Description: Waylaid is the story of a Chinese American boy who struggles to grow up in the grip of an overcharged sexual environment. With a daily routine that involves renting out rooms to johns and hookers at his parents' sleazy hotel, the narrator loses the concepts of friendship, family, and childhood. As he pursues his all-consuming quest to lose his virginity, issues of race, class, and sex cripple his sense of self-worth. It is a story told with a Gen-X-style bleak humor that doesn't pander to conventional notions of immigrant narrative. Waylaid doesn't cut a wide swath through Asian American literature. It is a switchblade in the gut to stories of over-achievement and success in America that ignore the human cost.
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Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
*Starred Review* The unnamed narrator of Lin's brilliant debut is the 12-year-old son of Taiwanese immigrant parents who own a rundown motel on the New Jersey coast. Catering to impecunious old men in the winter, to higher-paying "Bennys" (stands for Bayonne, Elizabeth, Newark, and New York--these customers' hometowns) in the summer, and to hookers' johns year-round, it is no place to grow up in, but it is what his parents have chosen to succeed in, in America. The boy works the front desk and does chores whenever he isn't in school or asleep. Newly postpubescent, big for his age, and egged on by a friendly Benny ("Girls were all over me when I was like eight," he boasts), the boy makes getting laid his prime objective between Benny seasons. As he progresses toward his goal, Lin carefully reveals, through him, what making it in America can entail for even bright, ambitious newcomers. Awash in a sea of stupidity and venality, the boy, neither stupid nor venal, seems bent on more than hauling his ashes, and after his father suffers a stroke, and relatives come from Taiwan to keep the motel afloat, he looks like a prevailer, not just a survivor. Lin's unsentimental, purely realist--not naturalist, not socialist, not postmodernist--novel raises hopes that American fiction may yet grow up. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
Ed Lin. . .has the eye and wit of a pro....Waylaid will make you laugh and cringe. -- Playboy, October
The novel may work for fans of Suburban Bleak films like "Buffalo 66." -- San Francisco Chronicle, September 15, 2002
Waylaid is like a nihilistic -- but enjoyable -- detour on a journey from nothing to nowhere. -- Time Asia Magazine, September 16, 2002
The novel may work for fans of Suburban Bleak films like "Buffalo 66." -- San Francisco Chronicle, September 15, 2002
Waylaid is like a nihilistic -- but enjoyable -- detour on a journey from nothing to nowhere. -- Time Asia Magazine, September 16, 2002
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By Keyglow
Format:Paperback
An outstanding first novel!
In Waylaid, Ed Lin deftly navigates the delicate balance between the ire and angst of growing up Asian in a non Asian society with the beauty and poignancy of just growing up. His nameless protagonist begins a journey of self discovery that is as heartbreaking as it is hilarious, as honest as it is raw. Set in a "No tell Motel" on the Jersey shore, Lin's twelve year old main character finds himself (as we all have at some point in our lives) caught between the rock that is every American man's dream, and the hard place that is every American boy's fantasy. This is a wonderful novel whose universal message should be read and enjoyed by every American, Asian or no. Props to Ed Lin!
In Waylaid, Ed Lin deftly navigates the delicate balance between the ire and angst of growing up Asian in a non Asian society with the beauty and poignancy of just growing up. His nameless protagonist begins a journey of self discovery that is as heartbreaking as it is hilarious, as honest as it is raw. Set in a "No tell Motel" on the Jersey shore, Lin's twelve year old main character finds himself (as we all have at some point in our lives) caught between the rock that is every American man's dream, and the hard place that is every American boy's fantasy. This is a wonderful novel whose universal message should be read and enjoyed by every American, Asian or no. Props to Ed Lin!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The nameless narrator of this short novel is a twelve-year old Chinese-American boy who is struggling to grow up and finish school, while working in the decrepit seaside motel run by his parents. The motel is a dingy and depressing place, catering to transients and the down-and-out. Our narrator attends school and works at the motel and dreams of having his first sexual experience.
Not a novel of complex ideas but of sad and desperate yearnings. Things get worse when the young man's father has a stroke, and the little family is no longer able to maintain the business. What will happen to them now?
Despite its dreary theme, the book is endearingly funny, with snappy dialogue, and unexpected tragicomic scenes. It paints a searing picture of loneliness, struggle, and alientation--the American dream's dark side. It is well written and well worth reading. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I picked this book up at the library as I remembered seeing stuff that was on the cover before, I live in NJ too, as this book is set in NJ. I loved this book, it ranks right up there with Green Grass Grace by Shawn McBride. I read it all in 3 hours. Great book. A great read for a rainy afternoon or a hot day at the beach.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Difficult page-turner
While I agree with the reviewers, I am compelled to mention that the paperback edition I bought is PHYSICALLY the most difficult book I have ever read! Read more
Published 10 months ago by Gail R. Gilbert
4.0 out of 5 stars
Waylaid
The book was good. It's hard to believe what the main character's life was like, but probably not that far off for many Chinese kids. Read more
Published on January 30, 2010 by P. Louie
5.0 out of 5 stars
coming of age tragicomically!
Awesome book. I read it about 2-3 years ago.
every self respecting 2nd gen asian american(read chinese!) kid should read this book. Read more
every self respecting 2nd gen asian american(read chinese!) kid should read this book. Read more
Published on December 2, 2008 by A. PATIL
5.0 out of 5 stars
Waylaid comes closer
Waylaid by Ed Lin is the antithesis of the typical (or stereotypical) Asian-American account of academic or personal success in America. Read more
Published on April 16, 2007 by veit
5.0 out of 5 stars
Way Impressed!
Lin tells an amazing story that is devoid of pretense and is richly heartfelt. To see such honest writing, especially in a debut novel, is quite rare these days. Read more
Published on December 29, 2006 by twodogs
5.0 out of 5 stars
A classic bildungsroman
This novel of a young Chinese American is a classic bildungsroman in the Bukowski "Ham on Rye" sense. Read more
Published on February 18, 2005 by Thomas Willard
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Voice That Begs to be Read
WAYLAID does exactly that to readers. It takes them on a journey ostensibly to the gritty world of the Jersey Shore back in the 1980s but really to the mind of a 12-year-old... Read more
Published on September 28, 2004 by Yongsoo Park
5.0 out of 5 stars
great book
A beguiling and bittersweet coming-of-age tale told from a unique perspective. At once bawdy and emotionally resonant, squalid and life-affirming. A great book, all in all.
Published on May 15, 2004 by Lawrence Lui
5.0 out of 5 stars
Universal Appeal
Great book! Very well written. The situations are depressing but the dialogue is so snappy and witty that the book is almost a quasi comedy. Read more
Published on April 13, 2003 by Swan Chen
5.0 out of 5 stars
wonderful
This is a terrific first novel that hits all the great themes: struggle for identity, sexual discovery, and the tension between familial duty and rebellion. Read more
Published on July 28, 2002 by Silka Greenfeld
