Crossings . Seattle, WA: Black
Heron Press (Fall 2009).
Crossings takes an unflinching look at the lives of Korean immigrants in the San Francisco Bay Area, centering on Sam, a widower who finds himself deep in debt with a local gangster, and Unha, an illegal immigrant working at a nightclub. Intertwined with these stories are the characters who touch their lives—family members, other immigrants—to form a portrait of a community struggling to better itself. When Unha rebels against the stringent demands placed upon her, she is kidnapped and trafficked into prostitution, and Sam is determined to save her. An ensemble novel, Crossings is a mosaic of stories about the American dream.
Download a pdf excerpt from here. The password is "public".
Read a brief Q&A with Leonard.
Read The Korea Daily's interview with Leonard.
Chris Cooper, of The Asian American Times, did an interview with Leonard. You can view the paper online (12/10 edition; pp. 14ff) or read it here.
Martin Wong, of Giant Robot, also did an interview, which you can download here as a pdf file.
Martha Vickey of Korean Quarterly interviewed Leonard. Download here as a pdf file.
PRAISE FOR CROSSINGS:
"Sadness and irony pervade Chang’s story of Korean immigrants in California. Widower Sungmo, known as Sam, grieving and drinking heavily, is deeply in debt from his beloved wife’s cancer expenses, not to a bank but rather a local gangster boss, Mr. Oh. Without a viable alternative, the quiet carpenter must work off his debt as a hired thug, side-by-side with a far more experienced miscreant. Though Sam marries recently arrived Yunjen, whose mixed-race heritage is a curse back in Korea, he and his 11-year-old, David, find little solace in her. But when Sam sees Unha hostessing in one of Oh’s restaurants, he’s struck by her resemblance to his deceased wife. That sets in motion a chain of events, including Unha’s kidnapping and forced prostitution, that ends in murder for some, success for others. This sad, sweetly lyrical depiction of family loyalties and responsibilities, brother betraying brother, and love the second time around is so eminently readable that its lack of standard American punctuation is no obstacle to enjoying it."
— Whitney Scott, Booklist Magazine (8/15/09)
"A new book published by Seattle literary press Black Heron is a finely calibrated work of fiction. Crossings explores the dark side of immigration and the American dream. Novelist Leonard Chang intertwines the desperate lives of two Korean immigrants, Sam and Unha. Sam is deeply in debt after the long illness and death of his beloved first wife from cancer. Unha is an illegal immigrant who has been forced into prostitution. Notions of loyalty, responsibility and honor are twisted into nearly unrecognizable forms as Sam, Unha and other immigrants around them struggle to create new lives in a land that, for all of its familiar landmarks, will seem like a frighteningly foreign place even to American readers. There is considerable violence in Crossings, perpetuated in both slashing scenes of brutality and tiny acts of betrayal that accumulate with eventually devastating effect. This soul-searing tragedy is a strong 21st century addition to the oeuvre of American immigrant fiction."
-- Barbara McMichael, The Kitsap Sun (10/31/09)
"In his short stories and with each consecutive novel, Chang continues to hone his craft, becoming more refined in his writing. It's not just the structure of his stories or the memorable characters, it's more about style. In CROSSINGS, the construction of his phrases are economic, yet powerful. He creates passages with cold realism and little sentiment.... It never feels like manipulation, just the stylish writing of a master at work... CROSSINGS is a bristling novel of misplaced honor and loyalties, family betrayals, love and salvation among people living, literally, in another America. This novel is a showcase for Chang's mature and confident writing ability. He continues to carve out a unique place in exploring the Korean American experience, a storyteller in a league all his own."
-- Bill Drucker, Korean Quarterly (Winter 2010)
"I am drawn to Chang's spare, elegant writing and gripping stories. His characters neither shed nor perform their Korean American identity. And he's a male writer who respects and understands women."
-- Professor Elaine Kim, KoreAm Journal's Summer Reading recommendations (June 2010)
Available at your bookstore, or order from Amazon.Com