Mona in the Promised Land

From the acclaimed, award-winning author of Thank You, Mr. Nixon comes a "hilariously funny and seriously important" novel (Amy Tan) about American multiculturalism and a Chinese American teenager doing her best to fit in-even if it means converting to Judaism.

In these pages, acclaimed author Gish Jen introduces us to teenaged Mona Chang, who in 1968 moves with her newly prosperous family to Scarshill, New York. Here, the Chinese are seen as "the new Jews." What could be more natural than for Mona to take this literally--even to the point of converting? As Mona attends temple "rap" sessions and falls in love (with a nice Jewish boy who lives in a tepee), Jen introduces us to one of the most charming and sweet-spirited heroines in recent fiction, a girl who can wisecrack with perfect aplomb even when she's organizing the help in her father's pancake house. On every page, Gish Jen sets our received notions spinning with a wit as dry as a latter-day Jane Austen's.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 04/01/1997
ISBN: 9780679776505
Pages: 320
Weight: 0.54lbs
Size: 8.12h x 5.26w x 0.66d

Review Citations: New York Times 05/18/1997 pg. 36
Booklist 06/01/2001 pg. 1837
Publishers Weekly 03/17/1997