{"id":37740,"date":"2015-06-08T12:27:32","date_gmt":"2015-06-08T16:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/?p=37740"},"modified":"2022-07-22T16:19:42","modified_gmt":"2022-07-22T20:19:42","slug":"ghost-month-by-ed-lin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/ghost-month-by-ed-lin\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghost Month [Taipei Night Market, Book 1] by Ed Lin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ghost<\/a>Some strong suggestions first: 1. Don’t read this hungry (just the phrase “Asian street food” will have many of you salivating); 2. Don’t read this all alone at night. And, if you decide to ‘read’ by listening to narrator Feodor Chin, be further warned: he does a chilling mix of all-innocent and threatening both. Shudder, shudder.<\/p>\n

Here’s how Ed Lin\u2019<\/a>s latest\u00a0starts: “When I found out the girl I was going to marry had been murdered …” “I” is our hero Jing-nan, also known as Johnny, a rather unassuming food stall owner\/operator in Taipei’s bustling night market (stomach grumbling again?). He abandoned\u00a0his UCLA degree when his father was dying of cancer to return home and take over the family business. The “girl” is Zheng-lian, aka Julia, who Jing-nan\u00a0hasn’t seen in a few years, ironically because of eternal promises they made to each other of ‘happily ever after’\u00a0\u2013 the lovebirds agreed to strict\u00a0stipulations before they could reunite and fulfill their lifelong destiny together. The “murder” has just happened, right here in Taipei, although Jing-nan had thought that Julia was doing bigger, better things at NYU. They were supposed to be “Johnny and Julia, two Taiwanese sweethearts with the same American dream.” But then, best-laid plans don’t come with guarantees\u00a0…<\/p>\n

Now Julia’s corpse has turned up in the city\u00a0outskirts where she was working as a “betel-nut girl” \u2013 not exactly the sort of employment befitting\u00a0a smart, ambitious, NYU honor student. Betel-nut stands are where\u00a0taxi, bus, and truck drivers stop for a pick-me-up better than coffee, particularly\u00a0appreciative of the service provided by scantily-clad, attractive, young women.\u00a0What happened to the Julia Jing-nan fell in love with in third grade? Betrothed himself to in fifth? Ghost month\u00a0\u2013 August, when the entire country\u00a0shows appreciation for their dearly departed \u2013 looms. Jing-nan won’t be scared away from finding out\u00a0exactly what happened to the love of his life … even if he has to risk his own to find the truth.<\/p>\n

In the midst of his first title set in his ancestral homeland, New York-native\u00a0Lin makes sure to weave in Taiwan’s tumultuous past\u00a0\u2013 and present\u00a0\u2013 with mainland China, as well as\u00a0the country’s complicated history\u00a0with western immigration and, more recently, reverse journeys back to the homeland. Lin’s\u00a0hero’s encyclopedic obsession with western music creates a\u00a0multi-culti backdrop that\u00a0blends pop culture from\u00a0both sides of the globe, as Jing-nan\u00a0tries to come to terms with loss, longing, and a future he doesn’t recognize. From fancy offices to flaming hovels, unreliable narrators to unexpected stalkers, Jing-nan can’t trust anyone if he hopes\u00a0to save lost\u00a0souls … especially\u00a0his own.<\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Adult<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some strong suggestions first: 1. Don’t read this hungry (just the phrase “Asian street food” will have many of you salivating); 2. Don’t read this all alone at night. And, if you decide to ‘read’ by listening to narrator Feodor Chin, be further warned: he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,81,21,6,730,185],"tags":[84,6434,1424,10,1754,11,6433,51,13,212,39,28,42,8444],"class_list":["post-37740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-audio","category-chinese-american","category-fiction","category-taiwanese","category-taiwanese-american","tag-betrayal","tag-book","tag-ed-lin","tag-family","tag-feodor-chin","tag-friendship","tag-ghost-month","tag-identity","tag-love","tag-murder","tag-parent-child-relationship","tag-politics","tag-series","tag-series-taipei-night-market"],"yoast_head":"\nGhost Month [Taipei Night Market, Book 1] by Ed Lin - BookDragon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/ghost-month-by-ed-lin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ghost Month [Taipei Night Market, Book 1] by Ed Lin - BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some strong suggestions first: 1. 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