Synopses & Reviews
An exhilarating comic satire with the quirky energy of
The Wonder Boys and
Sideways.
Lyndon Song, a renowned sculptor, has fled New York City to become a Brussels sprouts farmer in the small California town of Rosarita Bay. Lyndon has a brother, Woody, an indicted financier turned movie producer, and Woody has a plan, involving a golf-course resort on Lyndon's land and an aging kung-fu diva from Hong Kong with a mean kick and a meaner drinking problem.
A dreadlocked buddy with an artificial leg, a small plot of exceptionally lush marijuana, two field biologists studying western snowy plovers, a disgraced museum curator, and Lyndon's great love, the impulsive mayor of Rosarita Bay these are only some of the complications in Lyndon and Woody's lives over one madcap Labor Day weekend.
Hilarious and philosophical, this many-hued novel about the landscape of contemporary "multicultural" America is critically acclaimed Don Lee's best book yet.
Review
"[W]armly humorous...entertaining....An eccentric cast of secondary characters...adds to the merriment in a highly appealing novel that swerves ever so gracefully from rollicking humor to poignant moments of reflection." Booklist
Review
"[A]n anarchic energy emerges....Over-the-top complications sometimes get in the way of Lee's wry commentary on contemporary life." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Lee's novel tries to be a wacky, madcap Carl Hiaasen kind of page-turner....Though sometimes fun, it's not that successful; the wackiness seems to take away from rather than complement its meditations." Library Journal
Synopsis
Wrack and Ruin is an exhilarating comic satire. Hilarious and philosophical, this many-hued novel about the landscape of contemporary "multicultural" America is critically acclaimed author Lee's best book yet.
Synopsis
'Lee has outdone himself here. His prose moves and sparkles.' '"Washington Post
Synopsis
Lyndon Song is a renowned sculptor who fled New York City to become a Brussels sprouts farmer in the small California town of Rosarita Bay. Lyndon has a brother, Woody, an indicted financier turned movie producer, and Woody has a plan involving a golf course on Lyndon"s land and an aging kung-fu diva from Hong Kong with a mean kick and an even meaner drinking problem. Over one madcap Labor Day weekend, this plan wreaks havoc on Lyndon"s bucolic and carefully managed life'"leading to various crises, adventures, and literature"s first-ever windsurfing chase scene.
'A highly appealing novel that swerves ever so gracefully from rollicking humor to poignant moments of reflection' (Booklist), this hilarious and philosophical novel about the landscape of contemporary 'multicultural' America is Don Lee"s best book yet.
Synopsis
Lyndon Song, a renowned sculptor, has fled New York City to become a Brussels sprouts farmer in the small California town of Rosarita Bay. Lyndon has a brother, Woody, an indicted financier turned movie producer, and Woody has a plan, involving a golf-course resort on Lyndon's land and an aging kung-fu diva from Hong Kong with a mean kick and a meaner drinking problem.
A dreadlocked buddy with an artificial leg, a small plot of exceptionally lush marijuana, two field biologists studying western snowy plovers, a disgraced museum curator, and Lyndon's great love, the impulsive mayor of Rosarita Bay-these are only some of the complications in Lyndon and Woody's lives over one madcap Labor Day weekend.
Hilarious and philosophical, this many-hued novel about the landscape of contemporary "multicultural" America is critically acclaimed Don Lee's best book yet.
About the Author
Don Lee has received an American Book Award, the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction, the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, an O. Henry Award, a Pushcart Prize, and the Fred R. Brown Literary Award. His stories have appeared in The Kenyon Review, GQ, The Southern Review, American Short Fiction, The Gettysburg Review, and elsewhere. For nineteen years, he was the principal editor of the literary journal Ploughshares. He is currently the director of the MFA program in creative writing at Temple University.