Tropic of Orange
Karen Tei Yamashita, Sesshu Foster (introduction)"Fiercely satirical. . . . Yamashita presents [an] intricate plot with mordant wit." —NY Times Book Review
"A stunner. . . . An exquisite mystery novel. But this is a novel of dystopia & apocalypse; the mystery concerns the tragic flaws of human nature." —Library Journal
"Brilliant. . . . An ingenious interpretation of social woes." —Booklist
"Yamashita handles her eccentrics & the setting of their adventures with panache. David Foster Wallace meets Gabriel Garcia Marquez." —Publishers Weekly
Irreverently juggling magical realism, film noir, hip hop, & chicanismo, Tropic of Orange takes place in a Los Angeles where the homeless, gangsters, infant organ entrepreneurs, & Hollywood collide on a stretch of the Harbor Freeway. Hemmed in by wildfires, it's a symphony conducted from an overpass, grandiose, comic, & as diverse as the city itself.
Karen Tei Yamashita: author of Letters to Memory, Through the Arc of the Rain Forest, Brazil-Maru, Tropic of Orange, Circle K Cycles, I Hotel, & Anime Wong, all published by Coffee House Press. I Hotel was selected as a finalist for the National Book Award & awarded the California Book Award, the American Book Award, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Award, & the Association for Asian American Studies Book Award. She has been a US Artists Ford Foundation Fellow & co-holder of the University of California Presidential Chair for Feminist & Critical Race & Ethnic Studies. She is currently Professor Emeritus of Literature & Creative Writing at UC Santa Cruz.
SESSHU FOSTER has taught composition & literature in East L.A. for 20 years. He is the author of the novel, Atomik Aztex (City Lights, 2005), winner of the Believer Book Award, & a number of poetry books, including World Ball Notebook (2009) & City of the Future, winner of the Firecracker Award for Poetry.