Necessary Roughness
Chan Kim has never felt like an outsider in his life. That is, not until his family moves from L.A. to a tiny town in Minnesota—Land of 10,000 Lakes—and probably 10,000 hicks,too. The Kims are the only Asian family in town, and when Chan and his twin sister, Young, attend high school, it's a blond-haired, blue-eyed whiteout.

Chan throws himself into the only game in town—football—and the necessary roughness required to make a player. On the field it means "justifiable violence," but as Chan is about to discover, off the field it's a whole different ballgame . . .Chan Jung Kim has always been popular. But that was when he lived in L.A. and was the star of his soccer team. Now his family’s moved—to a tiny town in Minnesota, where football’s the name of the game and nobody has ever seen an Asian American family before. Desperate to fit in, Chan throws himself into the game—but he feels like an outsider. For the first time in his life, he finds himself thinking about what it really means to be Korean—and what is really important. By turns gripping, painful, funny, and illuminating, Necessary Roughness introduces a major new talent and a fresh young voice to the Harper list.

1997 Best Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
1998 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)Chan Jung Kim has always been popular. But that was when he lived in L.A. and was the star of his soccer team. Now his family’s moved—to a tiny town in Minnesota, where football’s the name of the game and nobody has ever seen an Asian American family before. Desperate to fit in, Chan throws himself into the game—but he feels like an outsider. For the first time in his life, he finds himself thinking about what it really means to be Korean—and what is really important. By turns gripping, painful, funny, and illuminating, Necessary Roughness introduces a major new talent and a fresh young voice to the Harper list.

1997 Best Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
1998 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)

1100616841
Necessary Roughness
Chan Kim has never felt like an outsider in his life. That is, not until his family moves from L.A. to a tiny town in Minnesota—Land of 10,000 Lakes—and probably 10,000 hicks,too. The Kims are the only Asian family in town, and when Chan and his twin sister, Young, attend high school, it's a blond-haired, blue-eyed whiteout.

Chan throws himself into the only game in town—football—and the necessary roughness required to make a player. On the field it means "justifiable violence," but as Chan is about to discover, off the field it's a whole different ballgame . . .Chan Jung Kim has always been popular. But that was when he lived in L.A. and was the star of his soccer team. Now his family’s moved—to a tiny town in Minnesota, where football’s the name of the game and nobody has ever seen an Asian American family before. Desperate to fit in, Chan throws himself into the game—but he feels like an outsider. For the first time in his life, he finds himself thinking about what it really means to be Korean—and what is really important. By turns gripping, painful, funny, and illuminating, Necessary Roughness introduces a major new talent and a fresh young voice to the Harper list.

1997 Best Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
1998 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)Chan Jung Kim has always been popular. But that was when he lived in L.A. and was the star of his soccer team. Now his family’s moved—to a tiny town in Minnesota, where football’s the name of the game and nobody has ever seen an Asian American family before. Desperate to fit in, Chan throws himself into the game—but he feels like an outsider. For the first time in his life, he finds himself thinking about what it really means to be Korean—and what is really important. By turns gripping, painful, funny, and illuminating, Necessary Roughness introduces a major new talent and a fresh young voice to the Harper list.

1997 Best Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
1998 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)

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Necessary Roughness

Necessary Roughness

by Marie G. Lee
Necessary Roughness
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Necessary Roughness

Necessary Roughness

by Marie G. Lee

Overview

Chan Kim has never felt like an outsider in his life. That is, not until his family moves from L.A. to a tiny town in Minnesota—Land of 10,000 Lakes—and probably 10,000 hicks,too. The Kims are the only Asian family in town, and when Chan and his twin sister, Young, attend high school, it's a blond-haired, blue-eyed whiteout.

Chan throws himself into the only game in town—football—and the necessary roughness required to make a player. On the field it means "justifiable violence," but as Chan is about to discover, off the field it's a whole different ballgame . . .Chan Jung Kim has always been popular. But that was when he lived in L.A. and was the star of his soccer team. Now his family’s moved—to a tiny town in Minnesota, where football’s the name of the game and nobody has ever seen an Asian American family before. Desperate to fit in, Chan throws himself into the game—but he feels like an outsider. For the first time in his life, he finds himself thinking about what it really means to be Korean—and what is really important. By turns gripping, painful, funny, and illuminating, Necessary Roughness introduces a major new talent and a fresh young voice to the Harper list.

1997 Best Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
1998 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)Chan Jung Kim has always been popular. But that was when he lived in L.A. and was the star of his soccer team. Now his family’s moved—to a tiny town in Minnesota, where football’s the name of the game and nobody has ever seen an Asian American family before. Desperate to fit in, Chan throws himself into the game—but he feels like an outsider. For the first time in his life, he finds himself thinking about what it really means to be Korean—and what is really important. By turns gripping, painful, funny, and illuminating, Necessary Roughness introduces a major new talent and a fresh young voice to the Harper list.

