Tropic of Orange — Karen Tei Yamashita

“David Foster Wallace meets Gabriel Garcia Marquez” in this novel set in a dystopian Los Angeles from a National Book Award finalist (Publishers Weekly). Irreverently juggling magical realism, film noir, hip hop, and chicanismo, Tropic of Orange takes place in a Los Angeles where the homeless, gangsters, infant organ entrepreneurs, and Hollywood collide on a stretch of the Harbor Freeway. Hemmed in by wildfires, it's a symphony conducted from an overpass, grandiose, comic, and as diverse as the city itself -- from an author who has received the California Book Award and the Association for Asian American Studies Book Award, among other literary honors. “Fiercely satirical . . . Yamashita presents [an] intricate plot with mordant wit.” -- The New York Times Book Review “A stunner . . . An exquisite mystery novel. But this is a novel of dystopia and apocalypse; the mystery concerns the tragic flaws of human nature.” -- Library Journal (starred review) “Brilliant . . . An ingenious interpretation of social woes.” -- Booklist (starred review)