Name: Eva Ströberg's review of My Year Abroad by Chang-rae Lee
Item: My Year Abroad
Rating: 3
Author: Eva Ströberg

Chang-rae Lee

From the award-winning author of Native Speaker and On Such a Full Sea, an exuberant and entertaining story of a young American whose life is transformed when a Chinese American businessman suddenly takes him under his wing on a global adventure. Tiller is an average college student with a good heart but minimal aspirations and talents. Then he meets Pong Lou, a successful Chinese American businessman, and everything changes. With Pong's unmatched charisma, richly varied interests and skills, enviable resources, and loyal circle of friends and business partners, he represents a life that Tiller has never imagined. When Pong invites Tiller along on a boisterous trip across Asia with no return ticket, Tiller is catapulted from ordinary young man to luxury globetrotter. In the process, he's pulled into a series of wholly unexpected experiences--some humorous, some heartbreaking, some darkly shocking, and all of which will alter the course of his life. A year later, passing through an American airport on his way home from this Asian adventure, Tiller takes up with an unlikely older woman and her son, and quickly slips from one life to another as he processes all he's experienced and what it will mean for his future. Told in alternating storylines, Tiller's tale weaves back and forth between his outlandish, memorable year with Pong, and the domestic adulthood that replaces it. From an award-winning writer known for exploring issues of culture and identity with provocative originality, My Year Abroad is a bold and exciting new novel about the people we meet who change our lives forever, and a brilliant satire/fable about entrepreneurship and the American dream.

A Novel

My Year Abroad

Lotta

Eva Ströberg

This is such a strange book and I don't even know what I think of it myself. Three stars because I am not sure what I have just read.

The book starts with this 20-year old Tiller Bardmon, who met a 30-year old woman Val and her son in an airport and they became a pair after that. The story that the book was trying to tell was what happened before Tiller showed up in that airport and met Val. 

It's sufficient to say that he has had a crazy year abroad, something that was so surreal that I had to re-read some of the pages there, because it got so weird. He was involved in some sort business scheme with some investors that turned to be... well, no spoiler there.

Anyway, entertaining book, but a bit too long-winding, hence the 3 star.

very SLOW at first but picks up the pace and becomes a very enjoyable read 

van 

Faith Ho 

Dear My Year Abroad,

Truthfully, I am somewhat bewildered after reading you. But I also sense that it's less of a "I'm telling you something" but a "I'm showing", something - that each person may have a different response to. 

I'll just jot down a few points before I marshal my thoughts in order (if I ever do):
- The first thing that hits me is the language and style: distinct and unimitable (I've tried, for fun, but moves of its own accord, a different beat). There's a wry kind of humour that pokes fun at the self, like Tiller's (the main character's) tongue-in-cheek references to his own white-American-male-ness, that strikes me, but fits. It all suits the story perfectly. In any case, I would read other works just for the writing, regardless of plot or character, so personally - loved it. 
- The alternating (kind of) chapters between Val/VeeJ & Pong/whoever comes with him feels initially disparate, unconnected - but when I sit back and look at it it seems to illustrate not so much a continuity of circumstance or parallel events, but a continuity of character, person. A non sequitur which nonetheless is threaded together by the main character: who he is, who he is now, who he was. The construction/deconstruction of identity in Tiller's almost hyper self aware (missing mother, psychological impact etc) is simultaneously revealing and insightful (each cycle of thought, in response to whatever's happening, seems to show something different; cycling back to similar ideas of who he is but with a different bent).
- The characters seem both like caricatures and full blown, fully fleshed out characters; perhaps it's a bit of initial caricature, later developed. It works, though, and there's a lot of fun in looking at the different characters, especially parsed through the protagonist's thoughts (he himself regarding his existence as kind of a "non", may also end up highlighting the particular largeness in character of the others). They are larger than life, flaws apparent but almost lovingly (compulsively?) accepted (and redressed) by the protagonist (for most). 
- There was a lot of foreshadowing of what was to come in the earlier part, but the way it all developed still blindsided me - and to be fully honest I'm still processing, it feels slightly fever dream-like. I keep wondering: why? Still processing. 
- Side point but the description of when sex occurs in this is... interestingly (a plainer word to use is just weird but it kind of works? Nothing pornographical or graphic, just strange, like a masquerading-as-coporeal but really the opposite kind of happenstance).
- Unrelated to the contents but it certainly helps, this has a great book cover. 

Yours faithfully

I'll be honest, this book seemed to drag on quite a bit. It also felt like the characters were a little distant and it was hard to relate to them. For me, I didn't find it very engaging but I thought the premise of the story was good. I think I was expecting something different, which is why it came as such a struggle for me to finish. 