1997 Best Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
1998 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780064471695
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: 01/03/1998
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 240
Product dimensions: 4.19(w) x 6.75(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile: 750L (what's this?)
Age Range: 13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Marie G. Lee is a second-generation Korean American who was born and raised in Hibbing, Minnesota. Her books include If It Hadn't Been for Yoon Jun, Necessary Roughness, and Night of the Chupacabras. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Kenyon Review, and several anthologies. She has appeared on PBS's "Asian American" and is a founder of the Asian American Writer's Workshop.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

Okay, I shouldn't have done it. They say hindsight is twenty-twenty; my visibility is now unlimited. I shouldn't have even dreamed of saying anything about the Buddha. But what can I say except that, at the time, it seemed a perfectly logical thing to do?

The Buddha statue in question was the size of a Border collie and about three times as heavy. Pure stone, very Las Vegas in gold-leaf paint. It always sat in the left comer of our living room, its smile semi-hidden behind the potted palm.

No one ever paid any attention to it. We didn't offer it food like the Parks did with theirs. It just sat there. So when my mother said we needed to leave things behind for the big move, I suggested that.

Naturally. We say grace before meals, which means we're Christians, which means we have no need for a Budda statue--right? And the Parks certainly would have appreciated the donation, two Buddhas being better than one and all that.

But as usual, after I said it I wished I hadn't. I still don't know exactly why that lump of stone was so important, but Abogee boiled over, as if I'd suggested we leave my sister behind or something. And I knew he was mad, not because he ranted and raved or whopped me on my heinie with a yardstick--like he used to when I was little--but because he refused to talk to me, or even look at me, the whole drive to Minnesota.

When my abogee gets mad, he either yells or gives you the silent treatment, depending on his mood. I almost prefer the yelling because eventually it blows over. It's his silence that really cuts, the way a piece of paper can slice your finger open.

But this time Ididn't let him get to me. I was mad too, and we kind of canceled each other out.

I couldn't believe it when Abogee told us we were leaving L.A. I think the first words out of my mouth were "But we can't. I haven't finished high school yet!"

0-Ma (Young and I call her by the Korean word for mom, while Abogee makes us call him Abogee--father) made me go outside, which is rare for her. I didn't stop to think that she was probably upset too. I mean, she was leaving all her friends, her church, and Kim's Green Extravaganza, our store.

I felt even worse when Young didn't complain, even though a week ago she'd found out that--after about a kajillion auditions--she'd won a spot in the L.A. Young (no relation) People's Orchestra.

She just nodded when she heard the news, which made Abogee say to me, "Why can't you be more obedient like your sister?"

It always boils down to this: I'm the evil twin and Young is the good one.

Last night through the wall I heard Abogee tell 0-Ma that if we were in Korea, I would never talk back to him like I do. So how does he know? How can he predict what I'd be like?

I would say that we're an almost perfect family, except for the one small fact that Abogee and I could start World War III all by ourselves. The way Abogee talks, you'd think he had me mixed up with some other son, One who gets all A's. One who knows what his abogee wants before he says anything. One who snaps to attention and goes "Yessir!" at everything his abogee says.

And as for me, my life is defined by the perpetual fear of pissing him off. I never mean to, like I said, but it's like walking through a minefield. No matter how much you tiptoe around, sooner or later--boom!--you're going to get it.

So there we were, in a clanky station wagon, the Buddha statue weighing down the rear, heading toward Minnesota. Toward certain doom.

Chapter Two

According to our espionage reports, it was Abogee's brother who got us into this mess. Even though Young and I aren't allowed in on family affairs, we manage to piece things together, especially since the walls that separate the rooms in our house are as thin as rice crackers.

Let me back up to give you a little history. Abogee and O-Ma came to America when Young and I were three. Abogee had been a chemist, so he wasn't too thrilled with O-Ma's idea of opening a grocery--even though his Ph.D. friends Mr. Park and Mr. Lee also had stores. But when he couldn't find a position in chemistry, he went along with O-Ma's idea, grumbling all the way.

O-Ma named our store Kim's Green Extravaganza. We sold all sorts of veggies and fruits and went mental about keeping them extra fresh. The moment something got even a little soft or had one tiny little bruise, we either gave it away to friends or took it home. To this day I'm haunted by the spongy taste of overripe apples.

The other thing about the store was that we sold stuff our customers needed: soup-for-one, tiny cans of cat food, cigarettes, fat-free cookies. O-Ma even went so far as to ask for suggestions. Abogee complained that people would think we didn't know how to run a business. But the stuff O-Ma ordered from people's suggestions almost always became regular sellers.

I guess we were doing pretty well, because Abogee's mom and his brother, Bong, eventually came from Korea to live with us.

At first I wasn't too thrilled to be sharing the house with two strangers, but Grandma, Halmoni, grew on me. She padded around in her stocking feet, and when I came home from school, I could hear her singing wafting through the open windows . . .

Necessary Roughness. Copyright © by Marie Lee. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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