The Partition

A thrilling new story collection from acclaimed writer Don Lee exploring Asian American identity, spanning decades and continents

"Don Lee is one of those masterful storytellers who is both classic and modern, who can transport you into any setting, with any character."
—The TODAY Show, recommended by author Weike Wang

"The organizing conceit of all [Lee’s] fiction has remained consistent: Asian Americans are not monoliths . . . Lee narrates from a collective perspective, his stories offering a kaleidoscopic vision of all the ways it feels to be yellow."
—The New York Times Book Review

"Nine stories feature complicated Asian American characters living insightfully depicted lives in the worlds of moviemaking, restaurants, and bedrooms."
—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

"Familiar joy is immediate as one reenters Lee’s signature worlds of brilliant resonance and quiet depth. In his first short story collection since his lauded Yellow debut, Lee again questions identity, unlikely relationships, and fleeting connections . . . While Lee' s devotees will joyfully relish casually dropped references to previous titles, new readers should savor plenty of first-time delight."
—Booklist, STARRED review

"The Partition is flat-out brilliant: a witty, kaleidoscopic tear through questions of race and identity in America today by a writer who has wrought luminous fiction from these issues for years. Don Lee's collection offers vivid, entertaining proof that ethnicity is never straightforward or easy—no matter who we are, or where we stand."
—Jennifer Egan, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of A Visit from the Goon Squad

Twenty-one years after the publication of his landmark debut collection Yellow, Don Lee returns to the short story form for his sixth book, The Partition.

The Partition is an updated exploration of Asian American identity, this time with characters who are presumptive model minorities in the arts, academia, and media. Spanning decades, these nine novelistic stories traverse an array of cities, from Tokyo to Boston, Honolulu to El Paso, touching upon transient encounters in local bars, restaurants, and hotels.

Culminating in a three-story cycle about a Hollywood actor, The Partition incisively examines heartbreak, identity, family, and relationships—the characters searching for answers to universal questions: Where do I belong? How can I find love? What defines an authentic self?