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Impossible Children
In these inventive short stories, characters must navigate an impossible world: America as we know it. Two estranged brothers on a road trip attempt to reconcile but end up at a Revolutionary War reenactment camp; a young woman moves in with her boyfriend and discovers an eerily personalized seduction manual on his bookshelf; a middle-aged Korean-American father attends college courses and is either blessed or haunted by the presence of Edward Moon, an eccentric billionaire who also happens to be “the most successful Korean in America.”
Playfully engaging with genres like science fiction, the fairy tale, and the Gothic tale, the interconnected short stories of Impossible Children pit tiny heroes against tiny villains; the result is a stunning mapping of geography, heritage, immigration, freedom, and the mysterious forces behind epic ruins and epic successes.
Playfully engaging with genres like science fiction, the fairy tale, and the Gothic tale, the interconnected short stories of Impossible Children pit tiny heroes against tiny villains; the result is a stunning mapping of geography, heritage, immigration, freedom, and the mysterious forces behind epic ruins and epic successes.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
247 pages, Paperback
First published September 3, 2019
About the author
Robert Yune
2 books187 followersAs a Navy brat, Robert Yune moved 11 times by the time he turned 18. After graduating from Pitt, he lived in Pittsburgh for the next 15 years.
In the summer of 2012, he worked as a stand-in for George Takei and has appeared as an extra in commercials and movies such as Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and Father and Daughters.
Yune’s fiction has been published in Green Mountains Review, Kenyon Review, and The Los Angeles Review, among others. In 2009, he received a writing fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
In 2015, his debut novel Eighty Days of Sunlight was nominated for the International DUBLIN Literary Award. Other nominees that year included Lauren Groff, Kazuo Ishiguro and Salman Rushdie. His debut story collection Impossible Children won the 2017 Mary McCarthy Prize and will be published in August 2019 by Sarabande Books.
In the summer of 2012, he worked as a stand-in for George Takei and has appeared as an extra in commercials and movies such as Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and Father and Daughters.
Yune’s fiction has been published in Green Mountains Review, Kenyon Review, and The Los Angeles Review, among others. In 2009, he received a writing fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
In 2015, his debut novel Eighty Days of Sunlight was nominated for the International DUBLIN Literary Award. Other nominees that year included Lauren Groff, Kazuo Ishiguro and Salman Rushdie. His debut story collection Impossible Children won the 2017 Mary McCarthy Prize and will be published in August 2019 by Sarabande Books.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 27, 2020
2 stars for the first half, 4 stars for the Moon stories.
I get the structure. The two families, their lives separate but parallel, mirrors of each other. The first part just didn't quite do it for me.
I get the structure. The two families, their lives separate but parallel, mirrors of each other. The first part just didn't quite do it for me.
June 22, 2023
I picked this collection up because I saw the author speak at the Pittsburgh Book Fest. He was a compelling speaker, but what made me get out my phone and pull up the library website to put his book on hold in the middle of the panel was simply this: he noticed one of the other presenters was a bit too modest when giving their bio and stopped what he was talking about to hype their (seriously excellent) book. The writing community can sometimes seem a bit catty. Not this guy.
I enjoyed the collection - a bunch of interrelated stories about two immigrant families. "Click" made me laugh out loud even as I worried the story was about to take a dark turn. I particularly appreciated the way Yune played with genre. One story would be gritty realistic fiction, and then suddenly you'd come across one told in a sort of mythic style. That said... growing up in a family of all sisters, I can only hope the way the rivalry between the brothers often turned quite violent is much less universal brotherly behavior than Yune's characters claimed.
I enjoyed the collection - a bunch of interrelated stories about two immigrant families. "Click" made me laugh out loud even as I worried the story was about to take a dark turn. I particularly appreciated the way Yune played with genre. One story would be gritty realistic fiction, and then suddenly you'd come across one told in a sort of mythic style. That said... growing up in a family of all sisters, I can only hope the way the rivalry between the brothers often turned quite violent is much less universal brotherly behavior than Yune's characters claimed.
October 15, 2020
Yune's writing is superb on both the literary level and depth of character. These stories offer a view of the Korean-American experience that is genuine without proselytizing, touching without sentimentality, and funny without low-brow cop-outs. The common thread is humanity, with a nod to heritage and a tip of the hat toward progress. If Mastery, Surprise, Delight are his lessons as a teacher (which is true), he leads by example in his fiction. Countless scenes pop off the page as Yune utilizes language to its best decree, catches the reader off-guard with cutting moments or clever twists, and ultimately instills the sheer joy of having read a good book. Fine work, as always, by Robert Yune in "Impossible Children."
August 10, 2023
This book is full of beautiful writing and intuitively rendered characters whose full humanity is on display throughout their stories.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews