Episode
Chang-Rae Lee's "A Tender Age"
- Podcast
- LARB Radio Hour
- Published
- Aug 21, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3241
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://lareviewofbooks.libsyn.com/chang-rae-lees-a-tender-age
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Summary
Eric Newman speaks with Chang-Rae Lee about his latest novel, A Tender Age, a coming-of-age novel centered on Jeon-Gi, the troubled son of hardworking Korean immigrants, who must navigate the meaning of masculinity, desire, and identity as he begins the journey into adulthood. After a violent outburst that lands him in reform school, Jeon-Gi has the opportunity for a reset at a church sleepaway camp, where he develops new, felicitous feelings of belonging and wonder that repair his frayed, isolated sense of self. When an accident during a transformative hiking trip threatens to once again wrench him out of his community, Jeon-Gi's story confronts how circumstance, impulse, and agency shape our lives. Lee discusses the novel's exploration of nostalgia, immigrant family dynamics, masculinity, and learning to take responsibility for oneself.