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Boy Genius
The latest installment in the Akashic Urban Surreal series.
Boy Genius is a powerful identity satire, the picaresque odyssey of a child seeking to avenge the wrongs perpetrated on his parents. Park's genius, born into the turmoil of post-war Korea, is used as a puppet by the South Korean government--before being banished to America. From a remote New York city ghetto, the boy wages a clandestine guerilla war against all symbols of authority. Park renders his vision of late-20th-century global culture with the bold, surreal strokes of Pynchon and the wild political sensibilities of Godard; the painful, largely unmapped narrative territory of Boy Genius creates a gripping, harrowing read...Set partly in the fictitious city of Bogota, NYC, this book is the first segment of Park's Elmhurst Trilogy, made up of Boy Genius, Las Cucarachas, and Rated R Boy..
Yongsoo Park is a Korean-American writer and independent film-maker living in New York City.
Boy Genius is a powerful identity satire, the picaresque odyssey of a child seeking to avenge the wrongs perpetrated on his parents. Park's genius, born into the turmoil of post-war Korea, is used as a puppet by the South Korean government--before being banished to America. From a remote New York city ghetto, the boy wages a clandestine guerilla war against all symbols of authority. Park renders his vision of late-20th-century global culture with the bold, surreal strokes of Pynchon and the wild political sensibilities of Godard; the painful, largely unmapped narrative territory of Boy Genius creates a gripping, harrowing read...Set partly in the fictitious city of Bogota, NYC, this book is the first segment of Park's Elmhurst Trilogy, made up of Boy Genius, Las Cucarachas, and Rated R Boy..
Yongsoo Park is a Korean-American writer and independent film-maker living in New York City.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
About the author
Yongsoo Park
5 books3 followersYongsoo Park is the author of the novels BOY GENIUS and LAS CUCARACHAS, as well as THE ART OF EATING BITTER: A HAUFRAU DAD'S JOURNEY WITH KIDS, an easy collection about his children, his parents, and being a father, and RATED R BOY, a memoir about growing up in 1980s Queens.
He grew up in a lower-class immigrant enclave in New York City. Much of his writing is about his childhood in a NYC that's long gone. He is a Luddite, who lives without a cellphone and gets around NYC mostly on a bicycle. He is on a quixotic one-man crusade to give his children as much of an analog childhood as is possible.
His latest book is the memoir RATED R BOY: GROWING UP KOREAN IN 1980s QUEENS.
He lives in Harlem and has a MFA in Creative Writing from the Old School.
He grew up in a lower-class immigrant enclave in New York City. Much of his writing is about his childhood in a NYC that's long gone. He is a Luddite, who lives without a cellphone and gets around NYC mostly on a bicycle. He is on a quixotic one-man crusade to give his children as much of an analog childhood as is possible.
His latest book is the memoir RATED R BOY: GROWING UP KOREAN IN 1980s QUEENS.
He lives in Harlem and has a MFA in Creative Writing from the Old School.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 2, 2012
Excellent.
October 5, 2026
I HAVE NOT been able to find out whether the title of this novel inspired the name of the group formed by Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker. No such rumors are afloat on the internet, I can attest. Even so, it seems at least possible that at least one of them might have picked up on this novel, a cult favorite in some quarters.
Boygenius was published in 2002 by Akashic Press, and it is still in print, which is no small accomplishment. It struck me as a revision and updating of Candide.
Narrator and main character Boy Genius was born in South Korea in the middle 1960s (I would guess) and became a national hero with his own TV show after getting the nation's highest score on an intelligence test. His fame and privileges (which include occasional meetings with President Park Chung Hee) are abruptly yanked from him, without explanation, after an attempted assassination of President Park.
Shunned and disgraced, he and his parents choose to emigrate, arriving in a city that is like New York City in every respect save that it is named Bogota. After a rebellious period, some of which he spends with a gang of talking dogs, he decides to go straight, finish school, and make it big. This leads to extended time in (southern) California and a total makeover in which he becomes a handsome Euro-American. He marries another Korean emigré who has similarly become a beautiful Euro-American.
Memory of the wrongs done to him and his parents will not leave him alone, though, and he embarks on a mission of vengeance, ending in...well, I'm not sure. I think he ends up in heaven, though.
Like Candide, Boy Genius in his youth is loaded up with a wobbly bundle of assumptions and expectations that go disastrously wrong for him, after which he acquires a new set of assumptions and expectations which also eventually backfire, and so on. People take advantage of his naïvete or do their best to help him out, and neither he nor the reader quite know whom to trust. As in Voltaire's tale, the structure is picaresque, a series of episodes taking Boygenius all over the world, the mode satiric, in that what Boygenius learns is that no institution or authority should be trusted. We arrive at an expectedly happy ending though, Candide in his garden, Boy Genius in paradise. If that's where he is.
Boygenius was published in 2002 by Akashic Press, and it is still in print, which is no small accomplishment. It struck me as a revision and updating of Candide.
Narrator and main character Boy Genius was born in South Korea in the middle 1960s (I would guess) and became a national hero with his own TV show after getting the nation's highest score on an intelligence test. His fame and privileges (which include occasional meetings with President Park Chung Hee) are abruptly yanked from him, without explanation, after an attempted assassination of President Park.
Shunned and disgraced, he and his parents choose to emigrate, arriving in a city that is like New York City in every respect save that it is named Bogota. After a rebellious period, some of which he spends with a gang of talking dogs, he decides to go straight, finish school, and make it big. This leads to extended time in (southern) California and a total makeover in which he becomes a handsome Euro-American. He marries another Korean emigré who has similarly become a beautiful Euro-American.
