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Loading... My Korean Deli: Risking It All for a Convenience Store (original 2011; edition 2011)by Ben Ryder Howe
Work InformationMy Korean Deli: Risking It All for a Convenience Store by Ben Ryder Howe (Author) (2011)
   No current Talk conversations about this book.   ) Martha_Thayer | Jan 13, 2022 |  I learned a lot about New Englanders and Koreans from this book, or at least the author's impressions of those cultures. It was mildly amusing and parts of it did drag a little bit, but all-in-all, I enjoyed it. I couldn't put it down there toward the end. There's good times and bad times and some sad times in this book but it was very enlightening. (  ) Chica3000 | Dec 11, 2020 | ) GaylaBassham | May 27, 2018 | ) laurenbufferd | Nov 14, 2016 | ) mkunruh | Nov 13, 2016 |
 It’s hard not to fall in love with “My Korean Deli.” First, it’s the (very) rare memoir that places careful, loving attention squarely on other people rather than the author. Second, it tells a rollicking, made-for-the-movies story in a wonderfully funny deadpan style. By the end, you’ll feel that you know the author and his family quite well — even though you may not be eager to move in with them. ...Howe keeps a distanced view and writes with a light, self-effacing touch, describing his frustration with customers who refuse to accept any changes in the coffee, the prices or where the bran muffins and Bud Light are shelved, or his feeling of being trapped in the “scruffy milieu of lottery tickets, wine coolers and penny candy.” But he doesn’t express anger or disdain: he remains carefully even-Âtempered, befitting his upbringing as the child of a cultural anthropologist...That fresh embrace of discovery keeps “My Korean Deli” moving as fast as it does AwardsDistinctions
Biography & Autobiography.
Nonfiction.
HTML: This sweet and funny tale of a preppy editor buying a Brooklyn deli with his Korean in-laws is about family, culture clash, and the quest for authentic experiences. It starts with a gift. When Ben Ryder Howe's wife, the daughter of Korean immigrants, decides to repay her parents' self-sacrifice by buying them a store, Howe, an editor at the rarefied Paris Review, agrees to go along. Things soon become a lot more complicated. After the business struggles, Howe finds himself living in the basement of his in-laws' Staten Island home, commuting to the Paris Review offices in George Plimpton's Upper East Side townhouse by day and heading to Brooklyn to slice cold cuts and peddle lottery tickets by night. My Korean Deli follows the store's tumultuous life span, and along the way paints the portrait of an extremely unlikely partnership between characters with shoots across society, from the Brooklyn streets to Seoul to Puritan New England. Owning the deli becomes a transformative experience for everyone involved as they struggle to salvage the original giftâ??and the familyâ??while sorting out issues of values, work, and identity No library descriptions found. |
LibraryThing Early Reviewers AlumBen Ryder Howe's book My Korean Deli: Risking It All for a Convenience Store was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers.  Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)381.147092Social sciences Commerce, Communications, Transportation Commerce Marketing channelsLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.5)
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Wikipedia in English
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