"A spellbinding exploration of American masculinity and family dynamics At home, Jeon-Gi is a dutiful son to his hardworking immigrant parents. Outside, he is part of a roving pack of kids joyfully jockeying for power over the weedy lot and rusty swing set near their modest apartment complex. The year he turns eleven, getting into and out of trouble becomes all-consuming as he straddles his two worlds. The stakes climb, the threats of a playground bully provoke a shocking and ferocious response from Jeon-Gi, and he is sent away to a church-run summer camp to quell his wild streak. Still, the youthful games of camp feel frighteningly consequential. Caught in the maddening swirl of preadolescent confusion and self-determination, Jeon-Gi becomes embroiled in a staggering series of events that will reverberate far beyond that summer, and far beyond himself. Empathetic yet unsparing, A Tender Age captures a family and community in striking distance of the American dream, and a character negotiating his own culpability amid the battering forces that shaped him. Equal parts affirming and eye-opening, Chang-rae Lee's unique addition to the rich tradition of the American bildungsroman leaves the reader reeling with tenderness for a child on the cusp of maturity, so vulnerable to the world and its complications."--Back cover.