Memory of the wrongs done to him and his parents will not leave him alone, though, and he embarks on a mission of vengeance, ending in...well, I'm not sure. I think he ends up in heaven, though.
Like Candide, Boy Genius in his youth is loaded up with a wobbly bundle of assumptions and expectations that go disastrously wrong for him, after which he acquires a new set of assumptions and expectations which also eventually backfire, and so on. People take advantage of his naïvete or do their best to help him out, and neither he nor the reader quite know whom to trust. As in Voltaire's tale, the structure is picaresque, a series of episodes taking Boygenius all over the world, the mode satiric, in that what Boygenius learns is that no institution or authority should be trusted. We arrive at an expectedly happy ending though, Candide in his garden, Boy Genius in paradise. If that's where he is.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 11, 2020
Not interesting enough, not funny enough.
This novel tries really hard to amuse us with snark and quirky characters, but neither is well done. After 60 pages it’s already tedious and of little enjoyment.
This novel tries really hard to amuse us with snark and quirky characters, but neither is well done. After 60 pages it’s already tedious and of little enjoyment.
July 15, 2017
Odd, but entertaining satirical novel.
March 3, 2026
One of the best takes on South Korean history under authoritarian rule, US imperial influence, and through immigration by a Korean American author.
March 19, 2012
"Revenge is a dish best served cold." So goes the age-old saying. And, Boy Genius, both the novel and the name of the character, left me feeling cold, in the sense that the story didn't really redeem itself at the end. Revenge seemed to be the main motivating factor for the Boy Genius character, and this character flaw eventually sapped any sympathy from me for Boy Genius.
The story is extreme political satire that falls flat on its face as it turns to semi-comical farce. The sad joke, it seems, is that Boy Genius is a shill for both anti-communism in South Korea and then for white supremacy/capitalism in the U.S., which makes him susceptible to other people's lies and self-interested plans.
Toward the end of the story I couldn't tell exactly who was pulling Boy Genius' strings, and neither could Boy Genius, but by that time I almost ceased caring anymore.
When I think back to when I got toward the end of this novel, I'm reminded of the jokey little song, "This is the song that never ends". It's a potentially never-ending song that is supposed to make you giggle. But, Boy Genius is like the revenge-story-that-will-never-end. It's actually quite pathetic.
The story is extreme political satire that falls flat on its face as it turns to semi-comical farce. The sad joke, it seems, is that Boy Genius is a shill for both anti-communism in South Korea and then for white supremacy/capitalism in the U.S., which makes him susceptible to other people's lies and self-interested plans.
Toward the end of the story I couldn't tell exactly who was pulling Boy Genius' strings, and neither could Boy Genius, but by that time I almost ceased caring anymore.
When I think back to when I got toward the end of this novel, I'm reminded of the jokey little song, "This is the song that never ends". It's a potentially never-ending song that is supposed to make you giggle. But, Boy Genius is like the revenge-story-that-will-never-end. It's actually quite pathetic.
March 20, 2007
They say you should never judge a book by its cover. Well, "they" are wrong. I happened upon this book at an Asian American bookstore in Seattle. The bright and colorful cover pulled me in right away. At first I thought it might be manga and was surprised to learn it was a novel. I read the first three or four pages in the store and was hooked.
The prose is candid and harsh at times and the storyline turns almost sci-fi in the end. However, all in all, it's an entertaining read about a super smart boy who orders his parents to immigrate to the US b/c of conspiracies against him planned by the Korea government. I won't spoil the rest of the book but his life takes an unexpected turn that will have you wanting more.
The prose is candid and harsh at times and the storyline turns almost sci-fi in the end. However, all in all, it's an entertaining read about a super smart boy who orders his parents to immigrate to the US b/c of conspiracies against him planned by the Korea government. I won't spoil the rest of the book but his life takes an unexpected turn that will have you wanting more.
November 25, 2008
It is advertised as "surreal", and I guess it did that. It just sucks that a very interesting story line got destroyed so the author could be deep and pondering.
The lead character was very interesting and actually well-developed for this book. Everyone else was just randomly brought in and out of the story to make it "deep".
The lead character was very interesting and actually well-developed for this book. Everyone else was just randomly brought in and out of the story to make it "deep".
December 29, 2015
This book is hard to describe because I feel like I've never read anything like it. It's a surreal story about a Korean immigrant, and has the ability to more heavily explore themes around it than typical immigrant stories because of the open structure of the story, but without sacrificing a narrative at all. Awesome.
January 5, 2016
Too surreal for my taste, I was hoping this book would present an orthodox story of revenge with strong roots in Korea however it quickly transcends into to many absurdities. It's good for a quick read however, and if you like frenetic stories this might be more your thing.
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March 14, 2026Frantic and surreal with very real observations on empire, immigration, foreign affairs, propaganda, cultural identity, betrayal. Plays a lot with reality. Incredibly unique. I was hooked, and sat with for a bit after finishing. I’m a fan for sure
October 14, 2007
he turns himself into a white guy and then gets beaten up in the ghetto. come on.
November 11, 2007
loses steam, but enjoyable nonetheless.
April 20, 2008
I really liked this book - it was different.
June 13, 2008
I loved this book! It had a bit of everything... comedy, action, scifi... I would love to read some more of his books.
April 15, 2010
Wild dogs disguised as street kids, plastic surgery that disguises Asians to look like rich white Americans, and one S. Korean child star who takes a stand.
January 27, 2016
This book was a wild journey that brought me into a culture and mindset very different than my own. It was probably the best fictional book that I have read to date.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews