When Thomas Pak is hired as a clerk at a Korean grocery, he isn't prepared for the searing racial tensions that threaten to destroy the neighborhood in which he lives and works. His tenuous relationship with the store owners and their young daughter is jeopardized by his own conflicting affiliations of race and class, and these turbulent forces soon converge violently around in the form of a race riot. Thomas Keneally (Schindler's List) wrote of this book: Leonard Chang's vigorous tale is a drama of society's perpetual struggle for renewal and reconciliation. It is an elegant story of the zone of conflict between African and Asian Americans and, in the central character, the poignancy and contradictions of tribalism and fraternity are vividly proved. Library Journal: Chang's gift for unsentimental storytelling is indisputable. The Pacific Reader: The Fruit 'N Food is a thoroughly enjoyable, wonderfully written, socially relevant piece of contemporary fiction. Chang writes with simple elegance that immediately draws the reader in.
