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A Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection for Spring 2014
A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice
Longlisted for the 2014 Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize
Lambda Literary Award, Finalist
Publishing Triangle's Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction, Finalist
2015 PEN/ Hemingway Award, Finalist
At birth, Peter Huang is given the Chinese name Juan Chaun, "powerful king." To his parents, newly settled in small-town Ontario, he is the exalted only son in a sea of daughters, the one who will finally fulfill his immigrant father's dreams of Western masculinity. Peter and his sisters grow up in an airless house of order and obligation, though secrets and half-truths simmer beneath the surface. At the first opportunity, each of the girls lights out on her own. But for Peter, escape is not as simple as fleeing his parents' home. Though his father crowned him "powerful king," Peter knows otherwise. He knows he is really a girl. With the help of his far-flung sisters and the sympathetic souls he finds along the way, Peter inches ever closer to his own life, his own skin, in this darkly funny, emotionally acute, stunningly powerful debut.
You can see the full discussion in our legacy forum here. This discussion will contain spoilers!
Some of the recent comments posted about For Today I Am a Boy:
Did Peter's bullying surprise you? Peter himself is bullied into supporting the other boys' actions. How culpable does that make him in the actions perpetrated by the three? Do you think he had a choice?
I agree with what has been said already. I think Peter was afraid of the bullies and rightly so. So he joined then rather than being beaten up by them. His father would not have helped him if he said no I refuse to be a bully. Yes he is responsible ... - kathleenb
Did you like this book?
I did enjoy this book, but also found it somewhat difficult and sad. This family was so connected and yet so disconnected. I kept imagining tops spinning - family members would spin into each other, then bounce away. Sometimes they would fall down ... - poniesnpearls
Do you think any of the four siblings are content with the paths their lives has taken?
No. But I feel hopeful that with all of them together supporting each other things will be easier for each other. But only one speaks German! That is going to be a stressor. I am very happy for Peter and feel he will be doing the best at changing his... - kathleenb
Do you think siblings are generally more similar to each other than different, or the reverse? If you have a sibling, in what ways are you alike and in what ways are you dissimilar? What impact do you think birth order has?
I think every one has there own personality but there are some similarities sometimes. Most people are extroverts so if there is an introvert in the family there might be another which would be out of the normal statistics. With seven children in my ... - kathleenb
Do you think society is more accepting of transgender individuals than they were ten years ago?
Yes. I met a sale clerk recently at a store and told her how lovely her makeup was and wished I could put makeup on as well. She glowed with the compliment. I don't think ten years ago I would have had the nerve to talk to a transgender person like ... - kathleenb
"Sensitively wrought ... For Today I Am a Boy is as much about the construction of self as the consequences of its unwitting destruction—and what happens when its acceptance seems as foreign as another country." - New York Times Book Review
"Subtle and controlled, with flashes of humor and warmth." - Slate
"[Fu] has created a touching, quiet first-person hero—and a believably unhappy family—for her sharply written debut novel…A coming-of-age tale for our time." - Seattle Times
"Keeps you reading. Told in snatches of memory that hurt so much they have the ring of truth." - Bust magazine
This information about For Today I Am a Boy was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: L D'Alessandro.
Kim Fu is a Canadian-born writer living in Seattle, Washington. SHe is the author of For Today I Am a Boy which won the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, as well as a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice. Her second novel, The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore, was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and the OLA Evergreen Award.
Fu's writing has appeared in Granta, the Atlantic, the New York Times, Hazlitt, enRoute, and the TLS. She has received residency fellowships from the Ucross Foundation, Berton House, Wildacres, and the Wallace Stegner House.
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