King of the armadillos : a novel
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, or 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.
Available Copies by Location
Location | |
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Stamford | Available |
Browse Related Items
Subject |
Leprosy > Patients > Fiction. Chinese Americans > Fiction. Families > Fiction. |
Genre |
Historical fiction. |
- ISBN: 9781250843005 (hardcover)
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Physical Description
print
viii, 322 pages ; 25 cm - Edition First edition.
- Publisher 2023
Additional Information
BookList Review
King of the Armadillos : A Novel
Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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.
Publishers Weekly Review
King of the Armadillos : A Novel
Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
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. (July)