FROM THE WINNER OF THE PARIS REVIEW’S GEORGE PLIMPTON PRIZE FOR FICTION
‘The greatest, funniest, most honest book I’ve ever read about the nature of prodigy’ TONY TALATHIMUTTE
They call him America.
Twelve years old and already one of the highest ranked table tennis players in the United States, America arrives at a prestigious academy in Qingdao, China, convinced he is ready. He is not.
Away from home and Mother’s watchful eye for the first time, America struggles to survive the academy’s ruthless training regime and bewildering social hierarchy. Yet this new life also brings a taste of something unfamiliar: freedom.
But as the tournament that will define his future approaches, Mother arrives in Qingdao without warning, and America must decide whether the dream he’s spent his whole life pursuing is really his own.
Uproarious, tender and always thrillingly alive, this is a story about the burden of talent, the reckless joy of boyhood, a mother’s vice-like love – and the absurdity and majesty of ping pong.
‘The greatest, funniest, most honest book I’ve ever read about the nature of prodigy’ TONY TALATHIMUTTE
They call him America.
Twelve years old and already one of the highest ranked table tennis players in the United States, America arrives at a prestigious academy in Qingdao, China, convinced he is ready. He is not.
Away from home and Mother’s watchful eye for the first time, America struggles to survive the academy’s ruthless training regime and bewildering social hierarchy. Yet this new life also brings a taste of something unfamiliar: freedom.
But as the tournament that will define his future approaches, Mother arrives in Qingdao without warning, and America must decide whether the dream he’s spent his whole life pursuing is really his own.
Uproarious, tender and always thrillingly alive, this is a story about the burden of talent, the reckless joy of boyhood, a mother’s vice-like love – and the absurdity and majesty of ping pong.