{"id":44637,"date":"2018-11-02T11:12:06","date_gmt":"2018-11-02T15:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/?p=44637"},"modified":"2018-11-09T14:06:21","modified_gmt":"2018-11-09T19:06:21","slug":"five-more-to-go-alice-stephens-famous-adopted-people-in-the-booklist-reader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/five-more-to-go-alice-stephens-famous-adopted-people-in-the-booklist-reader\/","title":{"rendered":"Five More to Go: Alice Stephens\u2019 Famous Adopted People [in The Booklist Reader]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Famous Adopted People<\/strong> <\/a>by Alice Stephens<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone, it seems, is telling our story but us,\u201d observes Lisa Pearl, the Korean-born, Bethesda, Maryland-raised transracial adoptee protagonist in Alice Stephens<\/a>\u2019 recent October debut. The author, who describes herself as being \u201camong the first generation of transnational, interracial adoptees,\u201d takes charge with a novel that\u2019s darkly comic, sharply irreverent, undeniably wise.<\/p>\n

Step into Villa Umma (Korean for \u201cMommy\u201d), where Lisa has been kidnapped \u2013 no, delivered \u2013 after running off to Jeju Island following a shattering fight with her BFF in a Seoul Dunkin\u2019 Donuts. Lisa\u2019s bio-Umma is hardly nostalgic \u2013 she\u2019s got no interest in reclaiming 27 lost years but is intent on furthering her Machiavellian plans to place Lisa\u2019s half-brother at the helm of a nuclear-power-to-be. Introducing each chapter with a pixelated propaganda poster overlaid with a quote from \u201cfamous adopted people\u201d (Greg Louganis, Debbie Harry, Vincent Chin, and more), Stephens\u2019 \u201cGreat Adoption Novel\u201d is an unexpectedly timely, not-to-be-missed, epic wild ride.<\/p>\n

As further proof of Stephens\u2019 renegade unique debut, only a single title comes to mind that highlights both transracial adoption and North Korea: In the Shadow of the Sun<\/em><\/a>, a middle-grade novel by (South) Korean-raised Anne Sibley O\u2019Brien<\/a>. While a notable choice for younger audiences, adults in search of more mature read-alikes might choose from two paths: transracial Korean adoption or surreal North Korea. Here are five more to go …<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"The Boy Who Escaped Paradise<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0by J.M. Lee, translated by Chi-Young Kim<\/p>\n

Lee\u2019s silent protagonist sits in a New York City cell, accused of murder and terrorism, his more notable possessions including four fake passports and 19 pages of mathematical formulas written in an unidentifiable language. Over the next seven days, the suspect will divulge a quest that originates in North Korea and lands in North America, with stopovers in China, Macau, South Korea, and Mexico, as the protagonist moves through a prison camp, casinos, hotel rooms, action flicks, and international markets \u2013 all to fulfill a childhood promise of everlasting care (and love).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"The Collective<\/strong><\/a> by Don Lee<\/p>\n

Three college friends reunite after graduation. Eric Cho hopes to become a published writer. Jessica Tsai is a feisty artist. Joshua Yoon is a brilliant, angry Korean adoptee, raised as the privileged only child of two liberal Harvard professors. Joshua\u2019s violent, shocking suicide becomes the catalyst for introspection, reevaluation, confrontation, and change.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"How I Became a North Korean<\/strong><\/a> by Krys Lee<\/p>\n

After the brutal murder of his father and his wrenching separation from his mother and sister, Yongju faces further deprivation despite his privileged upbringing as the only son of one of North Korea\u2019s power elite. Meanwhile, Danny, a misfit immigrant teen in southern California, abandons his father to join his mother in China, while Jangmi, desperate to protect her unborn child, escapes her North Korean village and becomes the purchased wife of a damaged Chinese man with a spoiled daughter. Through an unlikely combination of adversity and serendipity, the three young people will converge in a house of God. Drawing on personal experiences working with North Korean refugees, Lee crafts an extraordinary narrative that combines contemporary testimony with literary achievement.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator\u2019s Rise to Power<\/strong><\/a> by Paul Fischer<\/p>\n

Long before PSY became an worldwide headliner with \u201cGangnam Style<\/a>,\u201d director Shin Sang-Ok and his leading lady Choi Eun-Hee reigned as Korea\u2019s first international megastars. In a South Korea devastated by war, Shin and Choi built Korean cinema to international acclaim. North of the DMZ, Kim Jong-Il, not yet the Supreme Leader, fed his obsession for films. He hatched a ludicrous plan to get North Korea onto the international cinematic stage: first he grabbed Choi, then he took Shin. Reunited as Kim\u2019s \u2018guests,\u2019 they had little choice but to help make Dear Leader\u2019s celluloid dreams come true.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Sorry to Disrupt the Peace<\/strong><\/a> by Patty Yumi Cottrell<\/p>\n

Helen and her brother were adopted as babies from Korea by a willfully culturally illiterate white couple from Milwaukee. Now that her 29-year-old brother is dead, Helen is determined to understand his suicide and buys a one-way ticket from NYC to their childhood home. Helen\u2019s no-filter descriptions of her perplexing life morph into an inventive, disturbing, and noir-ish tragicomic debut.<\/p>\n

 
\nPublished<\/strong>: \u201cFive More to Go: Alice Stephens\u2019 FAMOUS ADOPTED PEOPLE,\u201d The Booklist Reader<\/em>, October 30, 2018<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Famous Adopted People by Alice Stephens \u201cEveryone, it seems, is telling our story but us,\u201d observes Lisa Pearl, the Korean-born, Bethesda, Maryland-raised transracial adoptee protagonist in Alice Stephens\u2019 recent October debut. The author, who describes herself as being \u201camong the first generation of transnational, interracial…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,37,38,7243,20,1343,6535,66,31],"tags":[82,8079,6608,6668,7235,7131,984,549,59,75,551,10,8080,8045,7031,51,6439,6279,2274,13,7568,6280,7567,45],"class_list":["post-44637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-fiction","category-korean","category-korean-american","category-lists","category-nonfiction","category-north-korean","category-repost","category-translation","category-young-adult-readers","tag-adoption","tag-alice-stephens","tag-bookdragon","tag-booklist","tag-booklist-reader","tag-boy-who-escaped-paradise","tag-chi-young-kim","tag-collective","tag-cultural-exploration","tag-death","tag-don-lee","tag-family","tag-famous-adopted-people","tag-five-more-to-go","tag-how-i-became-a-north-korean","tag-identity","tag-j-m-lee","tag-kim-jong-il-production","tag-krys-lee","tag-love","tag-patty-yumi-cottrell","tag-paul-fischer","tag-sorry-to-disrupt-the-peace","tag-war"],"yoast_head":"\nFive More to Go: Alice Stephens\u2019 Famous Adopted People [in The Booklist Reader] - 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\/five-more-to-go-alice-stephens-famous-adopted-people-in-the-booklist-reader\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five More to Go: Alice Stephens\u2019 Famous Adopted People [in The Booklist Reader] - BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Famous Adopted People by Alice Stephens \u201cEveryone, it seems, is telling our story but us,\u201d observes Lisa Pearl, the Korean-born, Bethesda, Maryland-raised transracial adoptee protagonist in Alice Stephens\u2019 recent October debut. 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