num_pages: 256
description: A powerful novel about ethnically fluid California, and the corrosive relationship between two Filipino brothers."American Son is the story of two Filipino brothers adrift in contemporary California. The older brother, Tomas, fashions himself into a Mexican gangster and breeds pricey attack dogs, which he trains in German and sells to Hollywood celebrities. The narrator is younger brother Gabe, who tries to avoid the tar pit of Tomas's waywardness, yet moves ever closer to embracing it. Their mother, who moved to America to escape the caste system of Manila and is now divorced from their American father, struggles to keep her sons in line while working two dead-end jobs. When Gabe runs away, he brings shame and unforeseen consequences to the family."--BOOK JACKET.
language: English
title: American Son
titlecomplete: American Son
genres: Asian Literature, Literature, Young Adult, School, Novels, Fiction, Read For School, Cultural, Contemporary, Family
ratings_count: 569
awards: awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Kiriyama Prize
category: Fiction
publisher: W. W. Norton & Company