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A review by nathansnook
Yellow: Stories by Don Lee
2.0
"𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘱𝘶𝘻𝘻𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘧𝘧, 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘩𝘦'𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦, 𝘢 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘨𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦 𝘩𝘦'𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥. 𝘈 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘰 𝘣𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵, 𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺, 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤, 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦."
It's amazing to me that the first story was even a Pushcart winner. How Don Lee got to publish a collection of mediocrity astounds me. With stories that are flat and half-fleshed out, they are ultimately drafts that require a lot more work than it took for him to even get to teaching at a grad/undergrad university level.
Take a look at this quote for example, cluttered with so many adjectives: puzzling, mysterious, peevishly, pointed. All of these instances where the adjectives stand could've been expanded, but, unfortunately, create a muddy run-on that lessens the impact of the punch at the end of the sentence. Lee doesn't care for economics, no, with a story that runs for 20 or so pages, with shallow dialogue that gives no flesh nor blood to the characters.
Initially, I picked this up because Elaine Hsieh Chou had mentioned it in an interview about her novel, 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. I think this was a good reference in seeing Asian-on-Asian antagonism and conflict for character-development research, but, it just goes to show that bad writing follows bad writing.
Either there are no editors left in the world. Or writers aren't doing their job.
*DNF
It's amazing to me that the first story was even a Pushcart winner. How Don Lee got to publish a collection of mediocrity astounds me. With stories that are flat and half-fleshed out, they are ultimately drafts that require a lot more work than it took for him to even get to teaching at a grad/undergrad university level.
Take a look at this quote for example, cluttered with so many adjectives: puzzling, mysterious, peevishly, pointed. All of these instances where the adjectives stand could've been expanded, but, unfortunately, create a muddy run-on that lessens the impact of the punch at the end of the sentence. Lee doesn't care for economics, no, with a story that runs for 20 or so pages, with shallow dialogue that gives no flesh nor blood to the characters.
Initially, I picked this up because Elaine Hsieh Chou had mentioned it in an interview about her novel, 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. I think this was a good reference in seeing Asian-on-Asian antagonism and conflict for character-development research, but, it just goes to show that bad writing follows bad writing.
Either there are no editors left in the world. Or writers aren't doing their job.
*DNF