Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for King of the Armadillos by Wendy Chin-Tanner - Available

King of the Armadillos

A Novel

by Wendy Chin-Tanner
ebook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Read a sample Read a sample
1 of 1 copy available

BEST BOOK OF SUMMER 2023: The Boston Globe, Deep South Magazine, Ms. Magazine, BookRiot; TOP 20 BOOKS OF 2023: BookBrowse
"Brilliant, absorbing, and powerfully moving." —Cheryl Strayed, New York Times bestselling author of Wild
"[A] gripping and tenderly executed drama." —The New York Times
A novel about family, love, and belonging, set against the backdrops of 1950s New York City and Louisiana, following one young man's quest to survive an often misunderstood disease, and find love, music, and himself, in the process.
Victor Chin's life is turned upside down at the tender age of 15. Diagnosed with Hansen's disease, otherwise known as leprosy, he's forced to leave the familiar confines of his father's laundry business in the Bronx – the only home he's known since emigrating from China with his older brother – to quarantine alongside patients from all over the country at a federal institution in Carville.
At first, Victor is scared not only of the disease, but of the confinement, and wants nothing more than to flee. Between treatments he dreams of escape and imagines his life as a fugitive. But soon he finds a new sense of freedom far from home – one without the pull of obligations to his family, the laundry business, or his mother back in China. Here, in the company of an unforgettable cast of characters, Victor finds refuge in music and experiences first love, jealousy, betrayal, and even tragedy. But with the promise of a life-changing cure on the horizon, Victor's time at Carville is running out, and he has some difficult choices to make.
A page turning work of historical fiction, King of the Armadillos announces Wendy Chin-Tanner as an extraordinary new voice. Inspired by her father's experience as a young patient at Carville, this tender novel is a captivating and lyrical exploration of the power of art.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 25, 2023

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781250843012

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781250843012
      • File size: 3053 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      February 1, 2023

      Chin-Tanner draws on family history for her debut, King of the Armadillos, in which 15-year-old New Yorker Victor Chin is sent to quarantine in 1950s Louisiana owing to Hansen's disease, otherwise known as leprosy (100,000-copy first printing). Prepub Alert.

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 15, 2023
      Poet Chin-Tanner debuts with the poignant if somewhat mechanical story of a Chinese American family in the 1950s. Victor, eight, and his 13-year-old brother, Henry, leave their loving mother Mei Wan in China to settle in New York City with their father, Sam. Henry feels betrayed that Sam has taken up with a Jewish New Yorker named Ruth, who tries to love the brothers as her own children. She notices a rash on Victor shortly before he begins to have painful symptoms and is diagnosed at 15 with Hansen’s disease, also known as leprosy. Due to Sam’s U.S. military service in WWII, Victor is eligible for treatment at a government hospital and sent to one in Louisiana. There, he discovers his talent for the piano. He falls for fellow patient Judy, a Jewish girl who’s mistreated by her beau, Donny, a handsome Chinese teenager. Henry cautions Victor against telling their mother about his condition in his letters home to her. It all comes to a head when Ruth finds out she’s pregnant and Mei Wan announces she’s coming to New York. Though the plotlines feel a bit rote, Chin-Tanner shines in her depictions of loyalty and familial obligation, Ruth’s in particular. Though clunky at times, the multicultural elements add an appealing layer to this drama.

    • Booklist

      June 1, 2023
      Poet and boutique graphic publisher Chin-Tanner (Embodied, 2021) opens her debut novel with an autobiographical hint: "for my dad and for Carville, for without them, I would not be here." From 1894 to 1999, Carville National Leprosarium was the only inpatient hospital in the continental U.S. for the treatment of Hansen's disease, historically called leprosy. Chin-Tanner sets her epic here in the 1950s, when Chinese American teen Victor arrives. Born in China, Victor and his older brother left their mother to live with their father in New York City. Victor's not-quite stepmother, Ruth, is the one person who notices his lesions and guides him on a path to possible recovery. His Carville residency is haunted by his almost-unrequited love for "the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen"; his musical prowess will also be discovered and nurtured there. Chin-Tanner's exacting details render little-known medical history, deftly interwoven with the Chinese American experience, from paper sons to debilitating racism to bifurcated identity, to create a satisfying, polyphonic narrative about the intricate relationships within families by birth and circumstance.

      COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading