, an Asian American Literary Award (Members' Choice Award), and a Many Voices Prize from New Rivers Press. Lee attended kindergarten in Seoul, South Korea, grew up in North Dakota and Minnesota, and holds an MFA from Brown University. Other awards for his writings include support from the Jerome Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board, SASE, Loft Literary Center, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: New Rivers Press (October 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898232260
• ISBN-13: 978-0898232264
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,007,924 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Love Letter to Asian America , March 17, 2006

By	Grace Lee (Chicago, MN, USA) - See all my reviews

Real Karaoke People is nostalgic in the best way; full of longing, homesickness, grief, as well as love, humor, eroticism, and grit. If you are interested in the heart and guts of Asian American masculinity, the mettle of Korean Americans, and poetry with a theatrical/fictional sensibility, read this book!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book To Make You Sing, March 20, 2006

By	Bryan Thao Worra (St. Paul, MN) - See all my reviews

Real Karaoke People adds deeply to the great body of Asian American poetry in a way that remains socially conscious and artistically relevant.

Epic and humane, Ed Bok Lee's poetry shines through with poems that feel personal and universal, without reducing itself to expected stereotypes or the tired tropes we've received from other poets.

Many of the pieces reveal his experience as a spoken word artist and performing poet, but they make the transition to page easily and resonate with a thoughtful energy crouching, ready to pounce at your throat like a rare wildcat.

Only a few of the poems feel shoe-horned into the text, and when you step away, you can still feel them lingering, and if they feel isolated, perhaps that too, is a more deliberate decision than one might expect.

Real Karaoke People has tremendous soul and it is worth bringing his work to classrooms and other textbooks as a great example of what contemporary Asian American poets are doing today.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Voice for Our Times, April 17, 2006

By	R. Lee (Mpls, MN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Real Karaoke People is a collection of poetry and prose that is meant to be read aloud, alone or to your friend and family. It is a book that speaks out for those people -- immigrants, refugees, biracial children, and others -- who feel silenced in a country that is their own but which does not always receive them as such. Hearing him perform, reading his words in print, each time I am left feeling the yearning and heartache of Asian America. Ed Bok Lee has a gift with words which evoke images, tastes, and smells of immigrant families like my own. Finally, someone who can give them a voice.