Book
Kween
Kween is a young adult novel by Vichet Chum about a Cambodian American teenager in Lowell, Massachusetts, published in 2023.[1][2] It is Chum's debut novel, adapted from his play of the same name.[2]
About the book
Sixteen-year-old Soma Kear is a junior in Lowell. Her Ba, her father, has been deported to Cambodia, and her Ma has gone there to help him settle and to try to bring him home.[1][3] Her much older sister, Dahvy, moves back home, takes a job teaching at Soma's high school and takes charge of the household while planning her own wedding.[1][4] Soma cannot bring herself to answer her father's emails.[1]
Spoken-word poetry is how Soma makes sense of her world. A video of her performing goes viral online, and with encouragement from her best friend, Sophat, she enters a poetry competition at school.[1][2] Soma is queer. She has a crush on Britney Roe, writes about religion and spirituality, and asks in one poem, "What's God to you?"[1][2] Her parents support her when she comes out.[5][6]
The novel is not directly about the Khmer Rouge. It carries Cambodian history, the Khmer people and their Lowell community, down to the details of a Cambodian wedding such as the hair-cutting ceremony.[3][1][2]
Origins
Chum is a Cambodian American writer originally from Carrollton, Texas.[1] He wrote Kween first as a play commissioned by Merrimack Repertory Theater in Lowell, after watching Cambodian young people in the city and deciding to write a play with a young Cambodian protagonist. The play was workshopped online during the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] Jennifer Ung, who is also Khmer, saw it and suggested it could become a young adult book; she edited the novel.[2]
The cover shows Soma as a young Cambodian girl, played by Thatiana So and photographed by Mel Taing, a Cambodian photographer based in Boston.[2]
Publication and editions
Quill Tree Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, published the novel on October 3, 2023, in a 352-page edition, ISBN 9780063223356.[1]
Reception
Kirkus Reviews called it "an empowering coming-of-age story with genuine character growth" and praised its strong sense of place.[1] Northwest Asian Weekly noted how it balances the trauma of a separated family with humor, and welcomed it as representation for Khmer children.[3] LGBTQ Reads listed it among recommended young adult books.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 Kirkus Reviews, Kween
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 JoySauce, Vichet Chum interview (October 3, 2023)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Northwest Asian Weekly, Book recommendations: Stories from Southeast Asian America (November 2023)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 LGBTQ Reads, Vichet Chum
- ↑ The Lesbrary, Kween by Vichet Chum (January 25, 2024)
- ↑ The Lesbrary, Cambodian tag