David Tung Can't Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College

by Ed Lin

Overview

“A beautifully observed, hilariously truthful, uplifting coming-of-age story that captures the heart and humanity of a Chinese American male teenager.” –David Henry Hwang

“You’re not allowed to have a girlfriend until college,” my mother warned. “And you’d better get into an Ivy League school!”

In David Tung Can’t Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College, novelist Ed Lin conjures up “a fast-paced, acid-tongued, hilarious teen drama for our age,” says Marie Myung-Ok Lee, acclaimed author of Somebody’s Daughter and Finding My Voice. Both playful and wryly observant, Ed Lin's YA-debut explores coming-of-age in the Asian diaspora while navigating relationships through race, class, and young love. David Tung, our nerd-hero, is a Chinese American high-school student who works in his family’s restaurant, competes for top grades at his regular high school located in an upscale, Asian-majority New Jersey suburb, and attends weekend Chinese school in NYC’s working-class Chinatown. While David faces parental pressures to get As and conform to cultural norms and expectations, he’s caught up in the complicated world of high school love triangles—and amid these external pressures is the fear he will die alone, whether he gets into Harvard or not!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781885030627
Publisher:	Muae Publishing (Kaya)
Publication date:	10/28/2020
Pages:	150
Product dimensions:	4.70(w) x 7.10(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

Editorial Reviews

With tender and hilarious insight, Ed Lin offers an irresistible tale of first love, complete with swooning crushes, tongue-tied blunders, overbearing-but-well-meaning parents, and an outrageous cast of supporting characters only New York and New Jerseycan produce.

JJ Strong

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll get straight A's.

Chris L. Terry

Ed Lin's New Jersey is entirely Chinese American and way, way more complex and threatening than the Soprano's version of NJ. There are rich Chinese, really rich Chinese, Ivy League Chinese, super educated Chinese, and then there's David Tung who has never been on airplane, works in his family's Chinese restaurant, and ranks a shameful (according to his mother) number eight academically in his school. For Chinese American readers who survived high school, it's a hive-inducing horror movie from our past.

Shawn Wong

[A]n updated coming of age story that brings hope to teens navigating the “in-between.

Asian Review of Books - Susan Bloomberg-Kason

Ed Lin’s YA-novel debut takes on coming-of-age in the Asian diaspora with a heartwarming and humorous exploration of race, class, young love, and the contradictory expectations of immigrant parents.

Dear Author - Jayne S.

You’ll fall hard for David Tung, a high-achieving teen with a heart of gold. Lin writes with a keen sense of character; even the most minor characters spring alive off the page.

Sheba Karim

David Tung is a nerd-hero readers will cheer on to the end.

Marie Myung-Ok Lee

Ed Lin's new book David Tung Can’t Have A Girlfriend Until He Gets Into An Ivy League College is an exploration of much more than dating. Through humor, the book explores identity, traditions, social expectations, and stereotypes through the lens of a suburban New Jersey high school student.

Teen Vogue - Editors

I cringed, I cheered, I wished this book had been there for me as a teen.

Jung Kim

A beautifully observed, hilariously truthful, uplifting coming-of-age story that captures the heart and humanity of a Chinese American male teenager. I am impressed and inspired by Ed Lin’s achievement and wish I could’ve read this book when I was in high school.

David Henry Hwang

09/01/2020

Gr 7–10—In wealthy Shark Beach, NJ, sophomore David faces parental pressure to become valedictorian of his majority Chinese American high school and attend an Ivy League college. The narrowest slivers of his GPA and competition with other students rule his days, and at night he works long hours at his family's restaurant. David lives for ungraded Saturday Chinese school and his shady slacker friends there. When a popular Shark Beach girl invites David to a dance, surprise causes him to accept before remembering his parents forbid dating. While struggling for a solution, David begins to appreciate a Chinese school girl, Betty, who suffers no fools and has a Chinese American father and white mother. Can David possibly make everyone happy? This slice-of-life story spends the first chapters building David's world. Acting as a tour guide for readers, David describes his background, schools, home, restaurant, teachers, classmates, relatives, and friends. Lin demonstrates David's adeptness at code-switching and shows him seeing his world both as an insider, being Chinese American, and as an outsider, since his economic situation matches neither that of his wealthier Shark Beach or poorer Chinese school classmates. Many readers may see themselves in aspects of David's highly pressured life, and will cheer him on in navigating his complex situation. VERDICT This richly detailed, leisurely-paced story of a Chinese American boy struggling with parental demands around academia and girls will appeal most to readers who prefer world-building to action. Recommend to readers who enjoyed David Yoon's Frankly In Love.—Rebecca Moore, The Overlake School, Redmond, WA

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