Customer Reviews

Waylaid

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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

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.

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. Waylaid is good, simple story telling that is steadily entertaining while also enlightening. Congratulations to Ed Lin, who I'd never heard of before but who I look forward to reading again. This book deserves more notice than it has received.

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 Chinese American boy who's stuck manning the counter of his parents' fleabag motel.

To some, that description might sound depressing. But to others, it's the recipe for drama. And even to some 12-year-olds, a dream job.

Whatever the case, the book sucks you in into a world peopled by unforgettable characters. The strongest trait of the book, however, is by far the voice of the protagonist. It's a refreshing air of irreverence filled with longing that forces you to read on.

If you're into books about yuppie Asian American success stories or Asian American versions of chick-lit, complete with at least a dozen references to various Korean dishes, this book really isn't going to do it for you. But if you want to read a book that's real, WAYLAID is about as good a start as you can get.

This book is a book that I wish I could have written. It's genuine and it's got heart. And on top of everything, it has tons of laugh-out-loud moments that will delight you even in the face of the dark realities it depicts. It also helped me to write LAS CUCARACHAS, my second novel.

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. I love how it moves away from the typical Asian American immigrant story to something darker and is definitely more sexually explicit than most books in the same genre.
This book has universal appeal. It's not just an Asian American book nor a minority experience book. There's a part of the book that speaks to all of us.

This novel of a young Chinese American is a classic bildungsroman in the Bukowski "Ham on Rye" sense. America in the 70' and 80's suffered from a dilapidated post-vietnam depression that is captured very accurately here. You can see the paint rotting off the wood in Lin's world. His world is gritty, reminding me of the LA suburb that Bukowski describes and the contstant excess he was faced with as well. He is faced with prostitutes on a daily basis. Older men befriend him and treat him like an adult; only to fall to vice and the police later on. In some ways, this book is a mirror reflecting so many struggles people face in pulling themselves from the mediocrity or our childhood years.

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.

Awesome book. I read it about 2-3 years ago.
every self respecting 2nd gen asian american(read chinese!) kid should read this book. Its funny and yet, in many ways its a little sad. The way Ed has pulled this book through is amazing.
I need to read his latest book.
5 stars.

Waylaid by Ed Lin is the antithesis of the typical (or stereotypical) Asian-American account of academic or personal success in America. Ed Lin describes a different slice of Asian-America - one told through the eyes of a twelve year old Taiwanese American whose parents own and inhabit a drab roadside motel in a nameless section of Jersey. If Los Angeles and New York are the epicenters of East Asian success, Ed Lin's New Jersey is the hushed corner of Americana where an alternative Asian saga unfolds.

The moldy motel where our narrator relates his experience is populated by a randy cast of characters: hookers and johns, transient war veterans and overbearing Asian mothers. The narrator's preoccupation with losing his virginity amidst the comings and goings of the motel's sexual clientele revealed a side of my own self which identified with the trappings of obsession. Much like him, the exposure to sexual imagery turned me on at an early age to a decidedly adult subject.

After reading Lin's gorgeous piece of fiction, the greatest comfort is in the knowledge that we understand each other: both of us grew up in the shadow of Asian American stardom.