David Tung Can't Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College - by Ed Lin (Paperback)

About the Book

"Both playful and wryly observant, Ed Lin's YA-debut explores coming-of-age in the Asian diaspora while navigating relationships through race, class, and young love. David Tung, our nerd-hero, is a Chinese American high-school student who works in his family's restaurant, competes for top grades at his regular high school located in an upscale, Asian-majority New Jersey suburb, and attends weekend Chinese school in NYC's working-class Chinatown. While David faces parental pressures to get As and conform to cultural norms and expectations, he's caught up in the complicated world of high school love triangles--and amid these external pressures is the fear he will die alone, whether he gets into Harvard or not!"--

Book Synopsis

"A beautifully observed, hilariously truthful, uplifting coming-of-age story that captures the heart and humanity of a Chinese American male teenager." -David Henry Hwang

Shortlisted for CLMP Firecracker Award in Fiction, 2021

"You're not allowed to have a girlfriend until college," my mother warned. "And you'd better get into an Ivy League school!"

In David Tung Can't Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College, novelist Ed Lin conjures up "a fast-paced, acid-tongued, hilarious teen drama for our age," says Marie Myung-Ok Lee, acclaimed author of Somebody's Daughter and Finding My Voice. Both playful and wryly observant, Ed Lin's YA-debut explores coming-of-age in the Asian diaspora while navigating relationships through race, class, and young love. David Tung, our nerd-hero, is a Chinese American high-school student who works in his family's restaurant, competes for top grades at his regular high school located in an upscale, Asian-majority New Jersey suburb, and attends weekend Chinese school in NYC's working-class Chinatown. While David faces parental pressures to get As and conform to cultural norms and expectations, he's caught up in the complicated world of high school love triangles--and amid these external pressures is the fear he will die alone, whether he gets into Harvard or not!

Review Quotes

[A]n updated coming of age story that brings hope to teens navigating the "in-between.--Susan Bloomberg-Kason "Asian Review of Books"

Ed Lin's new book David Tung Can't Have A Girlfriend Until He Gets Into An Ivy League College is an exploration of much more than dating. Through humor, the book explores identity, traditions, social expectations, and stereotypes through the lens of a suburban New Jersey high school student.--Editors "Teen Vogue"

Ed Lin's YA-novel debut takes on coming-of-age in the Asian diaspora with a heartwarming and humorous exploration of race, class, young love, and the contradictory expectations of immigrant parents.--Jayne S. "Dear Author"

A beautifully observed, hilariously truthful, uplifting coming-of-age story that captures the heart and humanity of a Chinese American male teenager. I am impressed and inspired by Ed Lin's achievement and wish I could've read this book when I was in high school.--David Henry Hwang

David Tung is a nerd-hero readers will cheer on to the end.--Marie Myung-Ok Lee

Ed Lin's New Jersey is entirely Chinese American and way, way more complex and threatening than the Soprano's version of NJ. There are rich Chinese, really rich Chinese, Ivy League Chinese, super educated Chinese, and then there's David Tung who has never been on airplane, works in his family's Chinese restaurant, and ranks a shameful (according to his mother) number eight academically in his school. For Chinese American readers who survived high school, it's a hive-inducing horror movie from our past.--Shawn Wong

I cringed, I cheered, I wished this book had been there for me as a teen.--Jung Kim

With tender and hilarious insight, Ed Lin offers an irresistible tale of first love, complete with swooning crushes, tongue-tied blunders, overbearing-but-well-meaning parents, and an outrageous cast of supporting characters only New York and New Jerseycan produce.--JJ Strong

You'll fall hard for David Tung, a high-achieving teen with a heart of gold. Lin writes with a keen sense of character; even the most minor characters spring alive off the page.--Sheba Karim

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll get straight A's.--Chris L. Terry