Forum From the Archives: 'Chinese Groove' Follows Young Immigrant’s Optimistic, and Often Delusional, Search for Shangri-La in San Francisco

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 29 May 2023

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The buoyant protagonist of San Francisco writer Kathryn Ma’s new novel, The Chinese Groove, migrates from China, where he’s part of the outcast branch of his family, to San Francisco, where he is sure his distant relatives will welcome and nurture him and shepherd him along his path. Forum talks to Ma about the comedy of errors that follow, San Francisco through a new immigrant’s eyes and her character’s faith in the “groove,” the kindness and generosity expected from fellow countrymen. Guests: Kathryn Ma, author, "The Chinese Groove" and "The Year She Left Us" and "All That Work and Still No Boys." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for Forum comes from Rancho La Puerta, a wellness resort in Baja, California, just an hour from San Diego.
0:07.6	Three, four, and seven-night summer packages include fitness classes, hiking, live music, mindfulness, and culinary adventures, featuring fruits and veggies straight off the vine.
0:18.9	Special rates and offers are available for summer stays and first-time guests.
0:23.8	Saver summer at Rancho LaPuerta, rancho LaPuerta.com.
0:28.3	Support for Forum comes from Broadway SF, presenting Parade, the musical revival based on a true story.
0:35.7	From three-time Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown comes the story of
0:40.0	Leo and Lucille Frank, a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to make a life in Georgia. When Leo is
0:46.9	accused of an unspeakable crime, it propels them into an unimaginable test of faith, humanity, justice,
0:55.1	and devotion.
1:03.5	The riveting and gloriously hopeful parade plays the Orpheum Theater for three weeks only, May 20th through June 8th.
1:07.8	Tickets on sale now at Broadway, sF.com.
1:10.5	From KQED. From KQED. From KQED. From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:25.9	The hero of Catherine Ma's new novel, The Chinese Groove, is a young man who arrives in San Francisco. I'm Alexis Madrigal. The hero of Catherine Ma's new novel, The Chinese
1:28.4	Groove, is a young man who arrives in San Francisco from the Yunnan province in China.
1:33.6	He has little money, few connections, but he does have a love for language, those little phrases
1:38.1	that can captivate us in the second language, the idioms and idiosyncrasies of how people talk
1:43.3	before it all just melts back into
1:45.2	communication. Umbridge, bric-a-brac, humors, crapmobile, bushwhacked. Shelly, as he becomes known,
1:53.5	is a delightful narrator of an extremely San Francisco story of immigration, housing insecurity,
1:59.6	and chosen family.
2:05.2	Ma joins us to talk about the outer sunset and optimism after this news.
2:17.3	Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.
	...

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