asianamlitfans | Apr. 27th, 2008

In lieu of grading this weekend, I read Don Lee's new novel Wrack and Ruin. It's a fun read, along the lines of Ruth Ozeki's All Over Creation in terms of structure and humor (and kind of like some of Karen Tei Yamashita's novels as well). The novel unfolds through a series of coincidences and connections between a fairly large cast of characters, from the two brothers at the center--Lyndon and Woody Song--to residents of the town of Rosarita Bay (the setting of Lee's first book, the short story collection Yellow) and figures from their pasts. Lyndon Song is a Brussels sprouts farmer, welder, and bartender in town, having fled a life as a renowned sculptor artist in the 1980s. His brother Woody is fast-talking and business-minded, a Harvard graduate who went on to become an investor and then an Asian film remake broker after disastrous management of several clients' money (including his parents' savings). As you can probably tell from the quick descriptions of the two brothers, much of the novel's humor and narrative drive come from the contrast in personalities between the two brothers. (I'm interested in paired siblings in Asian American narratives.... the motif of sibling rivalry seems especially suitable for explorations of conflicting ways of seeing oneself as "Asian American.")

The events of the novel take place over a long Labor Day weekend. Woody makes a visit to Lyndon's farm, bringing with him a has-been Hong Kong action star Yi Ling Ling. Lyndon dreads his brother's visit since the two had been estranged for over a decade and only recently reconciled at their mother's sickbed request. Yet despite this setup, the two brothers end up enduring a series of random disasters and personal injuries that have nothing to do with each other. Lyndon, for example, finds himself faced with crazy outbursts (truck tire-puncturing, tirade-throwing) from his angry ex-, Sheila Lemke, the new mayor of Rosarita Bay, as well as her ex-, Steven Lemke, a frustrated-writer-cum-cop in town who keeps giving him tickets. Woody, on the other hand, run into the younger (adopted) sister of his college roommate, Trudy Nguyen, now a bird refuge activist and researcher.

Hanging in the background of all the events in the novel is a familiar battle between new development (a hotel and golf course) and the quiet, small town of Rosarita Bay. Lyndon and his farm are all that really stand between The Centurion Group and a massive subdevelopment and resort along the coast. Lee sends up the slick world of yuppie-dom in the figure of Ed Kitchell, a through-and-through USC fan and devotee (he was Tommy Trojan as a college student), who is trying every mean possible to buy out Lyndon or run him out of town. Other characters enmeshed in the Song brothers' weekend include Laura Diaz-McClatchey, the former art curator turned shiatsu masseuse in town; JuJu, a hippie-pothead friend of Lyndon's who falls for Yi Ling Ling; Dalton Lee, the indie filmmaker/windsurfer slated to direct Woody's new action remake project; Hana, Sheila's teenaged daughter about to head off to college and battling her mother over whether or not to pursue a singer-songwriter career; Sunny Padaca, the town's pot dealer, a Filipino-Samoan from Oahu; and Bob, Lyndon's aging black Lab.

The coincidences are wonderfully played out, with the crossing of all the characters' lives in this weekend subtly worked into every slightly-unbelievable episode. There are a few moments when the characters talk about being artists that seem a bit stilted though not any less thoughtful. Lyndon, for example, goes on at length at one point about how it was to be an Asian American artist in the high art world of New York City, accused of being whitewashed, too insistent on his ethnic identity, and an assortment of other (contradictory) criticisms often leveled at artists of color. Generally, the novel also has a very hetero-masculinist bent; it's not that the narrative is particularly sexist or homophobic, but there are still moments where it is clear that the perspective we're given, though in the third person voice, primarily sticks to Lyndon and Woody's views on things and tends to drift towards representations of befuddling women who can't make up their minds about relationships and little moments where the straight men need to point out to others that they are not gay.

All in all, this novel is definitely an entertaining read. For Asian American literature scholars, too, it offers some playful yet barbed commentary about the critical reception of Asian American writers' work.