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Vendor
Liepman Literary Agency
Marc Koralnik
Original language
English
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THE SENSE OF WONDER

Matthew Salesses

An Asian American basketball star walks into a gym. No one recognizes him, but everyone stares anyway. It is the start of a joke but what is the punchline? When Won Lee, the first Asian American in the NBA, stuns the world in a seven-game winning streak, the global media audience dubs it “The Wonder”—much to Won's chagrin. Meanwhile, Won struggles to get attention from his coach, his peers, his fans, and most importantly, his hero, Powerball!, who also happens to be Won's teammate and the captain. Covering it all is sportswriter Robert Sung, who writes about Won's stardom while grappling with his own missed hoops opportunities as well as his place as an Asian American in media. And to witness it all is Carrie Kang, a big studio producer, who juggles a newfound relationship with Won while attempting to bring K-drama to an industry not known to embrace anything new or different.
The Sense of Wonder is an incredibly funny and heart-rending dive into race and our “collective imagination that lays bare our limitations before blasting joyfully past them” (Catherine Chung). This is the work of a gifted storyteller at the top of his game.

Matthew Salesses is the author of four books, most recently the national bestseller Craft inthe Real World and the 2021 PEN/Faulkner finalist Disappear Doppelganger Disappear.Adopted from Korea, he has written about adoption, race, and Asian American masculinity inBest American Essays 2020, NPR's Code Switch, The New York Times Motherlode blog, and The Guardian, among others. In 2015, Buzzfeed named him oneof 32 Essential Asian American Writers. He teaches at Columbia University.
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Book

Published 2023-05-11 by Hachette

Comments

“ a brilliant and scathing chronicle of two Asian Americans as they try to find their place in contemporary sports and media Using language that is hilarious, caustic, and poignant, Salesses effectively interrogates whether and how Asians can contribute to American celebrity culture without meeting the same old racism in return Salesses fills the page with all the bold, kinetic confidence of an athlete striding onto the court.”

"The Sense of Wonder is equal parts a love letter to the intricate art form of basketball; a blade-sharp page-turner that delves deep into the rotten heart of America; and an ode to kdrama and the liberating power of love. Matthew Salesses brilliantly upends expectations on every page and, by the end, a powerfully new kind of story surfaces. The Sense of Wonder is revelatory and original and I absolutely loved this novel."

“Matthew Salesses's new novel is so freaking good I can't stand it. Blistering, confident, full of swagger and heart, it is also an exhilaratingly smart treatise on race and our collective imagination that lays bare our limitations before blasting joyfully past them. A must read!”

“This is a wildly physical book, the beating heart of it smashed up against the ribcage of the binding, thumping hard, demanding attention. I have never read anything like it. Matthew Salesses is a genius and The Sense of Wonder is a genuine marvel.”

"Sharp, funny, and searingly original, The Sense of Wonder is a tour de force from one of the most inventive writers working today."