Lee, William Poy 1951-

PERSONAL:

Born January 16, 1951, in San Francisco, CA. Education: University of California, Berkeley, B.Arch., 1969; University of California, San Francisco, J.D., 1978.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Berkeley, CA. Agent—Marly Rusoff, Marly Rusoff & Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 524, Bronxville, NY 10708. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Lawyer, architect, and writer.

WRITINGS:

The Eighth Promise: An American Son's Tribute to His Toisanese Mother, Rodale (Emmaus, PA), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

William Poy Lee's The Eighth Promise: An American Son's Tribute to His Toisanese Mother is partly a memoir and partly an oral history of his life in San Francisco's Chinatown. Lee grew up torn between the conservative traditions of Asian immigrant culture and the temptations of contemporary San Francisco. As the title suggests, Poy Jen, Lee's mother, played a significant role in his development. She made a promise to her mother and sisters in the Chinese village of Toisan that she would raise her children as Toisanese once in the United States. The struggle between Lee's desire to experience American society and her desire to keep her promise causes tension between the two. Deborah Donovan in Booklist wrote that the book was "fused with a refreshingly honest portrayal of a timeless mother-son bond." In the Asian Review of Books, Todd Shimoda found that "The Eighth Promise is highly readable, an engaging story not just of immigrant America but of what it means to be human."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Lee, William Poy, The Eighth Promise: An American Son's Tribute to His Toisanese Mother, Rodale (Emmaus, PA), 2007.

PERIODICALS

Asian Review of Books, February 17, 2007, Todd Shimoda, review of The Eighth Promise.

Booklist, February 1, 2007, Deborah Donovan, review of The Eighth Promise, p. 19.

Chicago Tribune, July 28, 2007, Jillian Dunham, review of The Eighth Promise.

Entertainment Weekly, February 9, 2007, review of The Eighth Promise, p. 78.

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2006, review of The Eighth Promise, p. 1258.

Publishers Weekly, November 20, 2006, review of The Eighth Promise, p. 51.

San Francisco Chronicle, February 4, 2007, Marianne Villanueva, review of The Eighth Promise, p. M1.

ONLINE

The Eighth Promise Web site,http://www.theeighthpromise.com (August 23, 2007).

Salon.com,http://www.salon.com/ (August 23, 2007), Meredith Maran, review of The Eighth Promise.