Paige Leitner

"From the award-winning author of Native Speaker and On Such a Full Sea, a brilliant, exuberant and entertaining story of a young American whose life is transformed when a Chinese-American businessman suddenly takes him under his wing on a global adventure"--

Allison

Story was interesting but got really weird at points and was kind of all over the place.

Katie Chua

only someone as literarily established as chang-rae lee would write something this ... random. i still really liked it though. he's a master at voice and tiller's was one that i instantly felt familiar with. this story is WILD. i also love how it explores globalization in such a unique and weird way through the story and also the growing presence of asia, which was never explicitly focused on, but rather, a hum in the background.

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER “A manifesto to happiness—the one found when you stop running from who you are.” –New York Times Book Review “An extraordinary book, acrobatic on the level of the sentence, symphonic across its many movements—and this is a book that moves…My Year Abroad is a wild ride—a caper, a romance, a bildungsroman, and something of a satire of how to get filthy rich in rising Asia.” – Vogue From the award-winning author of Native Speaker and On Such a Full Sea, an exuberant, provocative story about a young American life transformed by an unusual Asian adventure – and about the human capacities for pleasure, pain, and connection. Tiller is an average American college student with a good heart but minimal aspirations. Pong Lou is a larger-than-life, wildly creative Chinese American entrepreneur who sees something intriguing in Tiller beyond his bored exterior and takes him under his wing. When Pong brings him along on a boisterous trip across Asia, Tiller is catapulted from ordinary young man to talented protégé, and pulled into a series of ever more extreme and eye-opening experiences that transform his view of the world, of Pong, and of himself. In the breathtaking, “precise, elliptical prose” that Chang-rae Lee is known for (The New York Times), the narrative alternates between Tiller’s outlandish, mind-boggling year with Pong and the strange, riveting, emotionally complex domestic life that follows it, as Tiller processes what happened to him abroad and what it means for his future. Rich with commentary on Western attitudes, Eastern stereotypes, capitalism, global trade, mental health, parenthood, mentorship, and more, My Year Abroad is also an exploration of the surprising effects of cultural immersion—on a young American in Asia, on a Chinese man in America, and on an unlikely couple hiding out in the suburbs. Tinged at once with humor and darkness, electric with its accumulating surprises and suspense, My Year Abroad is a novel that only Chang-rae Lee could have written, and one that will be read and discussed for years to come.

Shohini Gupta

Descriptions were well written but dragged on too long, frankly not sure I appreciated the point of a book. More of an aesthetic and weird writing exercise? 

Olivia

Gigi V

Brian

Oz Lubling

Connie

Helena C. C.

Lindsay

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER "A manifesto to happiness-the one found when you stop running from who you are." -New York Times Book Review "An extraordinary book, acrobatic on the level of the sentence, symphonic across its many movements-and this is a book thatmoves...My Year Abroadis a wild ride-a caper, a romance, a bildungsroman, and something of a satire of how to get filthy rich in rising Asia."-Vogue From the award-winning author ofNative SpeakerandOn Such a Full Sea, an exuberant, provocative story about a young American life transformed by an unusual Asian adventure - and about the human capacities for pleasure, pain, and connection. Tiller is an average American college student with a good heart but minimal aspirations. Pong Lou is a larger-than-life, wildly creative Chinese American entrepreneur who sees something intriguing in Tiller beyond his bored exterior and takes him under his wing. When Pong brings him along on a boisterous trip across Asia, Tiller is catapulted from ordinary young man to talented protege, and pulled into a series of ever more extreme and eye-opening experiences that transform his view of the world, of Pong, and of himself. In the breathtaking, "precise, elliptical prose" that Chang-rae Lee is known for (TheNew York Times), the narrative alternates between Tiller's outlandish, mind-boggling year with Pong and the strange, riveting, emotionally complex domestic life that follows it, as Tiller processes what happened to him abroad and what it means for his future. Rich with commentary on Western attitudes, Eastern stereotypes, capitalism, global trade, mental health, parenthood, mentorship, and more,My Year Abroadis also an exploration of the surprising effects of cultural immersion-on a young American in Asia, on a Chinese man in America, and on an unlikely couple hiding out in the suburbs. Tinged at once with humor and darkness, electric with its accumulating surprises and suspense,My Year Abroadis a novel that only Chang-rae Lee could have written, and one that will be read and discussed for years to come.

Lotta &
My Year Abroad by Chang-rae Lee

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