ABOUT THE MISADVENTURES OF SULLIVER PONG

The Pongs are an American immigrant family that has seen it all. They helped build the transcontinental railroads of the Victorian Age. They were mistakenly interned with Japanese-Americans during World War II. They may even have co-invented the landmark video game that bears the family’s last name. But despite all they’ve endured, each new generation’s patriarch has had one thing in common: a penchant for degeneracy. Sulliver Pong was supposed to be the exception. Married and living in Copenhagen, he was supposed to have escaped his toxic hometown of Bordirtoun; and most importantly, its mayor, his father Saul. When Saul visits unannounced, he begins to draw his son back into his corrupt world of city politics and redevelopment schemes. Yoked to his feelings of guilt for his abused mother and his lust for a now-married adolescent crush, book-smart but life-dumb Sulliver finds himself running for mayor against his father–a decision that will carry hilarious and unfortunate consequences for all involved. A laugh-out-loud black comedy about a dysfunctional family that has endured almost every major injustice in Asian-American history, but can’t endure each other, Leland Cheuk’s irreverent debut is perfect for existing fans of Jonathan Franzen or the Coen Brothers.

 

PRAISE FOR THE MISADVENTURES OF SULLIVER PONG

“…hilarious…” —The Paris Review

“Cheuk manages to imagine twisted, hilarious worlds that seem to ring with a prescient knowledge of our time and our culture.”—The Rumpus

“…THE MISADVENTURES OF SULLIVER PONG is at once heartwarming and wrenching, examining heritage, immigrant life, and injustice in America with bite and comedic verve.”—The Millions

“We’re big admirers of Leland Cheuk’s fiction, which blends innovative forms with psychological acuity…”—Vol. 1 Brooklyn

“[Cheuk] upends striver stories and stereotypes of Asian American men in the ultimate dysfunctional family story.”
—Elliott Bay Book Company

“Disarmingly resonant…Leland Cheuk’s debut novel, THE MISADVENTURES OF SULLIVER PONG, grinds up those tropes into numerous permutations across a century and a half of American history earns the reader’s attention with its sardonic wit and immersive characterizations…By de- and reconstructing our expectations for the eternal Second Generation, these first-born Americans across time, Sulliver Pong lets us laugh at our shared mistakes while owning them without fear.”
—Medium.com

“An immigrant family’s success or lack thereof after arriving in America is familiar. What is fresh [in this book] is that each generation of Pong men proves to be inept or evil. This is not a story of a fall from grace or redemption, but persistent, stupid malice. …Leland Cheuk’s madcap family novel is exciting not just as satire of the curdled American dream, but as a major touchstone of a uniquely Asian-American voice.”—Heavy Feather Review

“Plagued by bad luck or circumstances, Leland Cheuk’s THE MISADVENTURES OF SULLIVER PONG, is tiered historical satire. As a father and son battle for power, Cheuk exposes truths Chinese-American immigrants faced in a transitory culture.”
—The Good Men Project

“…THE MISADVENTURES OF SULLIVER PONG is a highly entertaining debut novel that has a lot of interesting things to say about immigration, the Chinese American experience, small town politics, corruption, and dysfunctional families, while still being funny and propulsive.”—Ben Tanzer, author of BE COOL and ORPHANS, and the blog This Book Will Change Your Life

“[A] perfect Petri dish for the multiplying family dramas…Leland Cheuk’s new novel is a fast-paced and detail-laden read about a family still struggling to make a positive impact on the world. Painfully dark but darkly humorous…”
—Small Press Reviews

“The way most novels about family are discussed, especially families of color, they’re always beautifully suffering. They’ve usually been very American Dreamy and then the kids grow up and they realize it was all shit. [THE MISADVENTURES OF SULLIVER PONG] deals with a far different American tradition: dirt bags who can’t help being dirt bags.”
—SmokeLong Quarterly

“Cheuk’s imaginative story about the once and future scion of the Pong family…[is] neatly woven into a vivid, and never disappointing narrative.”—Tahoma Literary Review

“Equal parts laugh-out-loud satire and dysfunctional family comedy, Leland Cheuk’s THE MISADVENTURES OF SULLIVER PONG brims with Vonnegut-flavored humor and Delillo-esque commentary as it sends up Asian-American struggles and father-son rivalries. This is the hilarious and assured debut of a wise and wacky new talent.”
–Laurie Foos, author of THE BLUE GIRL and EX UTERO

“As sneakily addictive as a game of Pong (which was named, we’re told, after the narrator’s dad), this zany zip-line of a novel takes the piss out of the Asian-American ‘good immigrant’ story. Full of charming antiheroes making comically bad choices, the story dazzles us with its absurdity, which makes its eventual wisdom–about lineage, ethnicity, and the meaning of family–all the more wonderfully surprising.”
–Michael Lowenthal, author of THE PATERNITY TEST and CHARITY GIRL

BUY THE BOOK

This book is available in as a Kindle eBook and in paperback.

BUY PONG AT AMAZON