I really enjoyed this novel, after loving Salesses' Craft in the Real World. I loved the approach to examining racism in sports but it was so much more. Great writing.

Thank you to Net Galley and Little, Brown and Company for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book piqued my interest as I want to read more story about the Asian American experience by Asian/Asian American writers. The main storyline is following a character who resembles Jeremy Lin. Won Lee the first Asian American in the NBA becomes a sensation or The Wonder as he steps in and stuns the world with a 7-game winning streak for his losing team. Everyone has a different take on his success including his hero and teammate Powerball!, and also when the winning streak ends. Robert Sung is a journalist who covers the story. He is Asian American was a basketball player as well who didn't have as much success as Won. Lastly is Carrie, who produces a K-drama while dealing with her sister's bout with cancer. These story lines didn't really mesh for me but I'm always interested in how Asian American authors see the world.

I'm not a huge fan of books about sports, but I *AM* a huge fan of the author, so I took the plunge. I'm glad I did. This book was fascinating and full of heart — a master class in writing. I'll read everything Salasses writes.

[3.75 stars]

I had a weird, but ultimately good, reading experience with this sports novel. I almost DNF'd it around 35%, but I'm so glad I stuck with it. The fictional first Asian American in the NBA (Won Lee) breaks out with a 7 game winning streak and gets named “The Wonder” by the media. Amid this media attention, he’s struggling to fit in with his team and his coach. An Asian sportswriter is covering the story and an Asian studio producer is watching all this unfold…both of whom play a role in Won’s story. Early in the story, K Drama (a type of Korean TV series) takes over at the expense of the basketball storyline, which was distracting and unnecessary. Won's story sparked emotion in me...not getting the credit he deserved for his play, being used for his race, and having a complicated relationship with the Knicks star, Powerball, and the Korean sportswriter (Sung). And, he integrated the K Drama in a way that made sense in the second half.

I liked lots of this, but I feel like I missed something by the end? I'm not sure. I think the book sprawls a bit too much, especially for a novel of its length, but it's full of important and thoughtful reflections.

This book is brilliant! I loved this so much! Being a big basketball fan I have never looked at the sport in this way before.

I remember the Linsanity phenomenon--how Jeremy Lin took the New York sports world by storm, and the whole nation was enthralled. Some of the best moments in sports happen when someone who is underestimated surprises everyone, and magic happens.

I think there is some magic here, but not in the sections involving Lin's stand-in, Won Lee, dubbed "The Wonder." The book is told in three sections: from the points of view of Won and his girlfriend Carrie and another section summarizing the K-drama Carrie is producing. I was the least interested in Won's story. Those were quite plot-heavy, mostly dealing with the drama involving Won's teammate Powerball! (yes, the exclamation point is part of the nickname, and it made me cringe slightly every time) and journalist Robert Sung. I didn't really care about Sung and Powerball!'s wife's affair, and that's what most of Won's chapters were about. Won's character is thinly drawn, and the only time I found him compelling is when he talked about his experience as an Asian American in a sport where no one looked like him.

I found Carrie's chapters far more engrossing, especially her relationship with her sister K, who is dying of stomach cancer*. I didn't know anything about K-drama, and Salesses' descriptions of not only the tropes and plots of the stories but the cultural differences between American and Korean television was fascinating. I was continually disappointed when those chapters ended and we rejoined Won's story.

SPOILER

*As much as I wanted K to survive, her miraculous last-minute inclusion in a trial that saved her life was not believable at all. From what limited knowledge I have, clinical trials are long processes and you don't just get accepted into one as a last-minute hail Mary. These things take time.

The story is obviously based on Jeremy Lin's time with the New York Knicks but adds plenty of fictional elements. If anything, it adds too many elements. There are several storylines, several important relationships, and several different narrators, which give the novel an unfocused quality. It addresses themes of racism and celebrity in some interesting ways, but it also has a tendency to juggle too many balls at once.

Pros: I first heard about this book when Annie Jones of the From the Front Porch Podcast gave it five stars! I trust her judgment and see why she rated it so highly. This book examines the experiences of three Korean Americans (one playing in the NBA, one reporting on the NBA, and one producing K-dramas), with a focus on belonging and identity. Although I liked the sections focused on the producer, I preferred the sections about the breakout star in the NBA.

Cons: None really. I liked this book but did not love it like I had hoped based on Annie Jones’s rave review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown & Company for the opportunity to read this book.

Important reflections on identity, culture, belonging, romance, friendship-- in the setting of K-drama and basketball.
"The voices of the characters I had created still rang in my ears. 'I didn't choose to live on my own,' they were saying, 'I am on my own because I chose life.' That's how they end up together too: they choose each other because they choose to live." (Carrie and the head canon for her basketball K-drama characters, laying the groundwork for the story's frame of reference.)

I somehow did not expect to find this book as touching as I did, especially the second half, where things came together and clicked for me.

'Don't let anyone kill your wonder,' she said, which at first disappointed me, that she would use her 'last' words to me to pun on my boyfriend's name-- but she meant, she explained later, that to keep our wonder, we had to stop fighting and denying our grief.

I thought the story within a story worked well and the ending was strong.

"What Won made Asian Americans feel was mimetic wonder. His story made our own more possible. We loved him because we wanted to love ourselves."

Won Lee is the first Asian American in the NBA. He has not had much success so far, and is currently spending most of his one-year contract with his current team on the bench. When he is called up to play as a result of other players' injuries, Won knows this is one chance to show his team what he can do. He wins the game, launching a seven game winning-streak. His newfound success brings him international attention, including from one of the reporters covering the team -- Robert Sung, himself Asian American who once had his own dreams of basketball stardom. Won is supported by his girlfriend Carrie Kang, a television producer who is herself dealing with the challenge of being one of the few Asian Americans in her field.

This is a perceptive story of Won's experience before, during, and after his streak, including the complications that come from his new fame and the challenges he faces when his identity is front and center of how his coach, the public, and the press view him. This is a highly engaging novel that will keep you thinking long after you put it down.

Highly recommended!

The Sense of Wonder
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this boo. I enjoyed learning about the Korean culture through interwoven stories of an Asian American basketball player, a reporter and a Kdrama producer who has a dying sister. I was told this was a great book and it was. You should read it!
5 stars

I was given an advance reading copy of this title by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I highly recommend this book.I was quickly drawn into the lives of the characters and was very enlightened to learn about Korean culture.