David Tung Can't Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College
By Ed Lin.
“A beautifully observed, hilariously truthful, uplifting coming-of-age story that captures the heart and humanity of a Chinese American male teenager.” –David Henry Hwang
Shortlisted for CLMP Firecracker Award in Fiction, 2021
“You’re not allowed to have a girlfriend until college,” my mother warned. “And you’d better get into an Ivy League school!”
In David Tung Can’t Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College, novelist Ed Lin conjures up “a fast-paced, acid-tongued, hilarious teen drama for our age,” says Marie Myung-Ok Lee, acclaimed author of Somebody’s Daughter and Finding My Voice. Both playful and wryly observant, Ed Lin's YA-debut explores coming-of-age in the Asian diaspora while navigating relationships through race, class, and young love. David Tung, our nerd-hero, is a Chinese American high-school student who works in his family’s restaurant, competes for top grades at his regular high school located in an upscale, Asian-majority New Jersey suburb, and attends weekend Chinese school in NYC’s working-class Chinatown. While David faces parental pressures to get As and conform to cultural norms and expectations, he’s caught up in the complicated world of high school love triangles—and amid these external pressures is the fear he will die alone, whether he gets into Harvard or not!
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Marie Myung-Ok Lee
David Tung is a nerd-hero readers will cheer on to the end.
Chris L. Terry
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll get straight A's.
Sheba Karim
You’ll fall hard for David Tung, a high-achieving teen with a heart of gold. Lin writes with a keen sense of character; even the most minor characters spring alive off the page.
JJ Strong
With tender and hilarious insight, Ed Lin offers an irresistible tale of first love, complete with swooning crushes, tongue-tied blunders, overbearing-but-well-meaning parents, and an outrageous cast of supporting characters only New York and New Jerseycan produce.
Shawn Wong
Ed Lin's New Jersey is entirely Chinese American and way, way more complex and threatening than the Soprano's version of NJ. There are rich Chinese, really rich Chinese, Ivy League Chinese, super educated Chinese, and then there's David Tung who has never been on airplane, works in his family's Chinese restaurant, and ranks a shameful (according to his mother) number eight academically in his school. For Chinese American readers who survived high school, it's a hive-inducing horror movie from our past.
David Henry Hwang
A beautifully observed, hilariously truthful, uplifting coming-of-age story that captures the heart and humanity of a Chinese American male teenager. I am impressed and inspired by Ed Lin’s achievement and wish I could’ve read this book when I was in high school.
Jung Kim
I cringed, I cheered, I wished this book had been there for me as a teen.
Asian Review of Books
Susan Bloomberg-Kason
[A]n updated coming of age story that brings hope to teens navigating the “in-between.
Teen Vogue
Editors
Ed Lin's new book David Tung Can’t Have A Girlfriend Until He Gets Into An Ivy League College is an exploration of much more than dating. Through humor, the book explores identity, traditions, social expectations, and stereotypes through the lens of a suburban New Jersey high school student.
Dear Author
Jayne S.
Ed Lin’s YA-novel debut takes on coming-of-age in the Asian diaspora with a heartwarming and humorous exploration of race, class, young love, and the contradictory expectations of immigrant parents.
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FORMAT: Pbk, 4.75 x 7.25 in. / 150 pgs. LIST PRICE: U.S. $18.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $26.95 GBP £14.99 ISBN: 9781885030627 PUBLISHER: Kaya Press AVAILABLE: 10/28/2020 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: WORLD
David Tung Can't Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College
Published by Kaya Press. By Ed Lin.
“A beautifully observed, hilariously truthful, uplifting coming-of-age story that captures the heart and humanity of a Chinese American male teenager.” –David Henry Hwang
Shortlisted for CLMP Firecracker Award in Fiction, 2021
“You’re not allowed to have a girlfriend until college,” my mother warned. “And you’d better get into an Ivy League school!”
In David Tung Can’t Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College, novelist Ed Lin conjures up “a fast-paced, acid-tongued, hilarious teen drama for our age,” says Marie Myung-Ok Lee, acclaimed author of Somebody’s Daughter and Finding My Voice. Both playful and wryly observant, Ed Lin's YA-debut explores coming-of-age in the Asian diaspora while navigating relationships through race, class, and young love. David Tung, our nerd-hero, is a Chinese American high-school student who works in his family’s restaurant, competes for top grades at his regular high school located in an upscale, Asian-majority New Jersey suburb, and attends weekend Chinese school in NYC’s working-class Chinatown. While David faces parental pressures to get As and conform to cultural norms and expectations, he’s caught up in the complicated world of high school love triangles—and amid these external pressures is the fear he will die alone, whether he gets into Harvard or not!
